December 2020 Digital Accessibility Lawsuit Information

• 230 website accessibility lawsuits were filed in December, the most in any month this year.
• Consumer goods and apparel businesses were targeted with nearly 45% of lawsuits.
• New York continues to have the most lawsuits, now for the eighth straight month.
• One plaintiff filed more than 15% of total lawsuits.

Consumer Goods continue to dominate the lion's share of the lawsuits filed, with Apparel not far behind. December also saw a resurgence of Beauty and Leisure Products suits, after both industries had been out of the top-five for a few months.

New York remains the most popular state for website accessibility lawsuits, now for the eighth straight month, as 152 cases were filed in the Empire State to close out the year. California continues in the two-spot, holding a large lead over the rest of the pack. Cases in Florida and Pennsylvania continue to trickle.

Accessibility Standards Specified

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the most popular and respected digital accessibility standards.

Out of 230 lawsuits, 134 specifically cite a lack of WCAG 2.1 compliance, 87 cite WCAG 2.0, and 37 cite Section 508. WCAG 2.1 was cemented as the go-forward standard in 2021.

• WCAG 2.0 was published in 2008 and was the industry standard for a full decade.
• WCAG 2.1 was published in 2018 and is now considered the industry standard. This latest version of WCAG added to but didn't remove anything from WCAG 2.0, making it backwards-compatible with its predecessor.
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a key digital accessibility law, requiring federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to employees and the public.

Cohen & Mizrahi of New York returns to number-one. The 40 cases filed by Cohen & Mizrahi are the most cases we've ever recorded by a single firm in a single month, averaging over a case a day being filed by the firm.