Why do the trackers report different totals?

They count different things. Seyfarth Shaw counts federal courts only and reports all ADA Title III cases in its mid-year post. UsableNet counts federal courts plus New York and California state courts, and includes apps and video. EcomBack counts website cases in federal and state courts. Compare trends within one tracker, not across them.

Do these numbers include demand letters?

No. They count lawsuits filed in court. Demand letters are not public; presenters at UsableNet's 2026 midyear webinar estimated them at two to three times the number of lawsuits.

Does installing an accessibility widget prevent lawsuits?

The data does not show that. EcomBack found an accessibility widget on 24.25% of sites sued in the first half of 2026. See our guide on accessibility overlays.

Why are recent months revised upward?

Court databases update with a delay, so first monthly reports undercount. EcomBack's first monthly reports for January to June added up to 1,917; the revised mid-year total is 2,045.

ADA Website Lawsuits 2026: Monthly Tracker, Mid-Year Numbers and Trends

Three trackers publish US website accessibility lawsuit counts during the year: EcomBack, UsableNet and the law firm Seyfarth Shaw. They use different court coverage and definitions, so this page keeps their figures apart. The latest data covers filings through August 2026 (EcomBack) and September 2026 (UsableNet).

Tracker	Courts	Cases counted	Latest 2026 figure
EcomBack	Federal and state	Websites	2,586 (January to August)
UsableNet	Federal, plus New York and California state courts	Websites, apps, video	About 6,176 projected for the full year
Seyfarth Shaw	Federal	All ADA Title III cases (websites and physical locations)	5,006 in January to June

Filings by month

Bar chart of website accessibility lawsuits in US federal and state courts by month in 2026: January 365, February 334, March 391, April 334, May 335, June 286, July 262 and August 279. July and August are first reports. Data from EcomBack. — Monthly filings stayed between roughly 260 and 390.

EcomBack's monthly counts of website lawsuits in federal and state courts. The January to June figures are the revised numbers from its mid-year report; July and August are first reports and are likely to be revised upward.

Month (2026)	Lawsuits	Status
January	365	Revised
February	334	Revised
March	391	Revised
April	334	Revised
May	335	Revised
June	286	Revised
July	262	First report
August	279	First report
January to August	2,586	—

The first half of 2026 totalled 2,045, up 1.54% from 2,014 in the first half of 2025. For comparison, EcomBack counted 3,948 for all of 2025. UsableNet, which uses a different scope, reported 360 lawsuits in September 2026; 78 of those defendants had been sued before and 91 were using a third-party accessibility widget.

Where the cases are filed

Paired bar chart comparing website lawsuits by state in the first half of 2026 and 2025: Illinois 463 versus 237, California 424 versus 380, New York 399 versus 637, Florida 333 versus 487. Data from EcomBack. — Illinois nearly doubled while New York and Florida fell.

The main change in 2026 is Illinois. It moved to first place, while New York and Florida fell.

State	H1 2026	H1 2025	Change
Illinois	463	237	+95%
California	424	380	+12%
New York	399	637	−37%
Florida	333	487	−32%
Minnesota	120	not reported	—
Indiana	105	28	+275%
Pennsylvania	62	not reported	—

Seyfarth Shaw links the drop in New York federal filings to stricter review of standing by federal judges there, and notes that federal courts in California are declining to hear the state Unruh Act claims that usually accompany ADA claims. Both push cases toward state courts, which the federal-only counts do not include.

Platforms and widgets

Bar chart of the platform used by sites sued in the first half of 2026: Shopify 952, custom-built 661, WordPress 265, out of 2,045 cases. Data from EcomBack. — Shopify stores were 46.55% of first-half cases.

Shopify stores were the most sued platform: 952 cases, 46.55% of the first half, up from 32.42% a year earlier. In August the share was 47.7%.
Custom-built sites followed with 661 cases, then WordPress with 265.
496 cases (24.25%) were against sites that had an accessibility widget installed, up from 22.74%. In August the share was 27.6%.

The Shopify figure reflects how many stores run on Shopify and how plaintiff firms find targets, not a defect in the platform itself. Most issues cited in complaints come from the theme, apps and store content: images without alt text, buttons without names, form fields without labels and menus that do not work with a keyboard. Our guide to accessibility overlays covers why widgets do not resolve these.

Who files and who is sued

The ten most active plaintiff firms filed 80.6% of first-half cases (EcomBack). Equal Access Law Group alone filed 526, or 25.7%, followed by Manning Law with 366.
By industry, restaurants and food accounted for 29.0%, fashion and apparel 27.6%, and health, beauty and wellness 15.1%.
UsableNet put e-commerce at 79% of its first-half cases. 68% of defendants had annual revenue under $50 million, and about a quarter of cases were against companies that had been sued before.

Legal and regulatory changes in 2026

Utah (S.B. 68, effective May 6, 2026), Missouri (effective August 28, 2026) and Georgia (effective July 1, 2026) passed laws aimed at abusive website accessibility suits. Utah and Missouri use notice-and-cure periods; Georgia lets a defendant seek damages from the plaintiff and the plaintiff's attorney. These are state laws and do not stop a federal ADA Title III claim.
The Department of Justice moved the deadlines of its WCAG 2.1 AA rule for state and local governments to April 2027 and April 2028. The rule covers public entities, not private online stores.
Seyfarth Shaw's federal ADA Title III count for January to June 2026 was 5,006, up 9% and the highest first half since 2021. Its website-only count for 2026 is usually published in the first quarter of the following year.

Questions about how any of this applies to a specific business should go to a US attorney.

What it means for online stores

Most defendants are small and mid-sized businesses. Being a small store or based outside the US does not keep a site out of these counts.
Fashion, beauty and food are the most targeted categories, and Shopify is the most targeted platform. Stores in those groups should check their own site when competitors are sued.
An installed widget is no sign of compliance; a quarter of defendants had one.

The issues named in complaints can be found with a basic test. See product image alt text and the 10-minute keyboard test, or run the free accessibility test on your store. If you receive a letter, see what to do after an ADA demand letter.

Update log

October 18, 2026: first version, with EcomBack data through August and UsableNet data for September.

For the full 2025 figures, see ADA website lawsuits in 2025.

ADA website lawsuits in 2026: monthly tracker