The Phriday Files

The numbers that matter

The widget number keeps climbing

UsableNet's August tracker is final: 432 new web accessibility lawsuits in the US in August, up from July's 401. Of those, 134 defendants — 31.0% — were running a third-party accessibility widget when they got sued, and 108 had been sued for digital accessibility before. That makes three consecutive data points in one direction: 24.9% of sued sites had widgets in 2025, 28.2% in July, 31.0% in August (same source, same arithmetic both months). The widget industry's central promise — install and you're safe — now has its own monthly worsening chart.

The midyear federal picture

Seyfarth's midyear report (September 9, from manually reviewed PACER data): 5,006 federal ADA Title III suits in the first half of 2026, up 9% over last year and the highest mid-year figure since 2021. California alone accounts for 2,426 — nearly half — followed by Florida (709) and Illinois (505, of which 336 came from a single firm, Equal Access Law Group). New York fell to fourth (485) as tougher federal standing standards push website suits into state courts — the same venue-shift we flagged in Edition #2, now confirmed by a second source. At this pace 2026 could top 10,000 federal filings; the 2021 record is 11,452.

Europe just picked its baseline: WCAG 2.2

On September 7, the EU's AccessibleEU centre announced the revised EN 301 549 v4.1.1: it adopts WCAG 2.2 (six new success criteria, including minimum tap-target sizes and consistent help; the obsolete 4.1.1 Parsing rule is dropped) and adds a first-ever annex mapping the standard to the European Accessibility Act. It is not yet cited in the Official Journal, so the legal presumption of conformity stays with WCAG 2.1 AA until the Commission formally cites the new version — but procurement requirements and VPAT expectations will move early. If you sell into Europe, start auditing against WCAG 2.2 now.

Platform & industry watch (July, EcomBack)

EcomBack's July recap (their methodology counts 262 federal+state suits — don't mix with UsableNet's totals): Shopify defendants were 40.5% of suits, custom-coded sites 38.6%, WordPress 11.1%. Restaurants and food & beverage led industries at 40.8%, and a single firm — Manning Law — filed 34.7% of the month's cases. Five states (CA, NY, FL, IL, MN) accounted for 95.8% of everything. If you run a restaurant site on Shopify in California, you are the center of the statistical bullseye.

Courts & legislatures round-up (August decisions)

Three August rulings, one lesson: venue decides. Grossinger v. GoDaddy (E.D. Pa.) — website claim dismissed with prejudice; the Third Circuit requires a physical place of public accommodation. Fernandez v. Buffalo Billfold (S.D.N.Y.) — a serial tester's suit dismissed at summary judgment. Herrera v. Beach Jads (S.D. Fla.) — a blind tester won a default judgment under the Eleventh Circuit's far weaker nexus standard (via Converge Accessibility's monthly update). And in California, AB 649 — the small-business accessibility relief bill — died in the Senate Appropriations suspense file on August 31. No legislative rescue is coming this session; documented remediation remains the only reliable defense.

From the Phriday desk

Week three of the ritual, and the newsletter now runs itself: editions auto-publish on their Friday, the email you're reading goes out on schedule, and this week we added a guard so a quiet week can never send you a duplicate. Behind the scenes we're one dependency away from live payments (the card processor account is verified; we're waiting on one key) and next week's build is the monitoring tier — scheduled re-scans and regression alerts, the part subscribers actually pay for. The free scanner keeps improving every week: scan your store in 60 seconds.

One fix before the weekend

Ahead of the WCAG 2.2 news, check your tap-target sizes — one of the new 2.2 criteria (2.5.8, minimum 24×24 pixels). On your phone, open your store and try the smallest things you own: the quantity stepper, the search icon, the "×" on the cart drawer, filter chips. If you have to aim carefully or fat-finger them, your customers do too — and low-vision and motor-impaired shoppers simply can't. Most themes expose a "control size" or spacing setting; padding beats precision every time. Fifteen minutes, one criterion, ahead of the European baseline.

Sources: UsableNet ADA Lawsuit Tracker (August 2026); Seyfarth ADA Title III mid-year report (Sep 9, 2026); AccessibleEU — EN 301 549 v4.1.1 announcement (Sep 7, 2026); EcomBack July 2026 recap; Converge Accessibility legal update (Aug 31, 2026). UsableNet and EcomBack totals use different court-coverage methodologies and are not comparable to each other. Phriday Access provides monitoring and remediation guidance, not legal advice.

Phriday Access provides monitoring and remediation guidance, not legal advice. Next edition: Friday, September 18.