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ADA & Legal Risk

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Web accessibility lawsuits have been steadily increasing over the past decade—and the unfortunate reality is that most companies don’t pay attention to their digital accessibility until it’s too late. According to data from Accessibillity.build2025 federal filings for accessibility lawsuits have increased by 27.1% from the previous year.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was originally written in 1960, long before the existence of mobile apps and websites. For a long time, digital accessibility was only informally recognized by the DOJ because of this. Historically however, courts have chosen to interpret Title III of the ADA—related to the accessibility of public spaces—as applying to websites and digital services.

While the DOJ promoted adoption of WCAG standards as its interpretation of digital accessibility, there was a murkiness to the legal responsibilities around it. In 2024 however that began to change, and the DOJ formally ruled to include web accessibility as a Title II requirement of the ADA; all government entities are now required to adhere to WCAG guidelines. This was a notable turning point for digital accessibility, reinforces the precedent that applies Title III to non-government entities, and is the first step to fully codifying digital accessibility into law.

Does my website have to be compliant?

As mentioned above, despite the DOJ not yet ruling on making digital accessibility a formal part of the ADA’s Title III requirements, most court systems interpret Title III—which applies to any public facing business—as being applicable to any business’s public facing website.

Basically, if you run a business and that business has a website—it needs to be accessible. A lot of business owners make the mistake of thinking that only large businesses need to worry about digital accessibility, but this is a myth. In reality, the size of a business or a website does not matter; the nature of your business and its website does.

According to Accessibility.build businesses in the e-commerce and retail industries have the highest risk of lawsuit—accounting for 70% of US federal filings in 2025. Second, was the food and beverage industry, which was responsible for 21% of US federal filings that year. It’s important for organizations in these spaces to be aware of this additional level of risk.

Accessibility complaints related to websites and digital services are on the rise, and typically result from the following:

  • Law firms that automate scanning websites to flag common failures and identify potential compliance issues at scale.
  • Individual users who had a personal experience can file complaints directly to the DOJ or their state agencies.
  • Competitors or advocacy organizations that flag and file complaints on other, non-compliant websites.

Common technical failures that may result in a compliant include missing alt text, inaccessible forms, caption-less video, and broken keyboard navigation. Once your site is identified as non-compliant, you may face a variety of legal actions.

1. Demand letters

Although not required to file a lawsuit, a demand letter—legal correspondence, from a legal representative—is typically the first contact a business receives. Demand letters notify a business that their website is in violation of the ADA and request remediation or settlement. There are increasing numbers of law firms distributing these letters en masse; increasing the liklihood of your business eventually receiveing one.

If you receive a demand letter, don’t panic. A demand letter does not automatically mean a lawsuit has or will be filed. It is important that you don’t ignore the letter however—failing to respond or address the accessibility issues on your website may increase the likelihood that legal action is taken.

2. Federal lawsuits

It is important to note that the ADA does not require any prior notice—such as a demand letter—to be sent before filing a federal lawsuit. While plaintiffs cannot sue for monetary damages in accessibility related federal lawsuits your business may be held responsible for fixing the identified issues and covering the plaintiffs attorney fees. Regardless, the costs associated with these settlements can still be significant.

Across the board, the out-of-court settlement costs averaged $30,000, court judgements resulted in settlements that averaged $85,000, and class action settlements averaged $400,000. The added expense of making your website compliant now will be much more affordable than the cost of settling a lawsuit later.

3. State level claims

Some states have passed additional legislation and many allow additional monetary claims. An example of these are California’s Unruh Act. This act recognizes that inaccessible websites constitute a denial of full and equal access as required by state statue.

Unlike federal cases, this act is an example of state legislation that allows plaintiffs to recover additional monetary damages—including a minimum of $4,000 per violation. State legislation typically applies to any website that is available to consumers in that state—regardless of where your business is located. The Ulruh act from California is one such example of the additional financial risk that failing to invest in an accessible website can open your business to.

As mentioned previously, both the DOJ and the US court system uses WCAG Level AA as the standard for measuring a website’s legal compliance. The biggest risk to your website is doing nothing at all—your site does not have to be perfectly compliant to reduce your risk; the ability to demonstrate a good-faith effort to your website’s compliance will go far to protect you from a lawsuit.

What does reduce risk

A lack of understanding, or lack of awareness, is not an excuse for a non-compliant website. But, the following actions will go a long way:

  • Being able to show genuine, documented effort towards identifying and remediating accessibility issues in accordance with WCAG Level AA standards.
  • Having a public accessibility statement on your website that gives an accurate reflection of your website’s compliance status and provides a direct method of contact for users to report issues.
  • Making sure you have a documented and accessible process for receiving and responding to user’s accessibility complaints.
  • An ongoing practice of proactively auditing and working towards improving your website’s accessibility compliance outside of single-issue, reactive corrections.

What does not reduce risk

  • Posting an accessibility state alone will not product you. Be prepared to be able to demonstrate how you’ve supported the claims made in said statement, and any ongoing efforts to monitor and improve your website’s accessibility.
  • Installing an accessibility overlay or widget does not improve accessibility. Despite claims made by the companies offering them, these “solutions” do not provide legitimate accessibility value. Infact, ADA related lawsuits related to accessibility overlays are on the rise, and the FTC is beginning to take action against the companies behind them for deceptive marketing and false claims.
  • One-time audits without following through on remediation or establishing ongoing review processes may help your website accessibility but still leaves you open to risk.

What to do if you receive a demand letter

This article and the guidance provided by AccelerateUX should not be considered legal advice. Our goal here is to help business owners become more aware of what digital accessibility is and how to begin approaching, understanding, and improving the accessibility of your own websites.

Many websites can reduce or eliminate their risk of an ADA lawsuit or legal repercussions simply by making a demonstrable effort to be aware of and adhere to accessible design and development standards. That said, if you have or ever receive a demand letter your should take it seriously. As is standard when any legal action arises you should not publicly respond or engage in online discourse about the claims, and we advise you to consult an attorney with experience in ADA and digital accessibility litigation to advise on next steps.

As we mentioned above, having a publicly accessible website inherently opens you up to a certain degree of legal risk regarding its digital accessibility and compliance with the ADA. This is not meant to scare you but rather to inform you of an aspect of risk many businesses still don’t know about. While the legal risks reviewed in this article are real, they are also easily managed.

Remember, digital accessibility compliance isn’t measured as an all-or-nothing—putting pressure or over-emphasis on achieving perfection isn’t realistic or sustainable. Rather, reducing your risk should be about making consistent effort and the ability to demonstrate, in good-faith, the progress you’ve made towards improving your website’s accessibility.