Thousands of lawsuits have been filed nationwide claiming business websites are not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A 25 Investigates review, conducted with sister stations across the country, found a growing number of so-called “sue and settle” cases targeting businesses of all sizes — including many in Massachusetts. Small business owners say they are being forced into costly legal battles they cannot afford to fight.
Sara Campbell is a fashion designer whose Boston-based business has grown to 22 stores from Cape Cod down the East Coast, along with her website, saracampbell.com , now the largest part of her business.
Campbell says her website has also become a major target. Shortly after launching online, she was hit with a lawsuit. A 2022 suit alleged “unlawful disability discrimination in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”
“We were very naive about ADA compliance when we started this and ADA compliance grew as e-commerce grew,” Campbell told anchor and investigative reporter Kerry Kavanaugh.
Under the ADA, websites are required to be accessible to all users, including those who are visually impaired. Federal guidance outlining website accessibility requirements is available through the U.S. Department of Justice.
Campbell said the legal pressure was immediate.
“The lawyer gets involved. The lawyer threatens us. It’s out of a different state. You know, we’re scared to death,” she said.
In response, Campbell says she hired Perkins School for the Blind along with an ADA coder to help build a more compliant website. She says she welcomed the effort to ensure anyone who wanted to shop her site could do so.
But last summer, Campbell says she was hit with two more lawsuits raising similar allegations.
“We’ve worked so hard on this. How? What is going on?” she said.
According to Campbell, the latest claims involved a missing piece of code likely detectable only through specialized software.
“We were compliant. They found something inside the code,” she said.
Campbell’s experience is far from unique.
A 25 Investigates analysis of court records found15,332 ADA website lawsuits filed nationwide since 2022. 125 of those cases were filed in Massachusetts courts, including the three against Campbell.
The review also found lawsuits filed against well-known companies including New Balance, Bose, DraftKings, and Dunkin’ and dozens more. 25 Investigates reached out to all the corporations about the lawsuits. We will update this story if we hear back.
But Campbell says the financial impact is especially devastating for small businesses.
“So, I’d say we’re almost up to $200,000,” she said of the cost to her business. “We’re a team. It hurts their bonuses. It hurts pay raises. It hurts — it’s real money,” Campbell added.
Peter Braun, a Maine-based attorney who represents businesses facing ADA lawsuits, says many of the cases are driven by legal fees rather than accessibility.
“They’re not really about ADA accessibility. It’s all about attorney’s fees,” Brann said.
Brann notes that under the ADA, plaintiffs cannot collect damages — only an injunction and attorney’s fees if they prevail.
“You can’t get damages under the ADA. All you can get is an injunction, but if you win, you get an attorney’s fee. Then you realize that these are really kind of attorney-driven lawsuits,” he said.
Behind each lawsuit is a person with a vision-related disability. One individual who sued Campbell, Nelson Fernandez, has filed lawsuits against 312 businesses since 2022. 25 Investigates has reached out to the law firm representing him-The Law Office of Pelayo Duran in Virginia Gardens, FL. We will update this story if we receive a response.
“Do I feel like they’re scams? I feel they’re scams,” Campbell said.
Small business owners in other parts of the country echoed similar concerns.
“For a business, that kind of pressure can be extremely overwhelming,” said Shir Donovick, a Seattle business owner.
“You can’t win them,” said Ajeeta Khanna, an Orlando business owner.
“This law needs to be looked at, because it is being abused,” said Jacques Klempf, a Jacksonville business owner.
Judy McMorrow, a professor of law emerita at Boston College who specializes in legal ethics, cautions against painting all ADA lawsuits with the same brush.
“What we want to ask is, have there been illegitimate lawsuits, lawsuits where there’s no credible basis of a violation?” McMorrow said. “It might be what people are really concerned about is the content of the ADA and its application in the case of internet access to business.
She notes that social-cause litigation can lead to meaningful change.
“At the end of the day, what’s happened? More blind people have access,” McMorrow said.
People like Luz Marina Rosenfeld of North Carolina. “Very challenging. Many times, I couldn’t get in websites. My husband had to help me,” Rosenfeld said during an interview with news affiliate WSOC-TV.
Rosenfeld is blind and says she has encountered limited access when visiting websites. She says it’s not only frustrating, but it can create personal security risks.
“When you go to pay, you are not able to use certain cards or you’re not able put the number in or you will have to have the number already set up, saved and all that, and that’s dangerous for you to do. And you have to manually put it again,” she said.
Concerns about serial ADA lawsuits have also been raised within the disability advocacy community. In a 2019 resolution, the National Federation of the Blind stated that serial ADA website lawsuits “are settled quickly and confidentially, thereby failing to hold public accommodations accountable for true progress toward making their websites accessible.”
Campbell says small businesses are left bearing the burden.
“Somebody’s gotta stand up for the small business. Somebody’s gotta stand up for us,” she said.
Missouri is now the first state in the nation attempting to crack down on so-called “sue and settle” cases. Lawmakers there are working on legislation aimed at reducing lawsuits that pressure businesses into quick payouts rather than meaningful accessibility improvements.
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