Immediate Actions for Legal Mitigation

Being sued can take down your business and affect your brand’s public image. Be prepared for the worst by knowing what to do if it happens to you.

If served with a complaint or lawsuit for violating ADA regulations, do not wait or delay taking action for immediate remediation of your site's accessibility violations.

Follow the steps below to demonstrate that you are serious about making your site accessible to people with disabilities. It will also serve as a public expression that you have begun to address the violations.

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5 Steps to Take When Facing an Accessibility Complaint or Lawsuit

Get experts on your side

Hire an attorney, preferably one with experience handling accessibility-related cases, to face the claimant, protect you legally and limit your liability. Hire an accessibility expert to help you navigate steps 2-5 below.

How UserWay can help: Contact UserWay and request help in finding a leading ADA/accessibility attorney in your state. Allow UserWay to act as your guide to accessibility, and adopt its solutions to steps 2-5 below.

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Fix what is easy to fix

One lawsuit will not prevent you from getting another lawsuit: we know of sites who have received multiple concurrent lawsuits for accessibility violations that were not remediated immediately. Install the UserWay widget to fix as many accessibility issues as possible. Addressing the parts of your website that fall short is an essential step toward becoming compliant.

How UserWay can help: If you haven’t yet, install UserWay’s Accessibility Widget to remediate the most common WCAG 2.1 AA violations. Since the widget is free to use and can be installed in minutes, this step is simple and quick.

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Demonstrate real effort

Show and document your efforts by requesting a comprehensive accessibility audit. Your site needs to be compliant, or you will be vulnerable to more lawsuits. Before the audit begins you get an official letter written by a UserWay director confirming that remediation efforts have begun.

How UserWay can help: Request a UserWay accessibility audit. The moment the audit begins, UserWay provides legal documentation demonstrating that you are taking accessibility responsibility and initiating analysis and remediation efforts. The audit report provides a clear and accurate checklist of what needs fixing, which violations can be fixed by the UserWay widget and which ones may require further work.

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Get to the bottom of it

Air-tight accessibility may require looking under the hood, and possibly some re-wiring. Address the advice of your accessibility expert and audit report recommendations. Your internal subject matter experts will quickly take on a true, in-depth accessibility perspective.

How UserWay can help: UserWay offers experienced accessibility engineers for any phase of the process, primarily front-end developers with a vast history of accessibility experience. We are ready to help with any missing pieces.

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Maintain vigilance

After you believe all issues have been addressed, and your legal team has helped you settle the case, maintain awareness of digital accessibility, provide internal/corporate training on the matter, and remain vigilant to ensure that any new digital content is authored using accessibility best practices.

How UserWay can help: For UserWay-audited sites we recheck the site as part of a re-verification (re-audit cycle) process. Our team will ensure that all violations have been cleared and will provide you with a written 'Statement of Compliance' that details which accessibility violations that were identified in the audit report were fully remediated. Annual re-inspections can be ordered to scan and re-verify your site’s good standing.

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The Floodgates Have Opened

Hundreds of Lawsuits. Thousands of Demand Letters.

Target.com

Sued for failure to provide descriptive alt text on images for product images appearing on their e-commerce store

MLB

Sued for failure to provide accessibility of apps for mobile devices based on WCAG 2.1 Level AA for its iPhone and iPad apps.

Etrade.com

Sued for failure to provide an accessible website, mobile application and accessible online trading platform for customers who are blind.

SafeWay

Sued for failure to provide accessibility of its online grocery delivery website.

H&R Block

Sued for failure to provide accessible web content for their online tax preparation tool, website, and mobile application

Carnival Cruises

Sued for failure to provide accessible web experiences for their Carnival Cruises, Princess and HollandAmerica websites

NetFlix.com, Hulu.com, Amazon.com, MIT and Harvard University

Sued for failure to provide closed captioning on streaming web videos, archived video content and pre-recorded course material

Weight Watchers

Sued for failure to provide its online and mobile application content and print material in accessible formats for persons with visual impairments

Domino’s Pizza

Sued in 2016 for failure to create an online ordering system that was accessible to blind users. The lawsuit is still active as of 2019.

50 US Colleges

Sued for being inaccessible to people with disabilities, specifically, users relying on screen readers and other assistive tech.

Patagonia, Ace Hardware, Domino's Pizza, Aeropostale, Bed Bath & Beyond, PeaPod, Estee Lauder, JC Penny, Home Depot as well as the Kardashian's ShopDashOnline.com are the most recent companies sued by blind plaintiffs, alleging that the retailers’ websites are not accessible to the blind as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

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