Some clients ask why they should work towards making their websites accessible when they will likely be sued anyway...
Seyfarth Synopsis: A New York federal court recently dismissed a website accessibility action as "moot," based on the defendant's submitted evidence that it took "commercially reasonable" steps to make its website accessible and plaintiff's failure to submit any evidence to the contrary.
Some clients ask why they should work towards making their websites accessible when they will likely be sued anyway, given the huge number of website accessibility lawsuits filed each year. After all, in 2025, plaintiffs filed over 3,000 website accessibility lawsuitsin federal court.
In addition to ensuring that customers with disabilities can access the goods and services of the business, meaningful efforts to make a website accessible can also be helpful in defending lawsuits and deterring plaintiffs. Case in point: Judge J. Paul Oetken of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently granted a motion to dismissafter finding that the defendant's actions to make the website accessible rendered the alleged digital barriers "moot."
Like so many others, the complaint alleged that the blind plaintiff could not complete a purchase of a specific product (sunglasses) within a specific timeframe due to numerous design and coding issues that did not comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Issues included missing "alt-text,...
Footage of a group of women beating a man with slippers has circulated online in Hindu-majority India alongside false claims it showed a Muslim man trying to seduce women into converting to Islam a...