Received an ADA website demand letter? Here's what to do

First, don’t panic — and don’t do these three things

1. Don’t ignore it. Deadlines in demand letters and court summonses are real.
2. Don’t contact the plaintiff or their lawyer yourself. Let counsel handle all communication.
3. Don’t rush to install an overlay widget. It won’t fix the barriers cited, and it can be used against you.

Step 1: Notify counsel and your insurer (day 1)

Send the letter or complaint to your attorney the day you receive it. If you have employment practices, general liability or cyber insurance, notify the carrier too — some policies cover ADA defense costs, and late notice can jeopardize coverage.

Step 2: Preserve the evidence (days 1–3)

Take a snapshot of your website as it is now: save copies of the pages named in the letter and record your current version or release. Don’t delete pages to make the problem disappear. Your lawyer will advise on preservation obligations.

Step 3: Verify the claims (week 1)

Have an independent specialist check the specific barriers alleged. Letters often include screenshots or scan results. We confirm which issues are real, which are false positives, and — just as important — what else a second plaintiff would find. That gives your counsel facts to negotiate with.

Step 4: Plan the fix (weeks 1–2)

Whatever happens legally, you’ll need to fix the website. Most settlements require WCAG 2.1 AA conformance within a set period. Starting now shows good faith and shortens any settlement timeline. Prioritize:

• the barriers named in the claim,
• checkout, booking, account and contact flows,
• shared components (header, navigation, forms, modals),
• PDFs customers rely on (menus, forms, statements).

Step 5: Fix it properly (weeks 2–12)

Remediate at the source, retest with screen readers, and document everything: what was found, what was fixed, when, and how it was verified. Publish an accessibility statement with a contact method.

Step 6: Stay fixed

A settlement only covers one plaintiff. Build monitoring and annual re-audits into your routine so the next tester finds nothing to complain about.

A note on “serial” plaintiffs

Many website claims are filed by plaintiffs who bring dozens or hundreds of cases. That can feel like a shakedown, and some courts have scrutinized high-volume filers. But the barriers they find are usually real, and they affect every blind or low-vision customer who visits. The most effective defense is a website that actually works.