Business 2 Community: Law Firm Suing Thousands of Businesses Over Website Accessibility – Are You a Target?
By: Alejandro Arrieche
In recent years, the number of lawsuits filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has increased dramatically as a handful of law firms have opted to target small businesses for alleged violations of website accessibility standards.
At the forefront of this trend is a New York-based firm called Mizrahi Kroub, which has opened thousands of legal proceedings across the country against small and mid-sized companies and has impacted the finances and growth of these ventures.
ADA was enacted in 1990 and its goal is to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities. Over time, its protections have been interpreted to extend to online activities. This has resulted in new requirements for websites to ensure that disabled individuals have the tools to access and interact with the content and platforms they offer – especially those who are visually impaired.
Data from UsableNet, a provider of web-accessibility services, indicated that in 2022 alone, Mizrahi Kroub filed over 1,000 lawsuits against companies who violated ADA on their websites. The volume of lawsuits filed by this firm alone accounted for a quarter of all ADA cases in the United States in that year.
Meanwhile, data from AccesiBe revealed that the number of ADA lawsuits in the country has quadrupled in the past 6 years.
The reason: most websites do not comply with ADA. In fact, research from WebAIM revealed that 96.3% of all sites surveyed by February 2023 failed to meet accessibility requirements imposed by ADA.
Mizrahi Kroub is the largest filer of web-accessibility lawsuits in the country. The firm is headed by Joseph Mizrahi and it has been attracting both interest and criticism lately for its relentless pursuit of these types of proceedings, primarily against small to mid-sized companies.
Mizrahi sued over 1,000 companies for ADA breaches in 2023
Mizrahi comments that he has a special connection with disabilities as he has a blind uncle who provided him with an understanding of what people who suffer this kind of impairment can experience when they try to go online.
He stated: “There are millions of websites that are not accessible. If you say my number is 3,000, I’m probably not doing enough.” This approach suggests a volume-based strategy that has raised eyebrows in the legal community.
The firm’s practices have been described as controversial.
Defense lawyers say that Mizrahi engages in cut-and-paste allegations that lead to quick settlements and argue that they are not interested at all in fostering a better online environment for disabled individuals. Rather, they are aiming to make a quick buck out of a law that puts stringent requirements on websites and the companies that operate them.
UsableNet data indicates that over 75% of all ADA lawsuits target companies with less than $25 million in annual revenues. These businesses usually don’t have the resources to deal with lengthy and costly legal proceedings and opt to settle to avoid spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on attorneys and legal assistance that could end up putting them out of business.
Edward Kroub, another partner at the firm, stated: “We are not looking to financially hurt anybody.” However, they certainly are hurting every business they sue over the ADA financially. Many businesses have reported that they are being sued without any prior contact or opportunity to address the accessibility issues cited in the proceedings. This practice has resulted in accusations that the firm’s primary motivation is financial gain rather than improving websites to help disabled individuals. It is indeed hard to imagine that Kroub is doing this out of the kindness of his heart.
In some cases, Mizrahi Kroub files dozens of lawsuits on behalf of a single plaintiff against a wide range of businesses, a practice that has drawn particular scrutiny.
“My biggest problem with the cut-and-paste lawsuits is when they settle them for cash and don’t fix the problem,” Eve Hill, a lawyer from Baltimore who specializes in disability rights told the Wall Street Journal.
Bob Kramer, the owner of Kramer Knives, exemplifies the modus operandi of Mizrahi. His business was hit with an ADA lawsuit after a plaintiff alleged that they could not buy a knife case from their website as it was not suitable for disabled individuals.
Kramer said that he spent $16,000 in legal fees and another $3,000 in modifications he had to make to the website. Mizrahi finally proposed to settle the matter for $20,000. In total, Kramer spent nearly $40,000 as a result of the legal action.
Another case involving a company named Extract Labs that deals with CBD and cannabis-based products was also targeted by Mizrahi for failing to comply with ADA. In total, the company paid $40,000 in legal fees and over $6,000 to hire a consultant who helped it modify its website to avoid future legal proceedings.
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Although the lawsuit was ultimately dismissed by a judge in Manhattan, it ended up causing unnecessary expenditures to Extract and significant stress to its owners.
These two cases illustrate how ADA lawsuits can severely impact the finances of small businesses. Legal fees for cases like these can quickly add up to meaningful amounts that can effectively disrupt their operations and hamper their growth (or even totally bankrupt them).
Business owners also have to focus their efforts on fighting Mizrahi and other similar firms in courts and their attention deviates from what should be their first priority, which is to grow and expand the business.
Moreover, since the lawsuits are typically unexpected, they can take an emotional toll on the defendants. Those who have been targeted by firms like Mizrahi claim that they have been forced to make their websites less functional and unattractive due to the modifications they had to stay out of the crosshairs of attorneys.
The lack of a clear definition of what “website accessibility” is under ADA is one of the issues that is opening up the door for these lawsuits. Robert Thorpe, a lawyer who has defended businesses in this type of case said: “Part of the problem we keep raising is that there’s no standard governing [website] accessibility under the ADA [for private businesses].”
Under the law, compliance with these provisions is assessed by private entities – not the government. This has led to the appearance of providers whose sole purpose is to serve ADA cases. This includes consulting firms, recruiters who manage to get disabled people to join class-action lawsuits, and defendants. As a result, an entire industry is being created as a result of ADA’s lack of clarity.
This raises questions about whether the current legal approach is truly serving the needs of individuals with disabilities or primarily benefiting law firms and serial plaintiffs.
Determining website accessibility is more complex than assessing physical accommodations. While automated tools can help identify potential issues, experts argue that a human assessment is necessary to determine if a website is truly discriminating against users. The vague nature of the law and precedent makes each case harder to dismiss and more expensive to litigate for the defendant.
Jared Smith, Executive Director of WebAIM, stated: “We are kind of in this nebulous space where any detected error could be considered discriminatory”
He added: “it’s like being pulled over and getting a speeding ticket on a street with no speed limit signs.”
Reforms are Needed to Prevent Businesses from Being Financially Harmed by ADA Lawsuits
Some businesses who have been targeted by ADA lawsuits have managed to defend themselves by alleging that the person who brings up the case is a “serial” plaintiff. Others have claimed that they have made good-faith efforts to improve accessibility and have managed to get case dismissals. However, this approach still generates significant legal costs.
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Legal experts argue that reform is necessary to address this surge in ADA lawsuits. Some proposals that have already been circulating include establishing clearer standards for what website accessibility is, implementing a notice-and-cure period that would give businesses some time to address accessibility issues before they can be sued and limiting the amount that can be claimed in damages.
Any reform efforts must balance the need to ensure that individuals with disabilities can access websites easily with the urgency of protecting small businesses from being financially drained by these cases.
As this trend continues to evolve, it’s clear that a more balanced approach is needed. This may involve legislative reform, clearer guidelines for businesses, and a shift towards more collaborative methods of improving accessibility.
Ultimately, the goal should be to create a digital landscape that is truly accessible to all without placing irrational burdens on small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy.