Plaintiffs filed 2,045 ADA website accessibility lawsuits in the first six months of 2026, according to EcomBack's mid-year report — just 1.54% more than the 2,014 filed in the same period of 2025. The total barely moved. Almost everything underneath it did.
Illinois overtook California and New York to become the most-sued state. Shopify stores became nearly half of all targets. And one in four defendants was already running an accessibility widget when the complaint arrived.
The second half has not slowed down: UsableNet counted 431 new web accessibility lawsuits in October 2026 alone. Here is what the data shows and what it means for your site.
Illinois Is Now the Most-Sued State
| State | Lawsuits (H1 2026) | Share | Change vs H1 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 463 | 22.64% | +95.36% |
| California | 424 | 20.73% | +11.58% |
| New York | 399 | 19.51% | −37.36% |
| Florida | 333 | 16.28% | −31.62% |
| Minnesota | 120 | 5.87% | +42.86% |
| Indiana | 105 | 5.13% | +275% |
| Pennsylvania | 62 | 3.03% | +31.91% |
| All other states | 139 | 6.80% | — |
The volume did not disappear; it moved. Seyfarth Shaw attributes New York's drop in federal filings to stricter standing standards that federal courts there have applied in website cases. Illinois and Indiana (both in the Seventh Circuit) and Minnesota absorbed much of the growth.
If your business is in Illinois or Indiana, 2026 is the year your risk profile changed. Our Illinois analysis covers why plaintiffs' firms moved there.
Shopify Stores Are Now Nearly Half the Targets
| Platform | Lawsuits (H1 2026) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | 952 | 46.55% |
| Custom-coded | 661 | 32.32% |
| WordPress | 265 | 12.96% |
| All other platforms | 167 | 8.17% |
The likeliest explanation is not that Shopify is uniquely inaccessible. Plaintiffs' screening is automated, and template-based stores that share themes, apps and checkout flows tend to share the same machine-detectable failures — which makes them efficient to find at scale.
The industry data points the same way. Consumer brands with online ordering dominate:
| Industry | Lawsuits (H1 2026) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants, food & beverages | 593 | 29.00% |
| Fashion, clothing & apparel | 565 | 27.63% |
| Health, beauty & wellness | 308 | 15.06% |
| Home, furniture & garden | 206 | 10.07% |
The top three industries alone account for about 72% of all filings.
A Handful of Firms File Most of the Cases
| Law firm | Lawsuits (H1 2026) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Equal Access Law Group, PLLC | 526 | 25.72% |
| Manning Law, APC | 366 | 17.90% |
| Gottlieb & Associates | 197 | 9.63% |
| Stein Saks, PLLC | 124 | 6.06% |
| Throndset Michenfelder, LLC | 120 | 5.87% |
The plaintiff side is just as concentrated. Of 225 named plaintiffs, 30 filed 1,035 lawsuits — half of everything. The single most active plaintiff filed 166.
Repeat targeting is real, too. Of the 431 businesses sued in October 2026, 97 had already faced a prior digital accessibility lawsuit (UsableNet). Settling without fixing the site puts you back in the pool. How serial filers choose targets
See What a Plaintiff's Scanner Sees
The failures behind these filings — missing alt text, unlabeled form fields, empty buttons, low contrast — are machine-detectable. Run a free scan and fix them before someone else finds them.
Scan Your Website FreeWhy the Trackers Disagree (and Which Number to Use)
| Tracker | What it counts | Latest figure |
|---|---|---|
| EcomBack | ADA website accessibility lawsuits | 2,045 (January–June 2026) |
| Seyfarth Shaw | All federal ADA Title III lawsuits — physical locations and websites | 5,006 (January–June 2026), the highest mid-year total since 2021 |
| UsableNet | Web and app accessibility lawsuits in federal courts plus New York and California state courts | 431 (October 2026) |
Seyfarth's 5,006 compares with a four-year first-half average of 4,463, and the firm says 2026 could end with more than 10,000 federal Title III filings if the trend holds. California accounted for 2,426 of those, Florida 709 and Illinois 505.
For website risk specifically, use EcomBack or UsableNet. Seyfarth's total is the best measure of overall ADA Title III litigation, but it includes slip-and-fall-style physical access cases.
What to Do With This Data
• Know your exposure factors. An Illinois, California or New York business with a Shopify store in food, fashion or beauty fits the current filing profile almost exactly.
• Fix the machine-detectable failures first. Alt text, form labels, link and button names, color contrast, page language and heading structure.
• Do not treat a widget as your compliance position. One in four defendants had one.
• Re-scan after theme and app updates. On template platforms, a single app install can reintroduce failures across every page.
• Keep dated records. A federal court in Chicago dismissed an ADA website suit in October 2026 after the retailer produced sworn evidence and the plaintiff produced none. What that case teaches
• Check your state's new laws. Missouri, Georgia and Utah now let sued businesses recover fees in some cases. How the three laws work
Frequently Asked Questions
How many ADA website lawsuits were filed in 2026?
EcomBack counted 2,045 ADA website lawsuits from January through June 2026, up 1.54% from the same period of 2025. UsableNet, which also counts New York and California state courts, recorded 431 new web accessibility lawsuits in October 2026 alone. Seyfarth Shaw's broader count of all federal ADA Title III lawsuits, including physical-location cases, was 5,006 for the first half of 2026.
Which state has the most ADA website lawsuits in 2026?
Illinois, with 463 ADA website lawsuits in the first half of 2026 (22.64% of the national total, up 95% year over year), followed by California (424), New York (399) and Florida (333), according to EcomBack. For all federal ADA Title III lawsuits, including physical locations, California leads with 2,426 in the same period, per Seyfarth Shaw.
Are Shopify stores more likely to be sued for ADA website violations?
Shopify sites made up 46.55% of ADA website lawsuit defendants in the first half of 2026, up from 32.42% a year earlier, according to EcomBack. That reflects how plaintiffs screen at scale rather than any rule targeting Shopify: stores built on shared themes and apps tend to share the same detectable accessibility failures. Fixing those failures on your own store is what matters.
The headline number for 2026 looks flat. The detail does not. Litigation has shifted toward Illinois and the Midwest, toward Shopify and other template-based stores, and toward consumer brands with online ordering — while the same small group of firms and plaintiffs files most of the cases.
None of that changes the defense. Automated screening finds a short list of failures; fixing them, documenting the work, and re-checking after every site change is what takes a business off the list.
Sources: EcomBack 2026 Mid-Year ADA Website Lawsuit Report • Seyfarth Shaw, 2026 Mid-Year Report: ADA Title III Federal Lawsuit Numbers Are Climbing • UsableNet web accessibility lawsuit tracker (October 2026)
Related reading: The 31 plaintiffs behind half of all filings • Why accessibility widgets don't stop lawsuits • 3 states that now let businesses fight back
Disclaimer: This article summarizes litigation statistics published by third-party trackers as of November 2026. Trackers use different methods and scopes. It is not legal advice; consult qualified counsel about your situation.