If you sell to US customers, accessibility lawsuits are a business risk, not a theory. Here are the numbers from the two trackers most often cited, with what each one counts. This is a summary, not legal advice.
2025: up 27% in federal court
The law firm Seyfarth Shaw counted 3,117 website accessibility lawsuits in US federal court in 2025, up 27% from 2,452 in 2024. That is 36% of the 8,667 ADA Title III lawsuits filed in federal court that year. New York had 1,021, Florida 961 (almost double the year before) and Illinois 585. Seyfarth counts federal cases only.
2026: on pace for about 6,000
UsableNet, which counts federal and state cases together, reported at mid-year that 2026 is on pace for about 6,000 web and app lawsuits, a rise of roughly 20 to 25%. About 80% target e-commerce, about a quarter hit companies that had been sued before, and UsableNet called Illinois "the standout story of 2026".
The two trackers count different things, so don't compare the 3,117 and 6,000 figures directly.
Overlays and widgets
UsableNet also found that about 20% of sued companies had a widget or overlay installed. An overlay is a script that promises to fix accessibility on top of an existing site. The record on them:
- In April 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission approved a final order requiring accessiBe to pay $1 million. The order bars the company from claiming its automated product can make any website WCAG-compliant without evidence, and from presenting paid reviews as independent.
- In February 2026, in *Bloomsybox v. UserWay* (D. Del.), a magistrate judge recommended that a small business's consumer fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims against the overlay vendor go forward. That is a recommendation, not a final ruling.
What actually lowers the risk
- Fix the source, not the surface. Accessible templates and components fix pages for everyone, including the screen reader users a script can't reliably help.
- Test the journeys people sue over: finding a product, adding it to the basket, checking out, contacting you.
- Keep dated evidence of testing and fixes.
- Publish a way to report barriers, and respond quickly when someone does.
We build a scanner, and we would rather you hear this from us: a scan finds many issues quickly and shows you where to start, but no tool, ours included, can guarantee you won't be sued.
Sources: Seyfarth Shaw, ADA Title III blog, 25 Mar 2026, UsableNet, 8 Jul 2026, UsableNet, 31 Jul 2026, FTC press release, Apr 2025 and D. Del. opinion page.