In 2023, Kansas passed the Act Against Abusive Website Access Litigation to counter predatory lawsuits against employers alleging their websites were not ADA compliant. Now Missouri is looking at passing a similar law, with no less than ten legislators filing bills relating to “abusive website access litigation”, such as Representative Sherry Gallick’s HB 1842. The bills allow the attorney general or private parties “subject to litigation that alleges any website access violation” to file a separate civil action against the party alleging a website access violation to determine whether such allegations amount to “abusive litigation.”
In determining the question, a judge or jury “shall consider the totality of the circumstances,” including: the number of substantially similar actions filed by the plaintiff or lawyer and their history in bring frivolous or abusive litigation; the number of full-time employees employed by the business and the resources available to it to engage in litigation; the resources available to the business to correct the alleged website access; the appropriateness of the venue where the underlying litigation is brought; whether the party filing the underlying litigation is a citizen of the state; the nature and reasonableness of settlement discussions; whether grounds exist for sanctions related to the parties alleging ADA noncompliance. If successful, the company bringing suit under this law is entitled to attorney’s fees and costs and punitive damages not exceeding three times the amount of attorney’s fees.