If you own an online store or run a local business site, the rise of digital litigation should have you asking: what makes a website a target for an ADA lawsuit? Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III lawsuits targeting websites have skyrocketed over the past few years, with thousands of cases filed annually in states like New York, California, and Florida.
Many founders assume these lawsuits are filed by frustrated users who tried to use the website and failed.
The reality is different. The vast majority of website accessibility lawsuits are filed by a small group of serial plaintiffs working with specialized law firms. These firms use automated scanners to crawl thousands of domains in a single industry, searching for specific, easy-to-prove coding violations.
Once they identify a site with these weak spots, they send a boilerplate legal complaint that copy-pastes the same violations they cited in a hundred other suits that week.
If your website contains these common coding triggers, you are essentially waiting for your domain to show up on a plaintiff attorney's automated target list.
How serial filers select their targets
Plaintiffs' attorneys do not browse the web looking for websites to sue. They use automated crawlers built on open-source testing engines (like axe-core or Lighthouse).
The crawler visits your site, scans your HTML, and flags obvious Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) violations. The law firm filters the results to target e-commerce stores, local medical clinics, and service businesses.
They look for sites that have clear commercial intent (meaning they sell products, take bookings, or collect leads) because courts are far more likely to rule that commercial sites qualify as "places of public accommodation" under Title III.
Once they identify a target, they document the violations and draft the suit. The complaint will cite the same four or five structural barriers that trigger almost every digital accessibility lawsuit on the web.
Trigger 1: Missing or meaningless alt text
This is the most common citation in ADA complaints because it is the easiest to prove in court.
Screen-reader users rely on alternative text (alt text) to understand the visual content of a page. When a screen reader encounters an image tag, it reads the alt attribute.
If your website lacks alt text, the screen reader has to announce the raw file name (e.g., IMG_48292.jpg) or say "unlabeled image."
Even worse is meaningless alt text, such as stuffing keywords into the tag (e.g., alt="best shoes cheap discount shoes buy now") rather than describing the product. This makes the page unnavigable for visually impaired shoppers.
For an e-commerce site, missing alt text on product images represents an immediate barrier. If a blind customer cannot understand what the product looks like or which image maps to the purchase button, they cannot complete their transaction.
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Book a 15-min introTrigger 2: Inaccessible navigation menus
A user who cannot operate a mouse (due to visual, motor, or neurological impairments) relies on their keyboard to navigate. They use the Tab key to jump from link to link and the Enter key to click.
If your navigation menu is built using custom JavaScript hover states without keyboard event handlers, it becomes a barrier:
- No focus states: When the user tabs, there is no visual indicator (like a outline box) showing which menu item is currently highlighted. They are tabbing in the dark.
- Keyboard exclusion: The dropdown submenus only appear when a mouse hovers over them. A keyboard user cannot expand the menu to access your product categories or contact page.
- Hidden focus: The tab focus moves to hidden menu elements that are offscreen, forcing the user to tab ten times through invisible links before they can reach the main body text.
If a keyboard user cannot navigate past your homepage menu, your site fails the most basic operability audits.
Trigger 3: Keyboard traps and checkout blocks
The most litigated barriers are those that actively block a user from completing their transaction. If a customer can browse your site but gets stuck in your checkout flow, you are highly vulnerable to a lawsuit.
Two critical errors occur here:
- Keyboard traps: A keyboard trap happens when a user tabs into an element, such as a popup cookie banner or a cart drawer, but cannot tab out of it. The focus is stuck inside the modal, and they cannot return to the main page without using a mouse.
- Inaccessible form controls: Checkout forms often lack programmatic labels. If a blind shopper tabs to a credit card field, the screen reader must announce "Credit Card Number." If the field is only labeled with visual placeholder text, the screen reader announces "edit text, empty," leaving the user with no idea what information is required.
If a user cannot complete a purchase, book an appointment, or submit a contact form using only their keyboard, plaintiffs' attorneys have a clear, winnable case.
Trigger 4: Low color contrast
While low contrast is rarely the only citation in a lawsuit, it is routinely added to complaints to strengthen the plaintiff's case.
WCAG 2.1 AA requires a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal body text and 3:1 for large text. Many modern web designs use light-gray text on a white background or white text overlaid on light-colored hero images.
For users with low vision or color blindness, this makes the copy unreadable. If your pricing details, refund policies, or product options do not meet contrast minimums, they are legally inaccessible.
How to audit your site before you get sued
Do not wait for a process server to deliver a complaint. You can audit your website's lawsuit risk in under ten minutes:
- The Keyboard Test: Unplug your mouse. Try to navigate your entire website using only the Tab key to move forward, Shift+Tab to move backward, and Enter to click. Can you open your menus, fill out your contact form, add a product to the cart, and complete the checkout?
- The Contrast Check: Run your homepage through a free contrast checker tool. Verify that all body text and button labels pass WCAG AA standards.
- The Alt Text Scan: Run an automated page audit using the axe Accessibility browser extension. It will instantly flag any images that lack alt attributes.
If your self-test reveals keyboard blocks or unlabeled fields, you need to address them. Remediating these core triggers is far cheaper than paying a legal settlement. If you suspect your e-commerce platform or custom theme is exposing you to litigation, a systematic accessibility audit and code repair project can secure your site. Fix the triggers before the crawlers find them.