ADA Website Lawsuits Surge Again in 2025

For more than a decade, digital accessibility lawsuits increased year-over-year in the United States. Businesses faced mounting legal pressure to make sure their websites, apps, digital services, and online documents were usable by people with disabilities. But after reaching record levels, accessibility lawsuits slowed in 2024.

That slowdown did not last.

New data shows that accessibility litigation surged again in 2025, reversing that temporary dip. This is a signal that legal risks tied to digital accessibility remain firmly in place.

Vintage justice scales sit on a table against a turquoise wall.

The Rise of Website Accessibility Litigation

As commerce, public industries, and government services have moved online, accessibility to these services has become a critical civil rights issue. When websites and apps fail to support screen readers, keyboard navigation, captioning, and other accessibility features, people with disabilities are often unable to access essential services like healthcare portals, banking platforms, online purchases, and more.

Unsurprisingly, litigation related to inaccessibility issues has grown exponentially. One of the first high-profile digital accessibility lawsuits occurred twenty years ago this year. The National Federation of the Blind successfully sued major retailer Target about its website’s inaccessibility. It would take only a few years before these types of lawsuit would proliferate. According to UsableNet’s Year-End Reports, there were just 2,314 digital accessibility lawsuits in 2018. But that number would steadily increase until 2023’s peak of 4605 lawsuits. In 2024, the number of lawsuits dipped by about 14%.

This decline marked the first significant slowdown in accessibility litigation in nearly a decade. Many even theorized that we were entering a new era with less focus on accessibility lawsuits.

A Rebound in 2025

But in 2025, accessibility lawsuits were on the rise again. According to UsableNet’s 2025 Year-End Report, there were 5,114 digital accessibility lawsuits, a significant increase. This surge indicates that the theory of waning accessibility lawsuits was premature and incorrect.

In reality, accessibility barriers remain widespread across the Internet, and the economic incentives behind accessibility litigation remain strong. As long as significant accessibility gaps persist, the legal pressure to address them is unlikely to disappear or even decrease. Further, the continued rise of accessibility lawsuits may even reflect a larger societal shift: Digital services are now almost essential for daily life – from ordering food to accessing your healthcare portal – expectations around these services are high. Accessibility is increasingly viewed not as a box to check off, but as a basic component of usable design.

Other Trends

In addition, it’s clear that some industries are at a higher risk than others. 2025’s litigation focused on e-commerce, food and service providers, and healthcare. These three industries made up 93% of the digital accessibility lawsuits in 2025, which makes sense, gives that the ADA’s original intent was regarding places of public accommodation. These industries are simply the online version of public accommodations.

A common way that many companies try to avoid lawsuits is through accessibility widgets. But in 2025, an increasing number of lawsuits were filed against many of the companies that create these widgets. That’s because overlay widgets don’t truly make a website or document accessible. UsableNet affirms this, “Reducing legal risk requires substantive remediation, not add-on tools.”

What Businesses Should Take Away

For organizations and companies who operate online – which, in 2026, should really be everyone – 2025’s surge in litigation is an important reminder that the risk of a digital accessibility lawsuit is a real possibility. Businesses who treat accessibility as an afterthought rather than a vital practice remain vulnerable to legal challenges.

Proactive accessibility efforts, like regular audits, user testing with assistive technology, and adherence to WCAG standards, can help reduce risk while improving usability for everyone. Ultimately, digital accessibility lawsuits are likely to remain a defining feature of the legal landscape in years to come. As the Internet continues to serve as the gateway to commerce, services, and information, ensuring equal access online will remain both a growing expectation and a legal obligation.

Ready to start your accessibility journey? Contact us at info@splashbox.com to get help from our team of experts.