If you haven’t heard about website accessibility lawsuits yet, you need to. Over the past few years, thousands of businesses—from major retailers to small local companies—have been hit with legal action because their websites weren’t accessible to people with disabilities. At Magna Technology, we’re seeing more business owners ask about this issue, and for good reason. The legal landscape around website accessibility is evolving quickly, and no business is too small to be at risk.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Website accessibility lawsuits have surged dramatically. In recent years, thousands of federal lawsuits have been filed annually under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with many more demand letters sent before cases ever reach court. These aren’t just targeting big corporations—small and medium-sized businesses are frequently named as defendants.
The cases typically involve individuals with disabilities (often visual impairments) who couldn’t access a website to purchase products, book services, or obtain information. Plaintiffs argue that since websites serve as places of public accommodation, they must comply with ADA requirements, just like physical storefronts need wheelchair ramps and accessible restrooms.
What makes this particularly challenging for business owners is that the ADA doesn’t explicitly define technical standards for website accessibility. Courts have increasingly ruled that websites must be accessible, but the specific technical requirements can feel like a moving target.
Who’s Getting Sued?
The short answer: almost everyone.
We’ve seen cases against retailers, restaurants, healthcare providers, hotels, entertainment venues, professional services firms, and e-commerce businesses of all sizes. Industries with heavy online transaction components—like retail and hospitality—face particular scrutiny, but really any business with a website could potentially be targeted.
Many of these lawsuits follow a pattern. Serial plaintiffs and specialized law firms identify websites with accessibility issues, send demand letters, and often settle for amounts ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, plus legal fees and website remediation costs. For a small business, this can be devastating.
What Does Website Accessibility Actually Mean?
Website accessibility means designing and building websites so that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with them. This includes people who are blind or have low vision, those who are deaf or hard of hearing, people with mobility impairments, and those with cognitive disabilities.
The gold standard is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. While not technically law in most jurisdictions, courts increasingly reference WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the benchmark for compliance.
Practical accessibility features include things like alternative text for images (so screen readers can describe them to blind users), proper heading structure for navigation, keyboard accessibility for those who can’t use a mouse, sufficient color contrast for readability, captions for videos, and forms that work with assistive technologies.
Common Accessibility Problems
At Magna Technology, when we audit websites for accessibility, we typically find similar issues repeatedly. Images without alt text are extremely common—screen readers can’t describe images to blind users without this text alternative. Poor color contrast makes text difficult or impossible to read for people with low vision. Forms that don’t have proper labels confuse assistive technologies. Videos without captions exclude deaf users.
Many of these issues stem from website templates, page builders, and plugins that weren’t built with accessibility in mind. Even expensive, professionally designed websites often have significant accessibility problems if the developers weren’t specifically considering these requirements during the build process.
How to Protect Your Business
The good news is that website accessibility isn’t mysterious or impossibly difficult—it just requires attention and expertise. Here’s what business owners should be doing:
- Conduct an accessibility audit. Have your website professionally evaluated against WCAG standards. This identifies existing problems and creates a remediation roadmap.
- Prioritize fixes strategically. Not all accessibility issues carry equal legal or user experience weight. Focus first on the most impactful problems—like checkout processes, contact forms, and key navigation elements.
- Implement ongoing monitoring. Accessibility isn’t a one-time fix. Every time you add content, install a plugin, or update your site, new accessibility issues can be introduced. Regular testing catches problems before they become legal liabilities.
- Train your team. If you or your staff add content to the website, everyone needs basic accessibility training—like how to write good alt text and create accessible documents.
- Document your efforts. If you do receive a complaint or demand letter, being able to demonstrate that you’ve been actively working on accessibility shows good faith and can influence outcomes.
- Consider an accessibility statement. Many businesses now include a website accessibility statement outlining their commitment, progress, and contact information for users who encounter barriers.
Avoid an Accessibility Lawsuit—Audit Your Site Today!
Website accessibility is not just about compliance but also about reaching the roughly 26% of Americans who live with some form of disability. That’s a significant portion of your potential customer base who might be unable to use your website right now.
At Magna Technology, we build accessibility considerations into every website we create and can help existing clients remediate accessibility issues. The cost of making your website accessible is almost always less than defending a single lawsuit, and the business benefits of reaching a wider audience make it a smart investment regardless of legal concerns.
Don’t wait for a demand letter to start thinking about accessibility. Be proactive, protect your business, and do the right thing for all your customers. Give Magna Technology a call today for an audit at (617) 249-0539.