ADA Lawsuits Are Surging: How Small Businesses Can Protect Themselves

In 2025, over 4,600 ADA-related lawsuits were filed targeting inaccessible websites. That's more than 12 lawsuits every single day. And it's not just big corporations being targeted — small businesses, local restaurants, e-commerce shops, and professional service firms are all in the crosshairs. Plaintiff firms actively scan websites for accessibility violations, then file lawsuits against the easiest targets.

The most common issues are surprisingly simple: images without descriptions for screen readers, buttons and forms that can't be used with a keyboard, text that's too low-contrast to read, and missing page structure that assistive technology relies on. A single page can have dozens of these violations without the business owner ever knowing.

The average ADA website settlement ranges from $5,000 to $25,000 — and that's before legal fees. Some serial plaintiff firms target hundreds of businesses per year. Beyond lawsuits, inaccessible websites also lose customers: over 1 billion people worldwide have disabilities, and they represent over $13 trillion in annual spending power.

The first step is knowing where you stand. An automated accessibility scan can check your website against WCAG guidelines in seconds and show you exactly what needs fixing. Most issues are straightforward HTML fixes that any web developer can handle: adding alt text to images, labeling form fields, fixing heading structure, and ensuring proper color contrast.

AccessKnight checks your website against 30 WCAG 2.1 rules and gives you a clear severity score plus code-level fix suggestions. You can scan for free with no credit card required. If you manage multiple websites, the Pro plan offers unlimited scans and automated monitoring that alerts you when accessibility regressions are detected.