2017 Web Accessibility ADA Lawsuit Statistics Show The Surge Accelerating
The law firm of Seyfarth Shaw has been tracking ADA Title III and web accessibility cases since January 2015, and in August, Kristina Launey and Melissa Aristizabal published their latest findings that show the growth trend in ADA cases is growing rapidly.
Its important first to understand, as they state, that these numbers are conservative as its very difficult to capture every case filed in federal court. There is no easily searchable database. Further, their findings do not include cases filed in state courts, and they also do not capture the overwhelming number of demand letters which are most prolific and are affecting the most number of businesses across the US.
Their findings reveal that since they began tracking in Jan 2015, a total of 751 cases have been filed. And the first 8 months of 2017 account for well more than half - 432 cases already.
2017 ADA & Web Accessibility Lawsuit Surge
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Industries hit hardest by web accessibility lawsuits?
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Florida is by far the most overwhelmed by ADA lawsuits.
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Needless to say, these finding support what many already know. Unfortunately businesses are largely ignorant of the issue, as most cases and demand letters are settled quickly and quietly.
The solution is to avoid litigation in the first place and make your website accessible to people with disabilities. Not only is it the right thing to do, it also will make your products and services to a larger audience. One in 5 Americans have a disability and over 22 million have vision loss.
The first step is to perform a complete 360° audit of your website.