Can you actually get sued over website accessibility?

Short answer: yes, and it happens more than most business owners realize. Federal courts have consistently held that the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to websites of businesses open to the public — not just physical locations.

How this usually plays out

Most cases don't start with a customer complaint. They start with a demand letter: a law firm sends a letter stating that a blind or low-vision visitor (often using screen-reading software) couldn't use the site, citing specific WCAG failures, and requesting a settlement to avoid litigation. Some firms send these at scale, targeting many small business sites with common, easily-detected issues.

Who actually gets targeted

It's not just large companies. Retail, restaurants, healthcare providers, and other public-facing small businesses are common targets — especially sites that process online orders, bookings, or payments, since those have clearer legal standing for a visitor who couldn't complete a transaction.

What actually reduces the risk

There's no certificate that makes a site immune — accessibility isn't a one-time checkbox. But most demand letters cite the same handful of common, automatically-detectable issues: missing alt text on images, poor color contrast, unlabeled form fields, and keyboard-inaccessible navigation. Fixing what an automated scan can find removes the easiest targets and shows a good-faith effort, which matters if a dispute ever does arise.

What this tool does and doesn't do

AccessScore runs the same category of automated testing (WCAG-based, via axe-core) that shows up in most demand letters, so you can find and fix those issues yourself. It is not legal advice and does not guarantee protection from a lawsuit — automated tools only catch a portion of possible issues. If you've already received a demand letter, talk to a lawyer.

Run a free scan of your site to see the same class of issues a demand letter would cite.