Small businesses face increasing exposure to frivolous and abusive lawsuits brought by predatory trial lawyers eager to exploit well-intentioned laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Specifically, these lawyers are targeting Main Street business owners over alleged issues with their websites for details such as the colors and fonts they choose to display. The situation often begins with small business owners receiving a letter from a lawyer they’ve never heard of, claiming their website violates the ADA. The letter demands thousands of dollars to settle the claim, and in some instances, the lawyer even offers the same business as the services it provides to bring its website into compliance. It’s an outrageous situation, but for these trial lawyers, it’s a “heads I win, tails I also win” scenario. The ADA serves an important mission of ensuring accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately, in the decades since its passage, the law has been weaponized by predatory trial lawyers. For a small business operating on tight margins, these costly and abusive lawsuits can be devastating.
In an ever-evolving, modern business landscape, Main Street has been propelled online, with websites now serving as front doors. Businesses must be welcoming and accessible to meet all their customers’ needs. Why then, has there been a surge of frivolous and abusive ADA website-lawsuit claims suggesting otherwise?
