May 2025 Digital Accessibility Lawsuit Information

• 121 website accessibility lawsuits were filed in May.
• Consumer Durables & Apparel, Food, Beverage & Tobacco and Retailing were targeted most.
• 8 Plaintiffs filed 43% of the month's website accessibility lawsuits.
• EQUAL ACCESS LAW GROUP, PLLC filed the most complaints in May with 40 lawsuits in Illinois.
• Most lawsuits (40%) were filed in New York with Illinois coming in second at 37%
• We detected that 2% of litigated websites in May are using a Third-party accessibility Overlay tool.

 

Consumer Durables & Apparel, Food, Beverage & Tobacco and Retailing were targeted most in May with a combined total of 93 lawsuits (thats 76.86%)

Most lawsuits (40%) were filed in New York with Illinois coming in second at 37%

Third-Party Overlays

We detected that 2% of litigated websites in May 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

LISA CANTWELL is the most litigious website accessibility plaintiff, filing 11 lawsuits in May.

EQUAL ACCESS LAW GROUP, PLLC filed the most complaints in May with 40 lawsuits in Illinois. STEIN SAKS, PLLC came in second place with 29 filings in New York.