January 2025 Digital Accessibility Lawsuit Information

• 104 website accessibility lawsuits were filed in January.
• Consumer Durables & Apparel, Food, Beverage & Tobacco and Retailing were targeted most.
• 6 Plaintiffs filed 42% of the month's website accessibility lawsuits.
• Asher Cohen Law PLLC filed the most complaints in January with 27 lawsuits in Illinois.
• Most lawsuits (48%) were filed in New York with Illinois coming in second at 31%
• We detected that <1% of litigated websites in January are using a Third-party accessibility Overlay tool.

 

Consumer Durables & Apparel, Food, Beverage & Tobacco and Retailing were targeted most in January with a combined total of 70 lawsuits (thats 67.32%)

Most lawsuits (48%) were filed in New York with Illinois coming in second at 31%

Third-Party Overlays

We detected that <1% of litigated websites in January are using a Third-party accessibility Overlay tool.

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

CONSTANCE HENRY is the most litigious website accessibility plaintiff, filing 11 lawsuits in January.

Asher Cohen Law PLLC filed the most complaints in January with 27 lawsuits in Illinois. MANNING LAW, APC came in second place with 15 filings in California.