June 2021 Digital Accessibility Lawsuit Information

• 194 website accessibility lawsuits were filed in June.
• Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary and Software & Services were targeted most.
• 5 Plaintiffs filed 40% of the month's website accessibility lawsuits.
• COHEN & MIZRAHI LLP filed the most complaints in June with 28 lawsuits in New York.
• Most lawsuits (61%) were filed in New York with California coming in second at 30%
• We detected that 6% of litigated websites in June are using a Third-party accessibility Overlay tool.

 

Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary and Software & Services were targeted most in June with a combined total of 75 lawsuits (38.66%)

Most lawsuits (61%) were filed in New York with California coming in second at 30%

Third-Party Overlays

We detected that 6% of litigated websites in June are using a third-party accessibility Overlay tool.

Typically overlays, or widgets, apply the third-party’s source code to the existing code of the host website in an effort to change the user experience by overriding or adding to the existing code. Overlays are often added instead of manually identifying or resolving accessibility barriers in a website’s code and design, which would generally occur during an audit or test from an accessibility subject matter expert. By not addressing the underlying cause of accessibility barriers, the effectiveness of overlays has been debated. There has also been an increase in the number of lawsuits against websites that use third-party overlays.

Plaintiffs Who Filed the Most Lawsuits

DOMINGO PASCUAL is the most litigious website accessibility plaintiff, filing 28 lawsuits in June.

COHEN & MIZRAHI LLP filed the most complaints in June with 28 lawsuits in New York. GOTTLIEB & ASSOCIATES came in second place with 27 filings in New York.