ADA demand letters for online stores: what to do first

An ADA demand letter is a letter from a law firm saying a person with a disability could not use your store. It usually asks you to fix the site and pay to settle. Take these steps in order.

Both exist. Shopify merchants have reported fake emails signed by a “Shopify compliance team” that claimed a store had accessibility problems (Shopify Community, March and April 2025), and automated demand-letter scams aimed at small businesses (January 2023). Real letters from real law firms are also common.

Signs that a message needs a careful second look:

• it says it comes from Shopify or a “compliance team” rather than a named law firm
• it pushes you to buy a particular app, widget or audit to make the problem go away
• it asks you to pay through a link, or in a few hours
• it names no lawyer you can look up yourself, or no court and case number if it says you were sued

Most letters describe a screen reader user who tried to buy something and could not. (A screen reader is software that reads the page aloud for people who are blind.) Then they list barriers. In Jones v. Moscot (S.D.N.Y., 2026), the claims were:

• missing alt text (a short description of an image for people who cannot see it)
• hidden elements and pop-ups that were not announced
• unclear labels on buttons and form fields
• functions that only work with a mouse
• broken links

Letters often mention WCAG 2.1 AA, the technical standard courts use, and some add a state law that pays damages, such as California's Unruh Act or New York's human rights laws.

Many are templates, so not every claim is right. One Shopify merchant reported a complaint saying the checkout needed a mouse, which was wrong (Shopify Community, August 2024). Your lawyer will want to know which claims are real, which is why checking each one matters.

The next step is a call with a lawyer who handles ADA defence. They will tell you whether to answer, negotiate or wait, and they should write any reply. While that happens, save your store as it is and start fixing the real barriers the letter lists, keeping dates for each fix.

For the store that receives it, the real risk is in the response. Ignoring a letter can lead to a lawsuit. Paying without fixing the site leaves the same barriers for the next plaintiff, because a settlement binds only the person who brought the claim. Arguing in public can hurt your case.

Let your lawyer write the reply. If you have to say anything before then, keep it to confirming you received the letter and that your lawyer will be in touch. Avoid:

• admitting the site is inaccessible or that you knew about a problem
• arguing that the plaintiff is not really disabled or is only after money
• promising a fix by a date you have not checked
• claiming your store is “ADA compliant” because of a theme, app or widget

There is no reliable public figure. It depends on the firm, the state, whether a suit was filed and how quickly you fix the site. If you have been served with a lawsuit, the court sets deadlines to respond, so call a lawyer the same week.

Be wary of anyone who quotes an average settlement figure. We have not found a reliable public source for one, so we do not publish one.

The trackers count differently, so do not add them together. In federal court in 2025, New York had 1,021 website suits, Florida 961 and Illinois 585. California had only 4, because those claims go to state court (Seyfarth Shaw, March 25, 2026). EcomBack found that the top 16 law firms filed 90.35% of 2025 cases.

For the wider picture, read our ADA website compliance guide.

Two states now reward stores that fix problems quickly after written notice. Both protect only businesses based in that state.

In Jones v. Moscot, reported April 1, 2026, a federal judge in New York dismissed a website suit as moot. The store filed a declaration from its head of e-commerce, a third-party audit report and a plan for ongoing testing. The plaintiff offered nothing in reply.

That does not mean every case ends this way, and the plaintiff could still refile in state court. But it shows what helps: real fixes, an independent check, a plan to keep testing, and records with dates.

Inclusely is a Shopify app in early access. It checks your store against WCAG 2.2 AA, fixes what it safely can (product alt text, theme settings, and theme code through exact changes you approve or through our developers), and keeps a dated record of every scan and fix.

While you wait for early access, our free accessibility checker can check a page for common problems. After a letter, Inclusely means you can:

• check each barrier the letter lists against your store
• fix the real ones, starting with the buying path
• hand your lawyer a dated record of what changed and when

We cannot tell you whether a claim is valid, and no tool can promise a store will not be sued. Automated checks find some problems, not all, so a person still has to test with a keyboard and a screen reader.