ADA Lawsuits on the Rise, 2019 Another Record-Breaking Year

Last year, the number of federal lawsuit filed in 2019 under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed the 11,000 mark for the first time. The year before, they passed 10,000 for the first time, jumping 33% over the 7,663 lawsuits filed in 2017. In fact, the number of federal lawsuits filed have more than quadrupled over the last seven years, according to the law firm Seyfarth Shaw. These  include lawsuits filed on all grounds — physical facilities, websites and mobile applications, service animals, sign language interpreters, and more, the company noted in a blog post. These numbers do not include the significant number of disability access lawsuits filed in state courts, according to a company blog post.

According to Seyfarth’s numbers, the states with the most lawsuits are California, New York, and Florida, respectively. New Jersey comes in eighth, but the numbers drop significantly after the first three. For instance, 1,885 lawsuits were filed in Florida, but the next highest number, filed in Georgia, was only 243. New Jersey saw 95 federal ADA lawsuits in 2019, an increase of 13 from the year before.