February 2021Monthly Website Accessibility Lawsuit Recap

Key takeaways

  • 218 website accessibility lawsuits were filed in February.
  • WCAG 2.0 non-compliance was cited more than WCAG 2.1.
  • Consumer goods and apparel were targeted in more than one-third of cases.
  • More than 60% of the lawsuits were filed in New York.

 

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Lawsuits by Most-Targeted Industries

Consumer goods

 18% (40)

Apparel

 17% (36)

Leisure products

 13% (28)

Hotel, restaurant and leisure

 7% (15)

Food products / Media (tie)

 6% (14)

Consumer Goods has now seen the most website accessibility lawsuits for seven straight months. While the Apparel; Leisure Products; and Hotel, Restaurant, and Leisure industries commonly appear in the top-five, this is the first time in our database's history that Media is on the list. Media and Food Products each were subject to 14 lawsuits.

Lawsuit Filings Per State

ny

New York

 64% (139)
ca

California

 25% (55)
fl

Florida

 9% (20)
pa

Pennsylvania

 1% (3)
il

Illinois

 <1% (1)

By now, the story of lawsuit filings per state is fairly predictable: there's New York at the top, California a few notches below, and then everyone else. In February, 139 cases were filed in New York, 55 were filed in California, and fewer than 25 elsewhere.

Accessibility Standards Specified

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

Somewhat unexpectedly, WCAG 2.0 was referenced in more cases in February than WCAG 2.1. That hasn't happened in almost a year, and the second half of 2020 seemed to solidify WCAG 2.1 as the prominent standard in plaintiff complaints. Combining both standards, WCAG was cited in over 95% of plaintiff complaints.

Out of 218 lawsuits, 113 specifically cite a lack of WCAG 2.0 compliance, 95 cite a lack of WCAG 2.1 compliance, 16 cite Section 508, and four don't cite any formal standard. Some may also cite more than one.

  • 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.
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Plaintiffs Who Filed the Most Lawsuits

February's list of top-filing plaintiffs has no overlap from January's, although the top positions remain dominated by plaintiffs from the Tri-State area.

Christian Sanchez filed 30 cases in February against companies in various industries, but with a higher number against those in the Media and Finance industries.

Christian Sanchez

30 lawsuits filed

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  • Sanchez v. Koch Industries, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. Indigo Wild, L.L.C.
  • Sanchez v. Lovely Skin, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. BFTV, LLC
  • Sanchez v. Discovery Communications, LLC
  • Sanchez v. BET Streaming LLC
  • Sanchez v. Seeking Alpha Inc.
  • Sanchez v. Webull Financial LLC
  • Sanchez v. Robinhood Markets, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. Morningstar, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. Sovereign Offshore Services LLC
  • Sanchez v. Shuttle Finance, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. Wedderspoon Organic USA, LLC
  • Sanchez v. Twitch Interactive, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. PicsArt, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. Adobe Inc.
  • Sanchez v. Grammarly, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. The Upper Deck Company
  • Sanchez v. Discount Dance, LLC
  • Sanchez v. American TaiTrade, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. Beckett Collectibles, LLC
  • Sanchez v. Zero Skateboards LLC
  • Sanchez v. The McClatchy Company, LLC
  • Sanchez v. Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
  • Sanchez v. Fortune Media (USA) Corporation
  • Sanchez v. Forbes Media LLC
  • Sanchez v. TV Guide Magazine, LLC
  • Sanchez v. Peacock TV LLC
  • Sanchez v. Oath Inc
  • Sanchez v. Hearst Magazine Media

Frankie Monegro

17 lawsuits filed

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  • Monegro v. Zachary Prell, Inc.
  • Monegro v. The Hundreds Is Huge, Inc.
  • Monegro v. Opposuits USA Inc.
  • Monegro v. Spinster Sisters, Inc.
  • Monegro v. Careguide, Inc.
  • Monegro v. Listening Systems, Inc.
  • Monegro v. Adafruit Industries LLC
  • Monegro v. Trade Ideas LLC
  • Monegro v. Stock Rover LLC
  • Monegro v. Southwest Specialty Food, Inc.
  • Monegro v. Wisconsin Specialty Protein, LLC
  • Monegro v. Secret Aardvark Trading Co., LLC
  • Monegro v. Riverside Natural Foods Inc.
  • Monegro v. Foodstirs, Inc.
  • Monegro v. Uship, Inc.
  • Monegro v. Sparkfun Electronics Inc.
  • Monegro v. Axel Glade LLC

Jose Quezada

14 lawsuits filed

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  • Quezada v. Clear Image, Inc.
  • Quezada v. Accretive Capital LLC
  • Quezada v. Expedia, Inc.
  • Quezada v. Muir Longboard Shop, Inc.
  • Quezada v. Loaded Boards, Inc.
  • Quezada v. Make'n Music, LLC
  • Quezada v. Johnson String Instrument, Inc.
  • Quezada v. Fiddlershop Academy LLC
  • Quezada v. Dragon Alliance LLC
  • Quezada v. The New York Times Company
  • Quezada v. NYP Holdings, Inc.
  • Quezada v. Contrix Inc.
  • Quezada v. CBS Interactive Inc.
  • Quezada v. Bloomberg L.P.

Victor Ariza

13 lawsuits filed

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  • Ariza v. Reiss (Retail) Limited, Inc.
  • Ariza v. Camilla Corporation
  • Ariza v. Soy Garota, Inc.
  • Ariza v. Anine Bing Corporation
  • Ariza v. Kickoff USA, Inc.
  • Ariza v. Ted Baker Limited, Inc.
  • Ariza v. Gold Nugget Uniform, Inc.
  • Ariza v. Body & Shop Boutique, Inc.
  • Ariza v. Atlantic Jewelers, Inc.
  • Ariza v. Circle Art @ Home, Inc.
  • Ariza v. Relax the Back Corporation
  • Ariza v. Concepto, LLC
  • Ariza v. Smoothie King

Abelardo Martinez, Jr.

12 lawsuits filed

Skip over last
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. Edumnuds.com
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. Sit N' Sleep Inc.
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. OfferUp Inc
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. Moment Media LLC
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. Particle Media
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. Fresh Inc.
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. RB Health US LLC
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. Kellog Company
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. PACIFIC GUARDIAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, LIMITED
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. Just Answer LLC
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. Independent Medical, LLC
  • Abelardo Martinez, Jr. v. Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Law Firms That Filed the Most Lawsuits

Pacific Trial Attorneys

California
33 lawsuits filed

Cohen & Mizrahi

New York
30 lawsuits filed

Mars Khaimov

New York
21 lawsuits filed

Lipsky Low, LLP

New York
17 lawsuits filed

Law Offices of Pelayo Duran

Florida
17 lawsuits filed

Pacific Trial Attorneys out of California filed 33 cases and returns to the number-one position after a five month absence. Cohen & Mizrahi filed 30 cases and is in the number-two spot after being number-three in January. This is the first time since October 2020 that two separate firms each filed at least 30 cases in a single month.

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