All people have the right to equal treatment and shouldn’t experience discrimination because they happen to have a disability. Many laws in the U.S. support this right. If you violate one of these laws, then you can find yourself at the defensive end of a lawsuit.
In 2019, according to an analysis by international legal firm Seyfarth Shaw, web accessibility federal lawsuits hit record numbers, with 11,053 suits filed in federal court, an 8.8% increase from 2018.3 California led the way with 4794 web accessibility lawsuits, which may be in response to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit which reversed a federal judge’s 2017 dismissal of a case against Domino’s Pizza. A man who is blind complained that he was unable to use Domino’s website or mobile app because neither was accessible. This reversal might have triggered more plaintiffs to launch web accessibility lawsuits in California.
Both California and New York also have their state laws banning discrimination. In California, it’s the Unruh Civil Rights Act; New York has a New York State Human Rights Law.
Over the years, people have filed web accessibility lawsuits over Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act violations. Section 508 federal departments and agencies ensure ICT (information and communication technology) they use is accessible. People have taken legal action against both the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security over Section 508 violations.