You Got an ADA Demand Letter: The First 30 Days
A demand letter is not a lawsuit, but the clock is running. What to do in week one, what to fix first, and the mistakes that make things worse.
An ADA demand letter lands in your inbox and your stomach drops. Take a breath. A demand letter is not a lawsuit. It is a notice, usually from a law firm that sends hundreds of them, giving you a chance to fix the issues before they file. The next thirty days determine whether this ends with a remediation plan or a court date. Here is what to do.
Week one: don't panic, do document
First, preserve everything. Save the letter, note the date received, and forward it to your attorney before responding to the sender. Do not admit liability in writing, and do not ignore it either. Silence is the one response that reliably makes things worse.
Second, get a real accessibility audit of the site, not just an automated scan. Demand letters typically cite specific barriers the sender's tester encountered. You need to know whether those barriers exist, what else is broken, and how long fixes will take. An audit gives your attorney something concrete to work with.
Weeks two and three: fix what you can, plan the rest
Start with the barriers named in the letter. They are the plaintiff's exhibit A, and fixing them quickly shows good faith. Then triage the audit findings by user impact: keyboard traps, unlabeled form fields, and broken navigation first.
Build a remediation timeline with real dates. Courts and opposing counsel respond well to a credible plan with milestones. A vague promise to 'work on accessibility' does not. Neither does installing an overlay widget and declaring victory, a move that experienced ADA firms specifically call out.
Week four: respond through counsel
Your attorney responds with the remediation plan and, typically, opens settlement discussion. Most of these cases settle. The settlement amount correlates strongly with how seriously you took the remediation: documented fixes and a timeline cost less than stonewalling.
Whatever you agree to, get the remediation milestones in writing as part of the deal. Then actually hit them. A second letter for the same barriers is dramatically more expensive than the first.
After: make it structural
The firms that send these letters keep lists, and they check back. The only durable defense is a site that stays accessible: automated scans in the deploy pipeline, manual testing on releases, and someone who owns the metric.
Budget for it like maintenance, because that is what it is. The companies that treat the first letter as a wake-up call and build the process rarely get a second one. The ones that settle and change nothing often do.
Choosing the right auditor
Not all accessibility audits are equal, and for a demand letter the difference matters. You need manual testing by people who use assistive technology, findings mapped to specific WCAG criteria, and remediation guidance your developers can implement. A scan-only report will not survive scrutiny from experienced plaintiff firms.
Ask auditors directly whether they have supported companies through demand letters before. You want someone who understands the legal context: what gets cited, what counts as good-faith remediation, and how to document progress. The audit may become part of your legal record, so treat auditor selection with the seriousness it deserves.
Frequently asked questions
Should we just pay whatever they ask?
No. Get counsel first. Many of these letters settle for far less than the opening demand once you show documented remediation progress. Paying fast without fixing anything invites the next letter.
Will an accessibility widget make the letter go away?
No, and it can hurt. Plaintiff firms know overlays do not fix underlying barriers, and some specifically test for them. Fix the actual code.
How long do we have before they file?
It varies, but many firms move within 30 to 60 days if there is no response. That is why the first week matters so much.