ada title lawsuits in federal court: 2013 – 2018
10163
7663
6601
4436
2722
63%
increase
over
2013
4789
8%
increase
over
2014
37%
increase
over
2015
16%
increase
over
2016
33%
increase
over
2017
graPh: ADA Title III Lawsuits in Federal Court: 3013-2018: 2722; 2014: 4436, 63% increase over 2013; 2015: 4789, 8% increase over 2014;
2016: 6601, 37% increase over 2015; 2017: 7663, 16% increase over 2016; 2018: 10163, 33% increase over 2017
E
ven if you’re neither located in the u.S. nor an
applicable jurisdiction, making your website
accessible is important as a matter of moral
principle. our websites should be as accessible
to those with disabilities as our businesses.
Websites that are not compliant not only shut out those
with disabilities, but may also be subject to lawsuits,
depending on local laws and rulings. Some of these
lawsuits have cost companies millions of dollars in
settlement, and aDa (americans with Disabilities act)
lawsuits pertaining to websites are up nearly 400 percent in
the last few years, according to Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
While this can be a boon to the visually impaired, it has
become an especially big boon to an army of lawyers who
are filing lawsuits as fast as they can against companies
whose websites are not compliant. Settlements have in
some cases exceeded $6,000,000. many speculate that the
attorneys who are ‘specializing’ in aDa compliance viola-
tions are doing more to gain a quick and lucrative
settlement than to protect the handicapped.
So, what does website accessibility mean? it consists of
a number of categories including color contrast, keyboard
navigation, page reader compatibility, alt tags on graphic
images and more. more detail on accessibility requirements
can be found at the WcaG 2.1 website (https://www.w3.org/
Tr/WcaG21/) which outlines three levels of accessibility. a,
aa and aaa. according to the california restaurant
association, aa is currently considered “accessible” by the
u.S. Department of Justice. Some corrections can be made
relatively easily, such as color contrast if you’re using cSS
on your website. in many cases, a simple change can make
a global effect on your website. other changes will need to
be made manually. it is important that the website is
tested both before and after the changes are made to
determine the level of compliance.
one spa in california was served a lawsuit in early 2018
citing violation of the civil rights of a visually impaired
individual. upon being served, they called several vendors
who they thought could shed light on the situation—their
website host (GoDaddy), their lawyer and their legislator, to
“...it has become an especially big boon to an army of
lawyers who are filing lawsuits as fast as they can
against companies whose websites are not compliant.”
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