April 2022 Digital Accessibility Lawsuit Information

• 153 website accessibility lawsuits were filed in April.
• Consumer Staples, Consumer Durables & Apparel and Consumer Services were targeted most.
• 6 Plaintiffs filed 43% of the month's website accessibility lawsuits.
• PACIFIC TRIAL ATTORNEYS, APC filed the most complaints in April with 50 lawsuits in California.
• Most lawsuits (50%) were filed in California with New York coming in second at 43%
• None of the litigated Websites in April seemed to employ Third-party Overlay tools.

 

Consumer Staples, Consumer Durables & Apparel and Consumer Services were targeted most in April with a combined total of 58 lawsuits (thats 37.91%)

Most lawsuits (50%) were filed in California with New York coming in second at 43%

Third-Party Overlays

None of the litigated Websites in April seemed to employ Third-party Overlay tools.

Typically overlays, or widgets, apply a third-party's source code to the existing webpage in an effort to change the user experience by overriding or altering elements of the page. Overlays are often used in-place of manual identification and resolution of accessibility barriers. Because such overlays try to hide underlying accessibility issues, their effectiveness is debated and their use seems to promote the idea that website operators need not concern themselves with the accessibility of their webpages. There has been an increase in the number of lawsuits against websites that use third-party overlays.

Plaintiffs Who Filed the Most Lawsuits

LUIS LICEA is the most litigious website accessibility plaintiff, filing 20 lawsuits in April.

PACIFIC TRIAL ATTORNEYS, APC filed the most complaints in April with 50 lawsuits in California. STEIN SAKS, PLLC came in second place with 23 filings in New York.