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Web accessibility lawsuits aren't just a big-company problem anymore
The Americans with Disabilities Act carries no exemption for small businesses, and lawsuits over websites that fail accessibility standards keep climbing: more than 5,000 were filed across the US in 2025, and July 2026 alone saw 401 new ones.
Updated 2026-08-22
Who's actually getting sued
A UsableNet study of 2025 cases found that 64% of the businesses sued made less than $25 million a year, meaning most weren't large chains. E-commerce and retail account for roughly 70% of the lawsuits, often small operations selling through WooCommerce, Shopify, or similar platforms.
What courts now expect
In 2026, courts generally expect a site to meet WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA: alt text on images, enough color contrast, and navigation that works with a keyboard, not just a mouse. A typical demand letter asks for a settlement between $5,000 and $25,000, before the cost of actually fixing the site.
Florida leads the country in lawsuits filed, followed by California, New York, and Illinois. For a business with its own website, checking this isn't a big-company luxury: it's the difference between a site that's exposed and one that isn't.
Source: UsableNet.