8,667 ADA Lawsuits Filed in 2025: Full Year Report and What It Means 65 Days Before the Deadline

The Seyfarth Shaw annual report, widely considered the definitive source for ADA litigation data, confirmed 8,667 ADA Title III federal lawsuits filed or removed to federal district courts in 2025. This represents a slight 2% decline from 2024's approximately 8,800 filings.

Do not mistake that small decline for relief. Federal filings tell only part of the story. Plaintiffs are increasingly filing in state courts where standing requirements are lower and monetary damages are higher. The true volume of ADA digital accessibility litigation, including state court filings, demand letters, and OCR complaints, likely exceeds 15,000 actions in 2025.

Key Statistics:

- Total federal filings: 8,667 (2% decrease from 2024) - Since 2018: Over 25,000 cumulative federal filings - Every year since 2021: Over 4,000 annual federal lawsuits - 46% of federal cases: Repeat defendants (sued more than once) - 69% of lawsuits: Targeted e-commerce/online store websites - 36% of targets: Companies with revenue over $25 million - 22.6% of sued sites: Had accessibility overlays installed

What the Slight Federal Decline Actually Means:

The 2% decline in federal filings is not a sign of reduced enforcement. It reflects three strategic shifts by plaintiff attorneys:

1. Migration to state courts (especially New York, California) 2. Shift toward demand letters over formal lawsuits 3. New AI-powered pro se filings outside traditional channels

Total enforcement pressure is up, not down.

The biggest story in the 2025 data is the geographic reshuffling of ADA litigation:

1. California: 3,252 lawsuits (maintained #1) California's Unruh Civil Rights Act continues to make it the most attractive jurisdiction for ADA plaintiffs. The $4,000 minimum statutory damages per violation, combined with attorney fees, creates powerful economic incentives. Government entities face dual federal/state exposure.

2. Florida: 1,823 lawsuits (jumped to #2, previously #3) Florida surpassed New York for the first time in recent memory. The state's large population of retirees with disabilities, favorable court conditions, and growing plaintiff attorney presence drove the surge. Florida's Fourth Appellate District has established clear ADA website enforcement standards.

3. New York: 1,471 lawsuits (dropped to #3, previously #1-2) New York's decline in federal filings is deceptive. Federal judges in SDNY and EDNY have grown increasingly hostile to cookie-cutter ADA complaints, applying strict standing requirements post-Acheson. Plaintiff attorneys responded by migrating en masse to state courts under NYSHRL and NYCHRL, where standing requirements are lower and monetary damages (up to $250,000 for intentional violations under NYCHRL) are available. True litigation volume in New York is likely higher than ever.

4. Illinois: ~475 estimated full-year (fastest-growing) Illinois is the most dramatic story of 2025. With 237 federal filings in just the first half, the state saw a staggering 746% increase from H1 2024's 28 cases. The cause: New York plaintiff law firms are relocating their filings to Illinois federal courts to escape frustrated NY judges. Illinois is now a top-5 litigation state.

5. Texas: 224+ (fourth-highest) DOJ secured election website settlements in October 2025, signaling intensified federal enforcement. Texas's 5,868 government entities represent the largest compliance surface area in the nation.

What This Means: If your state traditionally had low ADA litigation, that could change overnight. Illinois went from a quiet jurisdiction to an explosion in 12 months. Plaintiff attorneys follow economics, not geography.

Perhaps the most disruptive finding in the 2025 data: pro se (self-represented) plaintiffs now account for 40% of all federal ADA Title III filings, up 40% year-over-year. Federal pro se Fair Housing Act lawsuits surged 69% in the same period.

How It Works:

A person with a disability encounters an inaccessible website. Previously, they had two options: complain to the DOJ (slow, uncertain) or hire an attorney ($5,000+ retainer). Now there is a third path:

1. Describe the accessibility barriers to ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini 2. AI generates a coherent legal complaint citing relevant statutes 3. File the complaint pro se (no attorney needed) 4. Total cost: Filing fee only ($350-$400)

Seyfarth Shaw's analysis identified telltale signs of AI-drafted complaints: - Citation of non-existent cases with fabricated parentheticals - Case holdings that are completely wrong - Substantive briefs written faster than physically possible to type - Work product that does not match the plaintiff's spoken English skills

Why This Changes Everything:

The traditional bottleneck in ADA litigation was attorney capacity. Only 16 law firms filed 90% of serial plaintiff cases because the infrastructure was expensive to build. AI eliminates that bottleneck entirely.

Prediction for 2026: By year-end, the majority of initial ADA demand letters and complaints will be AI-generated. The cost of filing has dropped to near zero, which means the volume of enforcement actions will be limited only by the number of inaccessible websites, not by attorney availability.

For government entities, this is especially concerning. Title II creates clearer liability than Title III. Any person with a disability who cannot use a government website can now generate a complaint in minutes.

