Maybe some of you knew about this before, but I didn't... I found out randomly by visiting Reddit and seeing that Shopify sites got hit with this extortion and people were whining.
There is a new "scam" going on for the past couple of years.
Shopify sites, all sorts of SaaS, and almost any other business registered in the U.S. can be hit with an ADA lawsuit.
These are known as drive-by lawsuits, where professional plaintiffs are suing any site for ridiculous reasons to extort money from them, and they do succeed A LOT.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is an ADA lawsuit:
ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The ADA gives people with disabilities the right to file lawsuits in Federal court and obtain Federal court orders to stop ADA violations. If you are sued by an individual and you lose the case, you may have to pay the winning party's attorney's fees.
There are many other things that they can use for this extortion but basically if your site has even a minor issue with accessibility for disabled people, you can be next in line getting pressed.
They are usually trying to settle before it goes to court. As far as I can see, most settle for $3,000-$50,000 since there is a high chance they will beat you if you don't settle... in that case, you are going to pay MUCH more.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not sure how deep this law goes, I don't want to do that much research. All I know is that Office Outlaw is registered in the United States... can you also be sued? Hopefully not, but do your research just in case; otherwise, we will be budgeting for plaintiffs soon on our donation page.
www.cairncross.com
Here is a Shopify owner who beat an ADA lawsuit... still had to pay $20k for his defense fees:
There is a new "scam" going on for the past couple of years.
Shopify sites, all sorts of SaaS, and almost any other business registered in the U.S. can be hit with an ADA lawsuit.
These are known as drive-by lawsuits, where professional plaintiffs are suing any site for ridiculous reasons to extort money from them, and they do succeed A LOT.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is an ADA lawsuit:
ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The ADA gives people with disabilities the right to file lawsuits in Federal court and obtain Federal court orders to stop ADA violations. If you are sued by an individual and you lose the case, you may have to pay the winning party's attorney's fees.
- This means if your site is missing alt text for images, you can be sued.
- If you host videos without captions, you can be sued.
There are many other things that they can use for this extortion but basically if your site has even a minor issue with accessibility for disabled people, you can be next in line getting pressed.
They are usually trying to settle before it goes to court. As far as I can see, most settle for $3,000-$50,000 since there is a high chance they will beat you if you don't settle... in that case, you are going to pay MUCH more.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not sure how deep this law goes, I don't want to do that much research. All I know is that Office Outlaw is registered in the United States... can you also be sued? Hopefully not, but do your research just in case; otherwise, we will be budgeting for plaintiffs soon on our donation page.
Look Out For Drive-By ADA Lawsuits: Are You Ready? | Cairncross & Hempelmann
Over the past several years, hoteliers, retailers and restaurant owners across the country have been slapped with thousands of private lawsuits for failing to meet the precise guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Here is a Shopify owner who beat an ADA lawsuit... still had to pay $20k for his defense fees:
