BearScan
Sign inScan your site

Website accessibility law in Florida

Last checked

Florida allows a court suit for compensatory damages, punitive damages up to $100,000 and attorney's fees only after a complaint to the state commission. Its definition of public accommodation is narrow (lodging, food service, gas stations, entertainment venues and establishments inside them), so many retailers and online-only businesses may fall outside it. On top of that, the federal ADA applies in Florida as everywhere: a business that loses or settles a website accessibility suit pays the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees.

The law

Minimum per violation
None set
Can a person sue for money?
Yes
Attorney's fees under state law
Yes
Other money remedies
  • compensatory damages including mental anguish, loss of dignity and other intangible injuries, § 760.11(5)
  • punitive damages capped at $100,000, § 760.11(5)
  • exhaustion: a complaint must be filed with the Florida Commission on Human Relations within 365 days; suit follows a reasonable-cause finding or the Commission's failure to decide within 180 days, § 760.11(1), (4), (8)
  • § 413.08(4): denying or interfering with a disabled person's enjoyment of a public accommodation is a second-degree misdemeanor plus 30 hours of community service
Websites
We found no court decision applying Florida law to a website.

Verified against the official statute text, Oct 7, 2026. A summary, not legal advice.

The federal baseline

ADA Title III gives a private plaintiff no money damages, but a business that loses or settles pays the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees (42 U.S.C. § 12205). That fee-shifting is what makes a website claim expensive, in Florida and everywhere else.

Lawsuits in Florida

961 federal website accessibility lawsuits were filed in Florida in 2025 (Seyfarth Shaw, ADA Title III blog).

Our lawsuit tracker has indexed 93 federal court records from Florida. It’s a sample, not a complete count: it covers dockets that say what they’re about.

Compare every state

Questions

Can a business in Florida be sued over an inaccessible website?

Yes. The federal ADA applies in every state, and a plaintiff can sue in federal court for an order to fix the site plus attorney's fees. Under Florida law a person can sue the business directly. We found no court decision applying Florida law to a website.

What is the minimum a Florida court awards for a website accessibility violation?

Florida law sets no fixed minimum per violation. Florida allows a court suit for compensatory damages, punitive damages up to $100,000 and attorney's fees only after a complaint to the state commission. Its definition of public accommodation is narrow (lodging, food service, gas stations, entertainment venues and establishments inside them), so many retailers and online-only businesses may fall outside it.

Do I pay the plaintiff's lawyer if I lose or settle in Florida?

Under the federal ADA, yes: a business that loses or settles usually pays the plaintiff's attorney's fees (42 U.S.C. § 12205). Florida law also provides for attorney's fees.

Which accessibility standard should a Florida business website meet?

The ADA doesn't name a technical standard for businesses. The Justice Department's 2022 guidance points to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and its 2024 rule for state and local governments adopted WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

How many website accessibility lawsuits were filed in Florida in 2025?

961 federal website accessibility lawsuits were filed in Florida in 2025, according to Seyfarth Shaw's count of federal filings.