AudioEye's 2025 Digital Accessibility Index analyzed nearly 35,000 government web pages across approximately 800 websites. The findings are alarming:

Average Government Website Violations: - 307 total accessibility violations per page - 75.4 color contrast violations per page - 15.3 images lacking proper alt text per page - 6.8 forms without clear labels per page - 51% of pages failing basic keyboard navigation

Sector Comparison: Government websites performed worse than retail, healthcare, finance, and every other sector analyzed. This is especially troubling because government websites deliver essential public services that residents have a legal right to access.

The Only 5.2% Statistic: According to the 2025 WebAIM Million Report, only 5.2% of the top one million websites meet basic WCAG accessibility standards. For government websites specifically, the compliance rate is even lower.

What This Means for the April 2026 Deadline:

With 307 violations per page on average and 65 days until mandatory compliance, the math is brutal. Comprehensive accessibility remediation typically requires 12-18 months. Most government entities starting now cannot achieve full compliance in time.

But they can demonstrate good faith effort, and that makes a significant legal difference.

Amid political uncertainty, one question dominates: Is the April 24, 2026 deadline still happening?

The answer is yes.

The DOJ's Title II web accessibility rule, finalized in April 2024, is federal law. While the current administration has:

- Withdrawn 11 ADA guidance documents (September 2025) - Halted 54 pending regulatory actions - Announced it will re-examine all ADA Title II and III regulations on an undetermined timetable - Received requests from the American Council on Education to pause implementation

...the Title II web accessibility rule itself has NOT been rescinded, modified, or stayed. As Level Access confirmed in their February 2025 analysis: Executive orders on DEI do not change longstanding accessibility laws, including the DOJ's Title II rule on web and mobile accessibility.

The Enforcement Paradox:

Reduced federal enforcement historically leads to increased private litigation. When the DOJ steps back, plaintiff attorneys and advocacy groups fill the vacuum. This is already happening:

- Private ADA lawsuits continued at record pace (8,667 federal + uncounted state) - Michigan-model OCR complaint campaigns spreading to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois - Pro se AI-powered filings removing the attorney bottleneck - State attorneys general increasingly active on accessibility

Bottom Line: The deadline stands. Federal enforcement may be reduced, but private litigation is surging to fill the gap. Government entities that assume political changes protect them will face a harsh reality on April 25, 2026.

Full compliance in 65 days is impossible for most organizations. Here is the realistic action plan that maximizes your legal protection:

Week 1 (Days 65-58): Assess and Document - Run a comprehensive accessibility scan TODAY - Inventory all websites and web applications your entity operates - Document current state with timestamped reports - Brief leadership on risk exposure with this data

Weeks 2-3 (Days 57-44): Fix Quick Wins - Add alt text to all images on top 20 most-visited pages - Fix color contrast issues (automated tools can identify these) - Add form field labels to all public-facing forms - Post an accessibility statement with contact information - Fix keyboard navigation on homepage and primary navigation

Weeks 4-6 (Days 43-23): Systematic Remediation - Address remaining WCAG violations by priority - Focus on public-facing pages first (payments, applications, forms) - Fix PDF accessibility for most-downloaded documents - Ensure video content has captions - Document every single fix with before/after evidence

Weeks 7-9 (Days 22-1): Documentation and Defense - Get a Good Faith Compliance Certificate documenting your efforts - Compile remediation tracking spreadsheet with dates - Create accessibility policy document - Establish ongoing monitoring plan - Prepare response template for potential demand letters

The Good Faith Strategy: You cannot achieve perfection, but you can demonstrate effort. Courts and the DOJ distinguish between entities that ignored accessibility entirely versus those actively working toward compliance. Documentation of your efforts — audit reports, remediation tracking, compliance certificates, staff training records — can reduce settlement demands by 40-60%.

1. Litigation Is Not Slowing Down 8,667 federal filings plus uncounted state court cases, demand letters, and OCR complaints mean total enforcement actions likely exceeded 15,000 in 2025. The slight federal decline masks a strategic shift, not a retreat.

2. Geography Is Shifting Florida surpassing New York, Illinois exploding 746%, and Texas facing DOJ enforcement actions mean no state is safe. Plaintiff attorneys follow opportunity, and the April 2026 deadline creates opportunity everywhere.

3. AI Is the Great Equalizer Pro se filings up 40% means anyone with a disability and an inaccessible government website can now generate a complaint in minutes. The attorney bottleneck that limited enforcement volume is disappearing.

4. Government Is the Next Frontier With 307 violations per page on average and clear Title II liability, government entities are the most exposed sector heading into the April 2026 deadline. Private sector litigation was just the warm-up.

5. Good Faith Is Your Best Defense Perfect compliance in 65 days is impossible. But documented good faith effort — scans, remediation plans, compliance certificates, ongoing monitoring — reduces settlement amounts by 40-60% and may deter some plaintiffs entirely.