Lawsuits that abuse the ADA are finally being found out, and every small business should be jumping for joy! That’s not to say lawsuits, in general, are a bad thing. Though most would admit that the U.S. has far too many suits filed every day, a lot of those are filed with good reason. When it comes to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), lawsuits are one of the only ways to enforce regulations. The problem is when those ADA lawsuits are filed to effectively blackmail business owners into making a payment and not because actual change is needed.

I’ve already written about the annoying and costly ADA lawsuits going around right now. They’re costing business owners thousands of dollars and not benefiting those who need the ADA. Those dollars aren’t going to government regulators, or even to those who benefit from the ADA, they’re going to lawyers. That’s why everyone should celebrate that the people filing those frivolous lawsuits are finally seeing their day in court.

An Oregon man who filed dozens of ADA lawsuits recently admitted to being paid to do so. He revealed that a law firm had been paying him a relatively low fee of $600 a month to stop into those businesses so he could claim they violated the ADA in some way. This isn’t exactly going to eliminate this deceptive practice in a single day, but it’s going to help.

Why Are People Filing ADA Lawsuits?

Before we dig into the small victory for Oregon, let’s talk about those lawsuits.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is designed to ensure that those who are differently-abled are not treated as such. In some instances that means including a ramp at the entrances and exits of a business and in other cases, it could mean making your website more accessible. The ultimate point is that every person has the same public experiences despite their differences.

Now that the world of e-commerce has evolved, those regulations have extended to the Internet. Many websites have much more robust accessibility features to benefit users, which is great. What isn’t so great is when those ADA requirements are abused and turned into unnecessary lawsuits.

Website ADA Requirements

Storefronts aren’t the only ones subjected to the ADA’s rules. Websites are also policed these days and with good reason. Over 75% of adults in the United States shop online, so it only makes sense for the ADA to make sure websites are compliant too.

There’s an entire list of ways websites need to comply with the ADA, but here are some of the major points:

  • Any videos or similar content should have caption options
  • Non-text content like videos should have text-only alternatives
  • Colors should be contrasting to make differing sections clearer
  • Text should be customizable so users can change size, color, and spacing
  • A website should be easily navigated without activating triggers or causing reactions
  • Coding should be written so it works with varying assistive technologies

Those might seem minor, but they help small business owners reach a wider market and it helps the people that comprise that market to go and shop wherever they want, even on a website.

The Problem with Frivolous ADA Lawsuits

U.S. citizens are certainly fans of lawsuits. For every case with merit, there’s someone just trying to get a few extra bucks out of another person or company. That’s the issue with the rise in ADA lawsuits. These cases aren’t meant to push for change, they’re meant to be a cash grab for law firms trying to create their own cases. That’s why the story of Justin Burley-Beaver is so startling but isn’t exactly unique.

Just last year a Sacramento attorney named Scott Norris Johnson was convicted in relation to these kinds of ADA lawsuits. Unfortunately, his conviction had nothing to do with the actual cases. It stemmed from his refusing to declare those lawsuit winnings on his taxes, but it did do some good.

The more people talk about stories like Scott Johnson’s or Justin Burley-Beaver’s the more those stories are going to be demonized. No one wants to have issues with the ADA for multiple reasons, but this is officially getting ridiculous.

Accessibility is a major issue and should be at the forefront of any business, but shallow lawsuits seeking out minor problems for a payday are not the way to fix them, and we know that from experience.

How To Deal With Annoying ADA Lawsuits

While we at The 215 Guys have never been directly involved in one of these ADA lawsuits, our clients sure have. One of our most notable clients was faced with one of these exact lawsuits within the last couple of years. While we can’t say it came from Scott Johnson or Burley-Beaver, they were clearly taking a play out of their book. The supposed ‘victim’ had a long list of the ways our client’s website wasn’t accessible. The issue is, when you file a lawsuit like this, you’re subject to investigation from the people you’re suing.

Guess what our client found? After doing a little research with that user’s IP address, our client was able to discover that they had literally never visited their website. That’s right, this person with a laundry list of complaints had never actually managed to click on the website they were suing. With just a little bit of research and some help thanks to Google Analytics, they were able to get rid of this annoying lawsuit.

Unfortunately, that’s not going to work with every one of these bad actors. It’s important to remember that every one of these lawsuits is typically backed by a large law firm. They’re intimidating and knowledgable, and their goal is to take a quick buck from your company.

Don’t be afraid of a fight just because the other side is a bunch of suits. The first step to avoiding these lawsuits is to make your website accessible. Once you’ve done that you’ve already created a layer of protection from annoying and frivolous ADA lawsuits like these.