This is a descriptive walkthrough of what happens when a law firm — or any business — receives an ADA Title III website demand letter. It is not legal advice. If you've received a demand letter, retain defense counsel before doing anything described here.

What a demand letter typically looks like

A typical letter has four parts:

  1. Identification of the alleged violation: usually 5–25 specific WCAG criteria, sometimes with screenshots, often with a scanner output appended.
  2. A claim under ADA Title III (and frequently a state-law parallel like California's Unruh Act).
  3. A demand for relief: typically a specific dollar amount plus remediation. The dollar amount varies by jurisdiction and plaintiff firm; mid-five-figures is common.
  4. A response deadline: usually 14–30 days.

The letter will often include language about pre-suit discussions and offer to settle without litigation. This framing is intentional — most letters are intended to settle, not litigate.

The first 24 hours

Do:

  • Forward the letter to whoever in your organization is the point of contact for legal matters. For a law firm, this is the managing partner or general counsel. For a business, it's typically the CEO or COO.
  • Preserve the current state of the website. Take full-page screenshots, save the HTML, document the configuration. If your remediation later changes the site, you want a record of what it looked like at the time of the demand.
  • Calendar the response deadline.

Don't:

  • Respond directly to the sender. Even an acknowledgment can be used.
  • Begin remediating immediately without documentation. Undocumented remediation can be characterized as evidence destruction.
  • Post about the letter on social media or in marketing materials.
  • Contact the named plaintiff (if there is one).

The first 7 days

Retain defense counsel experienced specifically in ADA Title III website cases. This is a specialty — general litigation counsel often gets the procedural specifics wrong.

Your counsel will typically want, in this order:

  1. The full demand letter, exactly as received.
  2. A list of named plaintiffs, defendants, and any associated entities (LLCs, marketing firms, etc.).
  3. Your accessibility program documentation: any prior audits, current scanning setup, remediation log, vendor contracts (overlay tools, accessibility platforms).
  4. The website state preserved on day one.
  5. Internal documentation of when and how each cited issue arose (CMS template, vendor plugin, etc.).

What defense counsel typically pursues

The standard playbook varies by plaintiff and jurisdiction, but common moves:

  • Mootness: if the cited issues are remediated and a process is in place to prevent recurrence, the case may be argued moot. Courts vary on whether voluntary remediation moots an ADA claim.
  • Standing challenges: serial plaintiffs who scan many sites looking for issues may face standing scrutiny. This depends heavily on circuit and individual judge.
  • Settlement negotiation: most cases settle. The dollar amount typically negotiates down significantly from the initial demand if there is documented good-faith remediation.

What having a documented audit log does for you

An audit log of pre-existing accessibility scanning is materially helpful at this stage for two reasons:

  1. Good-faith narrative: a documented continuous scanning program is the opposite of "we never thought about accessibility until you sued us." That narrative shifts both settlement posture and (in litigation) the equities.
  2. Evidence preservation: the log shows what your site looked like over time, when issues arose, and what was remediated. If opposing counsel alleges issues that didn't exist, your log refutes them.

This is the case for continuous scanning before a letter ever arrives. After the letter, you can't retroactively create the history.

The next 90 days

Assuming settlement, your obligations typically include:

  • Remediation deadline: 60–180 days, depending on the agreement. Cited issues plus reasonable adjacent issues.
  • Ongoing monitoring: increasingly, settlements require a documented monitoring program for some period (1–3 years).
  • Monetary settlement: paid per the agreement.
  • Confidentiality: many settlements include non-disclosure terms.

Some firms find the post-settlement monitoring requirement more burdensome than the dollar payment. This is where having continuous scanning already in place pays off — it's already what the settlement requires.

How do I prevent the next letter?

Three things, in order of impact:

1. Continuous automated scanning

The #1 indicator that a site will receive a demand letter is that no one has scanned it. The #1 indicator a remediated site will avoid a second letter is that scanning is documented as ongoing. Run continuous scanning — weekly is plenty for most sites.

2. Manual audit cadence

Annual or biannual manual audit by an accessibility specialist. Catches what automated tools can't. Documents the human-review element of your program.

3. Workflow integration

Every CMS template change, every new content type, every new vendor widget gets an accessibility review before going live. Without this, every deploy reintroduces issues.

Are these letters legitimate or shakedowns?

Some are clearly legitimate — a real plaintiff with a real disability, a real barrier, a real settlement. Some are functionally automated — scanning thousands of sites, sending letters to dozens, settling whatever pays. The legal system treats them similarly. Defense counsel sees the patterns and can advise on which is which.

Either way, the answer for the defendant is the same: remediate, document, prevent recurrence.

What about overlay widgets?

Adding an accessibility overlay (accessiBe, UserWay, AudioEye) after receiving a demand letter will not protect you. Overlays have themselves been the subject of lawsuits, and plaintiff firms increasingly cite their presence rather than treat them as a defense. Genuine remediation — fixing the underlying code or content — is the only durable answer.

The best defense is a documented program that predates any letter. Run a free scan of your firm's site → and start the audit log now, not after the letter arrives.