Thousands of small businesses across the country are being sued for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) related to their websites. While accessibility for people with disabilities is a critical issue, many of these lawsuits are frivolous and driven by profit-seeking law firms. Such lawsuits do not serve the interests of people with disabilities and instead burden small businesses with exorbitant legal fees, settlements, and often drive them out of business.

We call on lawmakers to take action to curb the abuse of ADA website lawsuits, including establishing clear rules and guidelines for businesses to follow, penalizing law firms that engage in questionable practices, and holding website platforms accountable for promoting accessibility. We also urge lawmakers to amend the fee-shifting provisions of the ADA to discourage frivolous lawsuits and ensure that the disabled community benefits from genuine accessibility.

Join us in demanding that our lawmakers take action to stop the abuse of ADA website lawsuits and ensure that businesses and people with disabilities are equally served by the law.

Our Action Plan to Stop Abusive ADA Website Lawsuits focuses on 15 key strategies to address the negative impact of such lawsuits on both small businesses and people with disabilities. The goal is to create a more accessible web while stopping abuse of the ADA. Share this with disability rights groups, chambers of commerce, bar associations, lawmakers, criminal justice authorities, judges, journalists, and accessibility experts in technology.

1) Raise Awareness: Highlight the negative impact of abusive ADA lawsuits on small businesses and people with disabilities, and pressure lawmakers for change.

2) Identify and Penalize Bad Actors: Punish plaintiff law firms engaging in unethical practices, including fines, sanctions, disbarment, and prison.

3) Use RICO Statutes Against Racketeering and Extortion Practices: Use Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes against lawyers who engage in unethical practices like recruiting straw/serial plaintiffs to file lawsuits and collecting secret settlements via pressure tactics. This would combat abusive ADA lawsuits and hold bad lawyers accountable.

4) Demand Rule-Making: DOJ needs to create clear rules for digital accessibility and "compliance."

5) Hold Platforms Accountable: Technology companies should be held accountable and required to provide accessible platforms for businesses to create websites. This will ensure that small businesses aren't solely responsible for website accessibility.

6) Engage with Disability Rights Groups: Disability rights advocates understand that suing businesses in the name of accessibility only alienates the disabled and creates a fear dynamic. It is important to engage with disability rights groups to ensure that their concerns are heard and that the needs of people with disabilities are met.

7) Encourage Judicial Scrutiny: Encourage judges to scrutinize the legitimacy of plaintiff claims claims and sanction lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits only to drop them for dubious reasons.

8) Lobby for Legislative Changes: Lobby for changes to existing laws, particularly in states where ADA website accessibility lawsuits are abused. This includes amendments to fee-shifting provisions, clearer guidelines on website accessibility, and penalties for lawyers who engage in questionable practices.

9) Register Demand Letters: The registration of ADA demand letters with the state or Department of Justice (DOJ) would provide an important level of accountability and transparency in the process of filing claims. Currently, anyone can send a demand letter alleging a violation of the ADA without any oversight or verification of the claim. This has led to a proliferation of abusive demand letters and lawsuits, which can have a devastating impact on small businesses. It would also provide an opportunity for the DOJ to collect data on demand letters and identify trends or bad actors, which could ultimately lead to more effective enforcement of the ADA.

10) Amend the Fee-Shifting Provisions of the ADA: Amend the one-sided attorney's fee provision of the ADA to hold plaintiffs accountable for legal fees incurred by defendants in meritless cases.

11) Provide a Notice-to-Cure Period: Until the DOJ issues rule-making on web accessibility, businesses should be granted a notice-to-cure period of 180 days to address accessibility issues before being subjected to legal action. This approach is more reasonable than current practices of selling settlements with a two-year window to fix websites.

12 Standardize Testing of Accessibility Compliance: Standardize testing protocols and tools to ensure consistency in the testing process and make it easier for businesses to identify and address accessibility issues.

13 Provide Certification for Website Accessibility: Establish a certification program for website accessibility to provide businesses with a clear and objective standard for compliance and promote genuine accessibility.

14 Supreme Court Ruling on Testers: Stay all accessibility lawsuits filed by serial plaintiffs until the US Supreme Court decides on the Deborah Laufer versus Acheson Hotels case, which will have a significant impact on the future of serial-filer accessibility lawsuits.

15 Curb Serial-Filing of Lawsuits: Some possible measures to achieve this include increasing filing fees for repeat filers, verification of disability, limiting the number of lawsuits that can be filed by a single plaintiff or firm in a given time period, and requiring that all demand letters include a list of specific accessibility barriers rather than just a general statement of non-compliance.

Lawmakers must act to protect the entrepreneurial spirit and hustle economy of American small businesses, especially those striving to recover from the pandemic, as they are frequently impacted by abusive ADA website lawsuits. Many of these small businesses are owned by immigrants, people of color, and individuals with disabilities, who are often disproportionately impacted by such lawsuits. Measures must be taken to support these businesses, including offering resources to enhance accessibility and financial assistance to implement necessary changes, in order to create a more inclusive and accessible society for all.

Action Steps:

• Download the 2022 ADA Website Lawsuits Report
• Contact your local elected officials
• Contact local Chamber of Commerce
• Contact your industry trade association
• Engage with Disability Rights groups to educate them on the harms of lawsuits