Kyle Schmidt
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990 with the intent to prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities.
Now, in modern day, internet accessibility has become just as important as physical accessibility, meaning websites also need to, by law, accommodate the roughly 55 million Americans who qualify under the ADA.
In order for websites to become compliant, they need to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
“A lot of times what happens is, folks are not very well aware of what the issues on the websites are, how to fix those issues, how to test for those things, how to audit them,” Ecomback President Nayan Padrai said.
Ecomback is an “Expert website accessibility services” company that helps businesses ensure their websites are accessible to people with disabilities.
According to Ecomback, 132 websites nationwide were sued do to lacking ADA compliance. This number skyrocketed to a high of 4,334 lawsuits in 2022.
In 2024, the total number dipped down to 3,188, with 1,600 coming from New York. A trend Ecomback has followed is, 1,619 cases filed last year were from 35 plaintiffs, while the rest of the 1,569 cases were filed by 196 plaintiffs.
“A lot of times, a law firm mans this space for a number of years and then after they get a lot of heat, they move out of this space or they might lay low,” Padrai said. “Or an associate or former employee might start their own firm. But it’s typically the same players.”
Here in Missouri, one of the main plaintiffs in website ADA compliance lawsuits is Robert Glen Myers. Myers is a blind veteran and has been involved in over 90 cases since 2024, according to PACER.
In an emailed statement to News-Press NOW, Myers said, “I pursue this advocacy because blind Americans, especially fellow blind veterans, are being systematically excluded from today’s digital world. Every website we make accessible is one fewer barrier for someone trying to apply for a job, order dinner, access healthcare, or simply live with dignity.”
Myers is represented by Attorney Kevin Puckett of ADA Legal Team.
Puckett, when questioned on the number of cases he has been a part of, representing Myers, said in an emailed statement, “We are just attorneys and bring lawsuits when we are retained by a client to file same. We can confirm that our client’s intent is not to pursue volume for volume’s sake, but rather to enforce longstanding federal law, be an advocate for the blind community that is so drastically marginalized in digital spaces, and to always provide notice to businesses prior to filing suit. The volume of claims will directly correlate with the claims we are hired to pursue and the continued lack of compliance.”
These lawsuits in Missouri stretch from Kansas City, Mo., to St. Louis. Padrai said that when a small business gets sued, most of the time, they don’t have many options.
“When small businesses get hit with a lawsuit, they have two choices,” Padrai said. “Either figure out the quickest, simplest, cheapest way to solve the problem or go to court in a protracted legal case, which drains a lot of energy and resources, and people are intimidated by the process.”
News-Press NOW contacted over 20 businesses in Northwest Missouri and all denied an interview.
Some of the businesses claimed they didn’t know if their website was in compliance with the ADA, and some even expressed the fear of being sued.
In court documents found on PACER, a nearby dairy farm, Shatto Milk Company, in Osborn, was sued.
According to the court documents, the suit was filed due to the “defendant’s failure to make defendant’s online platform compatible with screen access software, thereby denying blind individuals, including Myers, full and equal access to defendant’s products and services.”
This case would end in a settlement a few months after being filed. The settlement is unknown for this specific case. Padrai said settlements can range from $2,500 to $25,000 or even more.
Puckett said all businesses are notified they are being sued ahead of time.
“Every company we’ve pursued on behalf of our clients were and always are given prior written notice and a meaningful opportunity to remediate its website before any lawsuit is/was filed,” Puckett said in an email statement.
Adjacent to Missouri, Kansas adjusted its legislation to combat “abusive litigation” in ADA lawsuits. Missouri has no such law. To Puckett, this change is “Unconstitutional.”
“Kansas’s statute is entirely unconstitutional and likely violates the anti-retaliation laws of the ADA, as they have a substantial chilling effect on disabled individuals attempting to assert their civil rights. Such laws weaken enforcement (contrary to Congress’s intent) and harm disabled citizens, all while contradicting the ADA’s core purpose,” Puckett said.
Padrai believes it is a great model for states to follow. If a business is concerned about its website and would like to have it audited, Ecomback offers a free audit.
“I believe that until accessibility is the norm rather than the exception and companies comply voluntarily, litigation will be a necessary component of our various clients’ enforcement efforts,” Puckett said.
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A screen capture of the map Gov. Mike Kehoe’s administration wants legislators to vote on.
