If you run a small business with a website, the most useful thing you can know about ADA litigation in 2025 is this: the cases keep coming, and the typical defendant looks a lot more like you than like a Fortune 500 company. Here are the real numbers — pulled from the two organizations that actually count these cases — and what they mean without the scare tactics.

How many lawsuits in 2025, really?

There are two credible counts, and they measure different things.

Law firm Seyfarth Shaw, which tracks federal court filings, recorded 3,117 website-accessibility lawsuits in federal court in 2025 — a 27% jump from 2,452 in 2024 (adatitleiii.com). Website cases made up roughly 36% of all ADA Title III lawsuits filed in federal court that year.

UsableNet, which counts both federal courts and key state venues like New York and California, reported more than 5,000 digital-accessibility cases for 2025. That number is higher not because anyone is exaggerating, but because a huge share of these suits — especially in New York — are filed in state court, where Seyfarth’s federal-only count doesn’t reach.

The headline is the same either way: filings are rising, not fading. UsableNet had projected at midyear that 2025 was on pace for roughly a 20% increase over 2024, after 2,019 cases landed in just the first six months.

Where the cases come from

Geography matters more here than almost anywhere else in business law, because a handful of plaintiff’s firms file in a handful of courts.

  • New York is the epicenter. Seyfarth counted 1,021 federal website cases filed in New York in 2025 (adatitleiii.com) — and that’s before its very active state courts are added. UsableNet notes New York alone accounts for over a third of state-level filings.
  • Florida surged. Seyfarth recorded 961 federal website cases in Florida in 2025, nearly matching New York and up sharply from 470 in 2024.
  • California drives volume too, largely through state-court claims under the Unruh Act rather than federal filings.

If your business sells to customers in these states — which, online, most do — venue is not something you can opt out of. Our ADA lawsuits by state hub breaks down the specific rules that make each one a hotspot.

Who actually gets sued

This is where the data should change how a small-business owner thinks about risk.

It’s mostly smaller companies. UsableNet found that about 64% of businesses sued in the first half of 2025 had annual revenue under $25 million (usablenet.com). The remaining 36% — the larger firms — were the minority. The “they only go after big brands” assumption is simply not what the filings show.

E-commerce is the dominant target. Online stores accounted for roughly 69% of all digital-accessibility lawsuits in 2025 (usablenet.com), with food service a distant second. If you take orders or payments online, you’re in the most-sued category — which is why we maintain a dedicated guide for e-commerce accessibility.

Many defendants get sued more than once. UsableNet reported that roughly one in four 2024 filings targeted a company a plaintiff had already sued, and the share of repeat defendants stayed high through 2025. A settlement that doesn’t actually fix the site invites a second visit.

The overlay trap — backed by an FTC penalty

A point worth dwelling on, because it costs businesses real money. UsableNet found that over 1,000 businesses were sued in 2024 despite having an accessibility widget or overlay installed — more than 25% of all cases (usablenet.com). Widget-related suits continued every month of 2025.

Then it got official. In April 2025 the Federal Trade Commission finalized a $1 million order against overlay vendor accessiBe, finding it made deceptive claims that its automated tool could make any website WCAG-compliant (ftc.gov). When a federal regulator fines the product you bought for legal protection, that product is not legal protection. We explain the mechanics in why overlays don’t work and compare the alternatives in overlay vs. manual remediation.

What the law actually requires (and what it costs)

The U.S. Department of Justice has repeatedly stated that the ADA applies to the websites of businesses open to the public. DOJ does not name a single mandatory technical standard, but it points to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as authoritative guidance (ada.gov). In practice, courts and plaintiffs measure sites against WCAG 2.1 AA.

On money: a federal ADA claim generally yields injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees, not damages. State law is where the dollar figures appear. California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act sets a statutory minimum of $4,000 per violation (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov), and New York’s human-rights laws allow damages as well. None of this is legal advice — if you’ve received a complaint or a demand letter, talk to a qualified attorney.

The practical takeaway

The trend line is steady and the target profile is clear: smaller e-commerce sites, in a few plaintiff-friendly states, often hit more than once, and not protected by a widget. The encouraging part is that the fix is well understood. A site built to WCAG 2.1 AA through real code changes — not a script bolted on top — is both far harder to sue successfully and genuinely better for every customer.

That’s the whole model behind Curbcut’s manual remediation: fix the HTML, ARIA, and content so the accessibility holds up under a screen reader and under scrutiny. If you’re not sure where your site stands, start with a free accessibility scan — it’s a faster way to find your gaps than a plaintiff’s tester will.