ADA Lawsuits in Florida: What Restaurant Owners Need to Know

Florida businesses were sued under the ADA 1,823 times in 2025, up 73% from 1,054 in 2021. During the same period, national ADA filings fell 24%. Florida now accounts for 21% of all federal ADA Title III lawsuits, up from 9.2% in 2021. One in five federal ADA cases targets a Florida business.

The year-by-year trend, drawn from Seyfarth Shaw's annual reports, shows what happened:

Florida was #3 nationally behind New York and California from 2019 through 2024. In 2025 it overtook New York. The national pie is shrinking, and Florida is taking a larger slice of it every year.

That statewide total covers all public accommodations, not just restaurants. The restaurant-specific angle is narrower: in EcomBack's national H1 2025 website-litigation data, the broad "Restaurant, Food, Drinks & Beverages" category was the largest industry group at about 30% of web accessibility filings. That's a national figure, not Florida-specific, but it indicates where the targeting concentrates.

Why Florida draws more suits than most states

Under federal law, ADA Title III plaintiffs can only get injunctive relief, not damages. But Florida's Civil Rights Act adds compensatory and punitive damages on top of the federal claim. A plaintiff who'd recover nothing beyond attorney's fees in federal court can pursue real money in Florida.

A plaintiff with a disability visits a non-compliant website or walks into a restaurant with a barrier. They file. The business owner gets a demand letter. Attorneys report defense costs of $12,000 to $15,000 even in a winning case, with settlements typically landing between $5,000 and $20,000 when FCRA damages are included. Most owners settle.

Andres Gomez has filed hundreds of ADA lawsuits against South Florida businesses, with settlement demands of $2,500 to $9,000. Attorney Aleksandra Kravets has filed dozens more across the state.

Physical access and websites are both targets

Website accessibility suits in Florida doubled from 470 in 2024 to 961 in 2025. That 961 represents 52.7% of all Florida ADA filings, the first year website cases became the majority. (The remaining 47.3% includes physical-access suits, service animal disputes, effective communication claims, and other Title III actions.) In 2021, website cases were 17.6% of the Florida total.

Nationally, EcomBack's H1 2025 report found that about 22.6% of web accessibility suits targeted websites with an overlay widget already installed (other accessibility trackers show different widget-detection numbers, so treat this as directional rather than exact). An overlay does not keep a demand letter away.

Two restaurants, two outcomes

Satchel's Pizza in Gainesville was sued over its website by a plaintiff who'd filed 52 similar suits in 18 months. The demand was $6,000. Owner Satchel Raye refused and fought the case. It was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the plaintiff can never refile. Raye won, but he's an outlier. Most owners don't have the appetite or the legal budget for that fight.

Cowford Chophouse in Jacksonville was sued over the same kind of website issues. The owner's attorneys told him he could fight but would likely lose. He settled for approximately $20,000 including attorney's fees.

Both cases were about websites. Both involved serial plaintiffs or their attorneys. Two similar cases, opposite decisions on whether to fight.

What the demand letter triggers

Florida ADA defence practice treats the demand letter as the first evidentiary moment: attorneys review the claim before any response or settlement, and remediation of the cited barriers (on-premises or website) runs in parallel. Title III requires barrier removal regardless of whether the suit settles, dismisses, or proceeds, so the fix cost is already owed.

No legislative change this session

Florida's 2026 legislative session ended on March 13. No ADA-specific reform bill passed. The filing trend has climbed for four straight years (1,054, 1,350, 1,415, 1,627, 1,823). The litigation environment that produced the 2021-2025 increase remains intact.