Presented by AudioEye In 2020, a blind customer named Juan Alcazar filed a lawsuit against Fashion Nova, alleging that the company’s website was inaccessible and denied blind customers the same access as everyone else.It was, in many ways, an ordinary web accessibility lawsuit. One of many filed in federal court that year. Most ended the same way: management distraction, a pledge to fix accessibility issues, legal fees and then a five-figure settlement. But this case didn’t settle. Fashion Nova fought it.Five years and more than 200 filings later, they agreed to pay $5.15 million to settle what had become a class action lawsuit. The claim evolved from a single complaint into the second-largest accessibility settlement on record, surpassed only by Target’s $6 million agreement in 2008.It’s a stark reminder of how quickly an accessibility claim can escalate, and why every business leader should treat that risk as real, urgent, and solvable.Accessibility lawsuits are increasing. So is risk.Since 2020, the number of web accessibility lawsuits has steadily risen. In 2024, over 4,000 lawsuits were filed in the United States. And those are just the cases that reach court. Behind the scenes, demand letters are even more prevalent, with multiple sources, including Accessibility.com, estimating that over 250,000 letters are sent to businesses annually.Often, these suits hinge on common accessibility issues, such as missing alt text or unlabeled forms. Under laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, plaintiffs don’t need to prove intent or significant harm. Simply encountering a barrier is enough.Accessibility compliance isn’t just a U.S. issue, either. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) took effect in July 2025, expanding accessibility obligations to any business offering digital products or services in the EU, including companies located outside the EU, impacting global brands.And while many assume that only large companies are subject to legal risk, in 2024, nearly three-quarters of web accessibility lawsuits targeted small and mid-sized businesses.For billion-dollar brands like Fashion Nova, there’s always the option to dig in and fight an accessibility claim. However, for smaller businesses, the risk of a protracted legal battle and a substantial settlement can be too high. Settling quickly is often perceived as the ‘safe’ choice — a fact that firms that specialize in serial litigation are all too aware of.Make accessibility a first line of defenseAccessibility lawsuits have a pattern: once a company is sued, it’s much more likely to be sued again. Accessibility.com also reports that in 2024, 48% of defendants had previously been sued for web accessibility barriers.That’s why smart risk management isn’t just about having a plan to respond. It’s about lowering the chances of being on someone’s radar in the first place. And that starts with a process for finding and fixing accessibility issues before they’re brought to attention in a demand letter or legal claim:Establish a baseline of website accessibility by using automated scans in conjunction with human reviews.Prioritize high-severity barriers, or those most likely to spark a claim, and address them promptly.Continuously monitor websites to find and fix issues before they become liabilities.Document progress to prove ongoing improvement if questioned.Integrate accessibility into everyday workflows, making accessibility part of organizational culture.A scalable approach to accessibility complianceAudioEye’s 2025 Digital Accessibility Index analyzed over 15,000 websites across different industries. The average site had 297 accessibility issues per page — including serious problems like unlabeled buttons or broken form fields.Fixing a few accessibility issues might sound manageable. But when there are dozens of web pages, each with hundreds of unique issues, it quickly becomes an operational nightmare.The biggest challenge is serving customers while addressing countless accessibility issues. Relying on developers to find and fix hundreds of issues per page is challenging enough. Still, teams also have to contend with the fact that each site update presents a chance to introduce new barriers inadvertently. Automation helps, but no automated tool can find and fix everything (no matter what some accessibility companies claim in their marketing campaigns).The most effective approach blends automation and human expertise to:Scale detection and prevention: Let automation do the heavy lifting, scanning sites in real time and fixing new issues as they appear.Tackle complex fixes: Rely on experts to test key pages and fix the high-risk issues that automation can’t handle on its own.With these pieces in place, organizations can prevent serious accessibility issues from accumulating, while making sites much safer from legal claims. That’s risk management in action: not scrambling after the fact, but planning ahead with the right tools, expertise, and processes in place.The cost of doing nothingEven the smallest web accessibility claim can disrupt businesses. Settlements may range from a few thousand dollars to six figures. Still, the actual cost extends beyond this: legal fees, time spent resolving issues, and executive focus being diverted from other priorities.And then there’s the bigger risk: escalation. Alcazar v. Fashion Nova, Inc. won’t be the last large accessibility settlement. However, it serves as a clear reminder of what can happen when an accessibility claim snowballs into something much larger.The companies that manage risk best aren’t perfect. But they know where they stand. They can show progress. And when a claim comes in, they know how to respond.Accessibility may not feel like a risk today. But if organizations wait until it does, it’s already too late.Treat it like what it is: a business risk worth managing — before it becomes a business risk that can’t be ignored.David Moradi is CEO of Audioeye.Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. 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