In 2025, more than 4,600 ADA website lawsuits were filed in U.S. federal court — and roughly 73% targeted businesses with under $25M in revenue. The pattern is now industrialized: plaintiff firms use automated scanners to find non-compliant sites and send demand letters with $10–$25k settlement asks.
Why small businesses are the new target
Enterprise sites are usually remediated. SMBs are not. Plaintiff firms have figured out that a $10k settlement from a 50-employee company is faster and easier than a multi-year fight with a corporate legal team.
The three-step fix
- Run a WCAG 2.2 AA scan today — most sites fail on 30–80 issues
- Remediate the structural issues (alt text, focus order, contrast, ARIA)
- Keep continuous monitoring in place — one new page or plugin can break compliance
ADA Active Shield was built for exactly this — continuous scanning, automated fixes, and a legal-grade audit trail. It costs less per month than a single hour of defense counsel.
