You've Been Sued. Now What?

Step 1: Coordinate with Legal Counsel

The moment you receive an ADA lawsuit or demand letter, your first call should be to a lawyer. This isn’t just about finding someone to represent you and make the lawsuit go away — it’s about finding someone who can help you understand the claims brought against you and develop a strategy that minimizes both your legal exposure and financial impact.

Not all attorneys will understand ADA lawsuits. Look for counsel familiar with digital accessibility laws, WCAG, and the current legal landscape. Experienced ADA attorneys understand how these cases typically resolve, what documentation courts expect, and how to negotiate favorable settlements. They can also help you avoid common mistakes that escalate legal costs or weaken your position.

Additionally, work closely with your counsel to establish clear timelines for both your legal response and accessibility fixes. Your attorney should know what technical work you’ve undertaken and when it will be accomplished, while you need to understand legal deadlines and requirements. This coordination ensures your accessibility efforts support your legal strategy rather than creating additional complications.

Step 2: Work with Accessibility Experts

Once you’ve coordinated with your legal counsel, your next call should be to an accessibility expert. While not necessarily lawyers, these individuals have in-depth knowledge of the accessibility industry and can help you better understand the claims being brought against you. Some may offer consulting services or accessibility testing — both of which can be invaluable during the entire legal process. 

Take AudioEye, for example. In the event you receive an accessibility lawsuit, we’ll dive deep into your content and determine if alleged violations are actually true. Our team of legal experts will then explain your options and provide recommendations on the best path forward. Additionally, we’ll use our Automated Accessibility Platform (which includes both automated and expert testing) to fix accessibility issues included in your lawsuit and beyond.

Step 3: Understand Your Options

When you’re staring at a lawsuit, your mind understandably goes to what you could have done differently. But you can’t change the past — you need to focus on your options moving forward.

You have two options:

1. Settle. Some businesses choose to settle quickly, resolving only the issues identified in the lawsuit and making plans for additional accessibility improvements later. While this does stop the immediate legal action, it leaves you vulnerable to repeat lawsuits — especially if you don’t create a plan for ongoing accessibility testing and fixes.

2. Fight. Other organizations choose to fight the lawsuit, which typically involves digging deeper into alleged violations and disproving them.

Your choice ultimately depends on your timeline, resources, and how much legal risk you’re willing to accept going forward. But here’s what every business needs to understand: the companies that take comprehensive legal action after the first lawsuit are significantly less likely to face additional legal challenges.

Step 4: Issue Your Response

You’ve evaluated your options and engaged accessibility experts. Now comes a critical moment in this process: preparing the information your attorney will use to craft the official legal response.

It’s important to separate these two pieces:

• Your legal response: Drafted and filed by your attorney, this is the formal document submitted to the court or plaintiff.

• Your accessibility response: The actions, plans, and documentation you provide that demonstrate good faith effort and show you’re actively addressing the issues.

Together, they tell a compelling story: you’re taking accessibility seriously, acting quickly, and building a sustainable plan for compliance. This positioning can significantly influence settlement negotiations and reduce your long-term legal risk. 

Three Elements of a Strong Response

1. Document Immediate Action. Include the specific steps you’ve already taken to address the accessibility barriers mentioned in the lawsuit. Share timelines, specific remediation work, and evidence of progress with your legal team so they can incorporate this into your response.

2. Present Your Compliance Strategy. Develop a long-term plan for maintaining accessibility compliance. This shows the court you understand this isn’t a one-time fix but an ongoing commitment to providing an accessible experience. Detail your audit process, remediation timeline, and plans for ongoing monitoring so your attorney can reference them if needed.

3. Demonstrate Organizational Commitment. Effective responses go beyond technical fixes and show that accessibility has become a business priority. This might include staff training initiatives, updated development processes, or partnerships with accessibility professionals. It shows you’re not just fixing problems —  you’re building an accessible organization.

By giving your legal team strong evidence of your accessibility efforts, you position your organization as one that acknowledged the issue, acted quickly, and built a systematic plan to resolve it. This strengthens negotiations and offers legal protection against future challenges.

Step 5: Begin Your Path to Compliance

With your legal response filed, it’s time to start implementing the accessibility fixes to resolve your lawsuit and protect you from future legal challenges. The key is prioritizing the specific issues cited in your case while building momentum for quick wins.

“Set It and Forget It” Fails — Every Time

Think of how often your website changes. Every time you add new content, update existing pages, launch new features, or integrate third-party tools, you risk introducing new accessibility barriers. That’s why numerous businesses have become repeat targets — they implement quick fixes or install an overlay and move on. That approach fails every time.

Accessibility must be a continuous process. The companies that succeed view accessibility as part of their quality assurance, just like security or performance testing.

Build Accessibility into Every Update

How do you build accessibility into your content creation process? The most effective approach starts with training content creators, developers, and marketing teams on basic accessibility principles. When everyone understands how to write proper alt text, use heading structures correctly, and check color contrast, you prevent the most common issues before they can impact your users. Use accessibility checklists for new content and features; make compliance verification a standard step in your publishing workflow rather than an afterthought. 

With that foundation in place, you can then create a schedule for regular accessibility testing. Consider scheduling quarterly accessibility audits to catch complex issues before they become legal problems, using automated tools to catch common issues and expert audits to find more complex ones. You should also regularly test your site with assistive technologies like screen readers and conduct user testing with members of the disability community to identify real-world issues. When accessibility is built into your content creation process from the start, those regular audits become validation exercises rather than crisis management sessions.

Here’s the bottom line: investing in ongoing accessibility isn’t just about avoiding lawsuits — it’s about building a better online experience that serves everyone while protecting your business reputation and bottom line.

Ongoing Support — Even After the Lawsuit

AudioEye doesn’t stop once your lawsuit does. Our Automated Accessibility Platform provides the foundation for a comprehensive, scalable approach to digital accessibility. Rather than relying solely on automation (which leaves critical gaps in your accessibility), AudioEye combines powerful automation with human-assisted AI technology to continuously monitor, update, and improve your site’s accessibility.

Our approach not only provides 400% more protection than consulting or automation-only approaches, but also helps your site remain compliant and accessible as it grows and changes. There’s no need to worry about falling behind or missing critical issues; you can trust your online content is accessible, compliant, and protected — backed by the only genuine guarantee in the industry. 

Whether you’re facing an accessibility lawsuit now or want to lower your legal risk, AudioEye is your trusted accessibility partner. Schedule a demo to see how our three-pronged approach to accessibility provides peace of mind when it matters most.