Accessibility Lawsuits, Demand Letters, and the Real Cost of Waiting

I've spent the last year tracking accessibility lawsuits and demand letters across multiple industries. The trend is clear: litigation is accelerating. Organizations that weren't even thinking about accessibility three years ago are now getting sued. The cost of these cases is not trivial—and the cost of ignoring accessibility is becoming prohibitive.

This is not theoretical risk. This is real, measurable, and happening to organizations right now.

The Rising Tide of Accessibility Litigation

In the past few years, accessibility lawsuits have exploded. Between 2018 and 2024, the number of federal accessibility lawsuits filed annually doubled. And that's not counting settlements, state cases, or demand letters that never make it to formal litigation.

Who's being sued? Everyone. Fortune 500 companies. Small and mid-sized businesses. Local nonprofits. E-commerce sites, media companies, healthcare providers, banks, universities, and government agencies. If you have a digital product and you're not accessible, you're a target.

The cases vary, but the pattern is consistent. Someone encounters an inaccessible website or app. They contact the organization. The organization either ignores them or doesn't effectively fix the problem. Then the person—often represented by a disability rights attorney—files a lawsuit or sends a demand letter.

Who's Filing Suits?

It's not always disability advocates. It's often disabled users themselves. Someone trying to order groceries online and discovering the website won't work with their screen reader. Someone trying to access government services and hitting a wall. Someone trying to apply for a job and finding the application is completely inaccessible.

These people are frustrated. They've often contacted the organization multiple times and gotten nowhere. At that point, litigation becomes an option. And sometimes, it becomes the only option that produces change.

Demand Letters: The Warning Before the Lawsuit

Many accessibility cases start with a demand letter. Someone (or an organization representing them) sends a formal letter detailing accessibility violations and demanding correction. Usually, the letter gives a timeline for response—often 30 days.

Demand letters themselves aren't lawsuits. But they're a clear signal that someone is serious. They also create a record of your knowledge of the problem. If you ignore a demand letter and later get sued, that letter becomes evidence that you knew about the issue and chose not to address it.

The Cost of a Demand Letter

Even before litigation, demand letters cost money. You need lawyers to respond. You need to assess the claims. You need to decide whether to settle, fix the problem, or defend. If you settle, there are attorney fees and remediation costs. If you don't, you're heading toward litigation. A typical demand letter might cost $10,000 to $50,000 to handle, including legal review and initial remediation work.

The Legal Landscape: What You're Actually Liable For

The law around digital accessibility is still evolving, but the trend is clear: accessibility is increasingly seen as legally required.

Title II of the ADA (Public Sector)

If you're a public entity, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to your digital properties. The ADA requires that people with disabilities have equal access to your services. Courts have consistently held that this includes websites and digital applications. If your website is inaccessible, you're violating Title II. It's that straightforward.

Title III of the ADA (Private Sector)

For private entities, the law is less clear but rapidly clarifying through litigation. Title III requires that places of public accommodation (stores, restaurants, hotels, banks, and increasingly, websites) be accessible. Courts have been expanding this interpretation to include digital properties. If your website is a public accommodation, you need to make it accessible.

State and Local Laws

Many states have their own accessibility laws, often with stricter requirements than federal law. California's UNRUH Civil Rights Act, for example, applies to private businesses and has been used extensively for accessibility cases. New York has its own digital accessibility law. These are in addition to federal requirements, not instead of them.

Overlay Tools Are Not a Defense

Many organizations have tried to solve accessibility by purchasing an 'overlay' tool—a JavaScript widget that adds accessibility features to an existing website. The theory is that you don't have to fix the underlying code; the overlay handles accessibility.

Courts and regulators are increasingly skeptical of this approach. In fact, overlays often create new accessibility problems on top of existing ones. Screen reader users report that overlays interfere with their assistive technology. The overlays themselves often aren't accessible.

Regulators like the DoJ have made clear: using an overlay is not a substitute for fixing accessibility. It might reduce your legal liability slightly (you can argue you're making an effort), but it won't protect you from a serious accessibility lawsuit. If you're relying on an overlay as your accessibility strategy, you need a new strategy.

How to Get Ahead of It

1. Audit Your Digital Properties Now

Get an independent accessibility audit of your website and apps. Not an audit by your own team (they'll miss things). Hire someone external who specializes in accessibility. They'll identify problems and prioritize them by severity.

2. Create a Remediation Plan

Based on the audit, create a plan to fix the biggest issues first. Document your process. If you later face a lawsuit, demonstrating that you have a remediation plan in place is valuable. It shows you're taking the issue seriously.

3. Build Accessibility Into Your Development Process

Retrofitting accessibility is expensive. Building it in from the start costs much less. Add accessibility requirements to your design guidelines. Test for accessibility as part of your QA process. Train your team.

4. Make a Public Commitment

Post an accessibility statement on your website. Make a public commitment to WCAG 2.1 AA compliance (the standard used in accessibility cases). Provide a way for users to report accessibility issues and show that you're responding to them.

5. Don't Rely on Overlays

Fix the underlying code. Overlays are not a legal defense and they create additional problems. They're a bandaid that makes your legal exposure worse, not better.

6. Get Legal Counsel Involved Early

Don't wait for a lawsuit. Talk to a lawyer who specializes in digital accessibility. They can help you understand your liability and develop a smart remediation strategy.

The Math of Waiting

Let's do the math. Proactive accessibility investment: $50,000 to $150,000 upfront plus $10,000 to $20,000 annually. That gets you a genuinely accessible website that serves more users and creates no legal risk.

Cost of an accessibility lawsuit: $150,000 to $1,000,000+, plus reputational damage, management distraction, and ongoing remediation. The math is clear. Proactive accessibility is not just the right thing to do. It's the smart financial decision.

The Bottom Line

Accessibility litigation is rising and will continue to rise. Organizations that wait to address accessibility will get sued. Organizations that fix accessibility now will avoid those lawsuits, serve more users, and build trust with disabled communities.

The question isn't whether you can afford to invest in accessibility. The question is whether you can afford not to. Get an audit. Create a remediation plan. Fix the problems. Your future self—and your legal team—will be grateful.