Website Accessibility Lawsuits: Is Your Small Business Site at Risk?
A demand letter about your website shows up from a law firm you have never heard of. Or, more quietly, a customer calls to say your booking form wouldn’t let them finish. Either way, you are left with the same worry: is my small business website ADA compliant, and how would I even know?
This guide explains what is happening with website accessibility lawsuits in Florida, what “accessible” means in plain words, and a few checks you can do yourself this week. It isn’t legal advice. Your attorney can tell you what applies to your business.
Are Website Accessibility Lawsuits Really Rising in Florida?
Yes. According to lawsuit counts published by Seyfarth, federal website accessibility lawsuits filed in Florida went from 470 in 2024 to 961 in 2025. That was the second-highest state total, after New York.
The problems behind those lawsuits are common. The WebAIM Million 2026 study looked at the top one million home pages and found accessibility errors that software can detect on 95.9% of them. So if your site has problems, it is far from the only one. Those problems are worth finding before a customer or a lawyer does.
The U.S. Department of Justice says the ADA (the Americans with Disabilities Act) applies to what businesses offer the public on the web. Exactly how it applies to your business is for your attorney to advise on, which is why we don’t certify sites as “ADA compliant”. The practical part, finding and fixing the problems, is what our website accessibility service covers.
Is My Small Business Website ADA Compliant? What “Accessible” Means
An accessible website is one that people with disabilities can use to do what everyone else does: read your hours, book, buy, ask a question or find your phone number.
Not everyone uses a website the way you do. Some people can’t see the screen and use a screen reader (software that reads the page aloud). Some can’t use a mouse and move around with only a keyboard. Some zoom in a long way to read the text. A site can look fine to you and still block all of them.
Small problems do the blocking. For example:
- A menu that opens with a mouse, but someone using only a keyboard can’t reach it or close it
- A photo with no description, so a screen reader has nothing to say about it
- A checkout a blind customer can’t finish
- A form that shows an error but doesn’t say clearly what went wrong
- A video with no captions, or a PDF brochure a screen reader can’t read
- A chat window or cookie banner from another company that doesn’t work with a keyboard
Any one of these can stop a customer who came to book, buy or call. Our checks use the international website accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.2, level AA) as a guide.
Is a Widget or a Free Scan Enough?
No. Scans are a useful first pass, but they find only some problems. A person has to check the rest. The W3C, the group that writes the accessibility standard, says the same.
An accessibility widget (an add-on placed on top of your site) is not a substitute for checking and fixing the website itself.
Be careful with anyone who promises that a product will stop you from being sued. No one can promise that: not a widget, not a scan, not us. What you can control is whether your site works for more customers, and whether you have a record of the work.
What Actually Helps: Real Fixes With Dates on Them
In 2026 a federal court in New York dismissed one website accessibility lawsuit as moot (meaning there was nothing left for the court to decide). As reported by Seyfarth, the company showed it had fixed the problems the lawsuit described and had worked with an accessibility consultant since 2023, and the person suing offered no evidence otherwise.
Every case turns on its own facts, so this doesn’t predict what would happen to you. But it shows why a clear record matters: what was checked, what was changed, when, and what is still open.
A sensible order of work looks like this:
- Map the site. List every type of page, form, file and add-on, and who is responsible for each one.
- Find the problems. Software checks the pages you and we agree on. Then a person tries the important parts the way customers do: with only a keyboard, zoomed in, and with a screen reader.
- Fix and retest. Fix what hurts customers most first, test again, and write down what changed and what is left.
If you have already received a demand letter, let your attorney handle the legal response and the deadlines. The technical work (finding, fixing and documenting the problems) can run alongside it.
Five Website Accessibility Checks You Can Do This Week
You don’t need special software for a first look. Set aside some quiet time and try these on your own site:
- Put the mouse away. Press the Tab key to move through your home page. Can you always see where you are? Can you open the menu and close it again?
- Fill in your contact or booking form with only the keyboard. Leave one field empty on purpose and send it. Does the error message say what went wrong, and can you fix it and finish?
- Zoom in. Make the text in your browser much larger. Does the page still make sense, or do words overlap or disappear?
- Look at your photos. Ask your web person whether each important photo has a short text description (often called alt text) that says what it shows.
- List your PDFs, videos and add-ons. Note which ones came from other companies, like chat, cookie banners, booking, payments or maps. If your forms are PDFs, see our page on PDFs and forms for everyone.
Write down what you tried, the date and what you found. That note is the start of the record that matters.
Where to Start
If you would like a second pair of eyes, ask for a free home-page access test. Send us your website address and we run a software check plus a quick check by hand, then send you a short summary in plain words. It is a first look, not a full check-up, and it costs nothing.
To see the full process, from the first check-up to fixes and monthly care with dated proof, read about website accessibility fixes. Other problems on your mind, like missed calls or backups? Pick a free check.