UsableNet 2025: 5,000+ digital accessibility lawsuits filed; 46% of federal cases involve repeat defendants

Claims (UsableNet 2025 reports):

• 2,019 lawsuits filed in H1 2025; projected +20% over 2024
• "By the end of 2025, more than 5,000 digital accessibility lawsuits had been filed"
• "In federal court alone, 46% of cases involved repeat defendants"
• "From 2018 to 2025, plaintiffs have filed more than 25,000 lawsuits with digital accessibility complaints"
• 36% of sued companies had annual revenue exceeding $25M (up from 33% in 2024); but small businesses remain exposed
• 69% of lawsuits target eCommerce specifically

Sources: https://info.usablenet.com/hubfs/2025-MidYear-Report-FINAL.pdf; https://blog.usablenet.com/ada-web-lawsuit-trends-2026

Confidence: Verified.

Settlement does not stop the next plaintiff — 46% repeat-defendant rate means a settled case is often followed by another filing. Only structural remediation (semantic HTML, real WCAG conformance) creates lasting protection. Overlays do not work (see FTC (Jan 3, 2025): accessiBe ordered to pay $1M for deceptive claims its AI overlay could make sites WCAG-compliant).