Seyfarth Synopsis: The decline in ADA Title III lawsuits that began in 2022 continues in 2023. New York remains the filing hotspot.
Continuing the trend discussed in our 2022 blog posts here and here, the number of lawsuits filed in federal courts alleging violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is decreasing from its 2021 high. 2022's final numbers showed 24.1% fewer cases filed than in the previous year. Thus far into 2023, the numbers are even fewer. 4,081 cases were filed between January and June of this year, representing a 17% drop from the 4,914 cases filed between January and June 2022.
[Mid-Year ADA Title III Federal Lawsuit Filings 2017-2023: 2017: 4,127; 2018: 4,965, 20% Increase from 2017; 2019: 5,592, 12% Increase from 2018; 2020: 4,751, 15% Decrease from 2019; 2021: 6,304, 33% Increase from 2020; 2022: 4,914, 22% Decrease from 2021; 2023: 4,081, 17% Decrease from 2022]
The number of federal lawsuits filed in the first six months of this year is lower than the number of suits filed in 2017 for the same period. That is quite a dramatic change.
The drop in California federal lawsuit filings is just as stark: California federal courts only saw 1,020 lawsuits for the first half of this year, as opposed to the first half of 2022 when there were 1,587. That's a 35.8% decline.
New York has continued to lead the nation in ADA Title III filings. In 2022, the Empire State stood at 1,819 filings at the end of June and at 3,173 at year's end. 2023's mid-year tally is 1,477 cases. This is fewer than last year, but still ahead of the other states by a significant margin. Florida, coming in third, had 740 filings—about half of New York.
New York has been a hot venue for ADA Title III filings for years now:
[New York Mid-Year ADA Title III Federal Lawsuit Filings 2017-2023: 2017: 410; 2018: 1,026; 2019: 1,212; 2020: 756; 2021: 1,423; 2022: 1,819; 2023: 1,477]
Here are the top five states with the highest number of cases filed so far this year:
[2023 Mid-Year Federal ADA Title III Filings for Top 5 States: PA: 127; TX: 130; FL: 740; CA: 1,020; NY: 1,477]
What is the reason behind the decrease in federal ADA Title III lawsuits? There are likely a number of factors. First, in ADA Title III cases filed in California plaintiffs routinely add state law claims for statutory damages under the Unruh Act and Disabled Persons Act. Federal judges have often dismissed these claims for monetary damages right out of the gate on the theory that they are an end run around more stringent state court filing requirements. This has made federal court a less attractive venue for plaintiffs. Second, one California firm that used to file many hundreds of cases each year had some legal troubles of its own then lost quite a few attorneys in the past two years and filed fewer cases as a result. Third, one prolific Florida law firm stopped filing cases after one of its attorneys became the subject of a disciplinary proceeding and was recently suspended from the practice of law for six months. Some of the unsavory findings from this disciplinary proceeding may have dampened the enthusiasm of some other plaintiff's attorneys to file ADA Title III lawsuits. Finally, earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case about the standing of serial plaintiffs which could make it harder for them to continue filing hundreds of lawsuits a year. Attorneys representing these plaintiffs may be holding off on filing new cases while SCOTUS decides this issue.
Our Methodology: Our overall ADA Title III lawsuit numbers come from the federal court's docketing system, PACER. However, because the area of law code that covers ADA Title III cases also includes ADA Title II cases, our research department reviews the complaints to remove those from the count.
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