ADA website lawsuits: what small businesses should know

ADA website lawsuits are real and they do reach small businesses, usually as a demand letter from a law firm saying your website cannot be used by people with disabilities. Most owners will never get one. If you do, it is not a reason to panic, but it is a reason to call an attorney before you reply or pay anything. This guide explains, in plain words, how these claims come about, what to do if one lands on your desk and what owners commonly do to lower the risk. It is general information, not legal advice.

Why websites come under the ADA at all

The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed in 1990, long before most businesses had websites. One part of it, Title III, says businesses that serve the public, such as shops, restaurants, offices and clinics, must not shut out people with disabilities. Over the years, courts and the Department of Justice have treated a business's website as part of how it serves the public.

A few points that often confuse owners:

There is no official technical checklist written into the law for private businesses' websites. In practice, claims and settlements usually point to WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, as the yardstick.
The 2024 federal rule you may have read about set a specific website standard for state and local governments, not for private businesses. It is often misreported as applying to everyone.
Courts have not all agreed on how the law applies to businesses that exist only online, with no physical location. Where your business is and where a claim is filed both matter.
State laws add to it. Some states have their own disability access laws, and in a few of them the money at stake can be higher than under the federal law alone.

The Department of Justice publishes its guidance on web accessibility at ada.gov. It is written for the public and is worth twenty minutes of your time.

How a claim usually starts

The typical path looks like this:

Someone visits your site, often using a screen reader or keyboard alone, or with automated testing software, and records problems: images with no descriptions, a form that cannot be sent without a mouse, low contrast text, a menu a screen reader cannot open.
A letter or email arrives from a law firm. It lists the problems, cites the ADA and sometimes state law, and invites you to settle.
If you do nothing, a lawsuit may be filed. If you respond, there is often a negotiation that ends with a payment, a promise to fix the site by a date, or both.

Claims tend to cluster in certain states and come from a relatively small number of firms that file many of them. Restaurants, retail shops, hotels and healthcare offices seem to be named often, but no type of public-facing business is off the list.

If a letter arrives

Stay calm and take it in order.

Do not ignore it. Silence can turn a letter into a lawsuit.

Do not pay or sign anything straight away, and do not argue by email with the sender. What you write can be used later.

Check that it is real. Scam letters exist. Look up the law firm independently, not through the contact details in the letter, and confirm it exists and the attorney is licensed. Your attorney can do this quickly.

Call an attorney, ideally one who has handled ADA claims before. Your general business lawyer may know who to refer you to. Ask early whether the claim looks valid, what it may cost to defend or resolve, and what deadlines apply.

Call your insurance agent. Some business policies cover some kinds of claims and some do not. Ask the question directly rather than assuming either way.

Save the evidence. Take screenshots of your website as it is today, with the date, and keep a copy of the letter and envelope. Ask your web person not to delete old pages until your attorney says so.

Start fixing the problems, in step with your attorney's advice. Fixing them is good for your customers in any case, and your attorney will want to know what has changed.

What owners commonly do to lower the risk

None of these is a guarantee, and your attorney is the one to say what fits your situation. They are what careful owners tend to do anyway:

Fix the basics on the pages that matter most. Descriptions on photos, readable contrast, proper headings, form fields with labels, everything reachable by keyboard, captions on videos. Website accessibility for small businesses walks through these and how to test them yourself.
Have someone test with real assistive technology. An automated scan catches common mistakes but misses many. A short review by a person who uses a screen reader is far more telling.
Add an accessibility page. A short page, linked from the footer, saying you aim to make the site usable by everyone and giving a phone number and email for anyone who has trouble. Many owners write it in plain words rather than legal language. Ask your attorney before stating any particular standard or commitment on it.
Fix problems people report quickly, and note when you did.
Ask your web designer or provider directly what accessibility work is included, and get the answer in writing. Many contracts are silent on it.
Recheck after big changes. A new menu, a new booking widget or a new contact form can undo earlier work.

Do accessibility overlays protect you?

Overlays are widgets that add an accessibility icon to your site and promise compliance with one line of code. Plenty of businesses that had one installed have still received demand letters and lawsuits, and many disabled users find them unhelpful or worse. Some overlay vendors have also drawn regulator attention for what they claimed. A widget is not a substitute for a site that is built properly. If you already pay for one, ask your attorney whether to keep it while you fix the underlying site.

Keeping it in proportion

For most small businesses, an ADA claim is an unlikely event, not a looming one. The reasons to make your site accessible are mostly ordinary ones: older customers who read with large text, people calling from a phone in poor light, the customer with a screen reader who wanted to book with you. A site that works for them is also a site that is easier to defend if a letter ever comes. If your current site has a long list of problems, an accessible rebuild is often simpler than fixing an old design piece by piece; website redesign and accessibility covers what to ask for.

What to do this week

Read the DOJ's web guidance on ada.gov.
Run a free accessibility scan on your home page and contact page, and fix missing photo descriptions and unlabeled form fields.
Start a dated log of what you checked and changed.
Add a short footer page with a phone number and email for anyone having trouble with the site.
Ask your insurance agent whether any policy you hold covers accessibility claims.
Put the name of an attorney you would call in your files, before you ever need one.

If your current site is too old to fix sensibly, you can see your site rebuilt first and test the new version for these basics before you decide.