How to Avoid an ADA Website Lawsuit: 7 Steps for Business Owners

In 2023, more than 4,600 ADA web accessibility lawsuits were filed in U.S. federal courts. The targets are not just Fortune 500 companies — the majority are small and mid-sized businesses, including local restaurants, e-commerce shops, healthcare providers, and professional service firms.

An ADA demand letter can cost a business anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 in settlements alone, not including legal fees or the cost of fixing the website. The good news is that most of this risk is preventable with the right approach. Here are seven practical steps.

1. Understand That Your Website Is Covered

If your business has a website that is accessible to the public, it is likely considered a “place of public accommodation” under Title III of the ADA. Federal courts have consistently upheld this interpretation. The DOJ’s April 2024 Title II final rule further solidified WCAG 2.1 AA as the applicable standard. Assuming your website is exempt is the single most common mistake businesses make.

2. Run a Preliminary Accessibility Scan

The first step is understanding where you stand right now. A preliminary accessibility scan reviews your website against WCAG 2.1 AA criteria and generates a score along with a list of detected failures. This takes minutes and gives you an immediate picture of your exposure.

Important caveat: automated scans only catch approximately 30–40% of real accessibility barriers. They are a starting point, not a complete assessment. But they are the fastest way to identify obvious problems that plaintiff attorneys look for first.

3. Get a Manual Expert Audit

Automated scans miss the majority of accessibility barriers. A manual audit conducted by a qualified specialist uses real assistive technologies — screen readers like NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver, plus keyboard-only navigation — to test your website the way a disabled user actually experiences it. This is where the remaining 60–70% of issues are found. A manual audit produces a detailed findings report with specific WCAG criterion references and severity ratings that your development team can act on.

4. Fix the Critical Issues First

Not all accessibility issues carry equal risk. Focus remediation on the failures most commonly cited in ADA demand letters: missing alt text on images, insufficient color contrast, keyboard navigation traps, unlabeled form fields, and missing page language declarations. A qualified audit report will prioritize these for you by severity.

5. Document Everything

Documentation is your best defense if you do receive a demand letter. An Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) is a formal technical document that records your audit scope, methodology, findings, and remediation status. It demonstrates to attorneys and courts that your organization has taken concrete, documented steps to address accessibility — which is a much stronger position than having no documentation at all.

6. Don’t Rely on Overlay Widgets

Accessibility overlay products — JavaScript widgets that claim to make your site compliant with one line of code — are not a reliable defense. Multiple federal courts have ruled that overlays do not constitute ADA compliance. The National Federation of the Blind has publicly opposed overlay products. Several businesses using overlays have been sued successfully. Genuine accessibility requires fixing the underlying code, not applying a cosmetic layer on top.

7. Make Accessibility an Ongoing Process

Accessibility is not a one-time checkbox. Every time you add new content, change your design, or add features to your website, new accessibility barriers can be introduced. The most protected businesses treat accessibility as an ongoing practice: they conduct periodic re-audits, train their content teams on accessible content creation, and include accessibility requirements in their development process.