I have a Shopify Store and I've just been sued under the ADA (Gathers v. Wet Shaving Products LLC)

[Leighton_Tyau]

My "company" consists of 2.5 people. They're basically suing "pop". But the website was apparently not compliant.

I'm being sued in Federal court for the District of Mass.

The specific deficiencies were: search bar icon in header not accessible using screen reader tech (no alternative text for the icon) and;

Newsletter signup requires a captcha. "There is no way for a screen reader user to sign up or use any form that has a CAPTCHA"

This is getting really bad, if I've been targetted, we all can be targetted.

Does anyone have the contact information for Shopify's legal team?

[Cassy_Burnvoth]

I just got "served" yesterday as well! We're small, too (2 people total). We're being sued in CA based on the Unruh Act. I know the federal guidelines don't apply to companies smaller than 15 people (https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10900-ada-website-requirements.html?fbclid=IwAR0i7kj6EdwDPwqvY7Ltt...). I would love to talk to someone from Shopify about this as well!

[Leighton_Tyau]

Are you actually located in California? Their long arm statute isn't as broad as Massachussetts.

The legal team has not responded and shopify's customer service hasn't been great, but if you badger them enough on facebook, they give out the email.

[smalia]

We just got sued and are also a super small store.  It looks like they even paid $400 to file in a district court of NY and we are in HI.

Did any of you find a resolution to this?  There looks like there are apps that we can add on to make it compliant?

[Cassy_Burnvoth]

email me...cassy@fatco.com...i'd love to explain what happened with us...

[Leighton_Tyau]

Shopify didn't want to take any responsibility.

The best defense is mootness. See the kroger case.

Your resolution will depend on how much money you have since this is essentially a shakedown.

[Cassy_Burnvoth]

I felt the same way...frustrated with shopify...but in the end, when I
really learned more about it, I realized that it's somewhat out of
Shopify's control. It has alot to do with what colors you're using on your
site, and using alt text for photos (which I always ignored)...and shopify
has no control over most of that.

In the end, I contacted the plaintiff's attorney and told them that we were
in the process of making all the necessary fixes to our site (which I did
do with the help of my web developer) and that we were a small family owned
business (which is true) and they decided to dismiss the case. There are
lots of tools available to check your web pages for compliance, and now I
do that quarterly. I use
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wave-evaluation-tool/jbbplnpkjmmeebjpijfedlgcdilocofh



My main beef is with the fact that these lawsuits are able to be brought
before a court before the company was even contacted. We NEVER received
anything before being served...no email, no phone call...NOTHING asking us
to make changes to our site to make it compliant...just BOOM, a Lawsuit.

I do agree that these are BS, frivolous lawsuits...but everyone's situation
is different. It sucked, and was super stressful...both my husband and I
had many sleepless nights...I was scared to death that it would put us
under. I definitely popped some bubbly when we found out it was going to be
dismissed!!!

[miamibeachlira]

Just stumble upon this thread, so wait a minute, should I shutdown my site until this fixes are done ???  I don't want to just get served. Please advise 

[smalia]

I am sorry you were sued.  We were served a couple months ago and are still dealing with it.  Ironically, we were in the middle of changing our entire website to be compliant during the stay at home order.  They happened to come during our transition.  We are a small family owned business struggling like everyone else to get through this time.  We had to hire a lawyer, sent a letter to try to dismiss explaining that we are small and can't afford a lawsuit like this.  They didn't care.  It is a shakedown.  We researched the law firm suing us and came across this article about them:

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-ada-blind-website-accessibility-20180913-story.html

What I want to know is how someone in NY could stumble across our Hawaii brand and want to shop our website on the other side of the country.  We dug further and he has been suing random websites left and right.  All small mom & pop businesses.  

To answer your question, we did not shut down our site since it was our only revenue during the retail shutdowns here.  Talk about kicking us when we're down! We had engaged a company to skin our site to be ADA accessible.  They were easy to use and completed the fix in about 24-48 hours. 

We are just praying that our settlement won't kill us.  Good luck and I really hope this racket stops.  

[MartinM2]

We just found out that we're being sued in a CLASS ACTION suit in NY for this.  We haven't even been served but have received emails from lawyers wanting to represent us.  (It feels like a money grab on both ends). We added the code to be compliant.  I would really like any guidance on how to best approach this issue.

[eferg]

Wow - This is unbelievable.  This is a shakedown for sure.

I would contact my State senator (yes - there are examples where they get involved on behalf of their residents for various issues).  I would also contact my State Attorney General and complain about the shakedown.  Also your local TV news station may want to run a story on this.

In the meantime, is there any website or app that will scan a site for compliance?

Ed

[Cassy_Burnvoth]

Hi! I actually eventually just called the plaintiff's attorney and told
them our story (small brand, family owned and operated, etc etc) and they
agreed to dismiss the case. I really think they're trying to go after big
guys. But I completely agree, it's a bullshit shakedown. I agree with
Ed...contact local news, contact your State Attorney General...and maybe
even contact the other brands named in the lawsuit ? and join forces?
there's power in numbers!

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wave-evaluation-tool/jbbplnpkjmmeebjpijfedlgcdilocofh



That's the website that can help you determine current compliance...you
might need the help of a web developer. But I also believe there are lots
of apps out now to help...one might be called accessibiluty enabler? look
around.


and finally, I AM SO SORRY THAT YOU'RE GOING THROUGH THIS! When it happened
to me, that might have been the hardest month of my entire entrepreneurial
journey. All I could think was "are you **bleep** serious? as if business
isn't shitty enough in the middle of a global pandemic...you wanna SUE ME,
now? Come on Universe! Cut me some slack!"

[krambola]

I just received an ADA law suit this week filed in NY and Im based in CA, how did you approached this?

[krambola]

Im on the same boat, I recently updated my theme and working to comply to all regulation standard and this ADA law suit pop out. It is stressful since we are just doing this as a home business. How did you resolve your lawsuit? If you could share. Thanks

[Leighton_Tyau]

Hire a lawyer. If you cannot afford one, fix the website, call the attorney, respond to the complaint, plead poverty. Whatever you do, do not let it go to a default judgment.

[ZatikNaturals]

I agree but the law is on their side and Shopify will not take responsibility. Best thing to do is try settling on your own. If you can prove them that you don't have a lot of income and can only pay them certain dollar amount they should let you go. But definitely before trying to settle get the ADA widget and get a professional company to check your site for ada compliance and give you a report that your Site is fixed. Take that report report qs a proof that you now comply and try settling for $500. That is how much they pay to file the lawsuit. Very unfortunate 🤦🏻‍♀️

[ZatikNaturals]

It was a challenge as I tried calling to the number on the letter of intent to sue but was unable to connect so I thought it was a scam. About 6 months later I got a notice that a lawsuit has been filed. I had to update my site to make it compliant and then settle which was not good as we are a small business and unnecessary spending out of no budget is hard. Just get an app: there are free ones or about $50/mo that adds a widget to your site. This additional step can help you save from lawsuits.

[bglfa]

Aloha Smalia,

Sorry to hear that!  Can you let me know the outcome?

[ZatikNaturals]

Hi,

will you be able to advise how your case was dismissed?

Thank you,

Ovsanna

[miamibeachlira]

is it not cheaper just to hire a developer on FIVERR ?  Went to your website and nothing is mentioned about web development. 

It sounds like your services only provide a high level audit. 

[miamibeachlira]

Almost every user of the SHOPIFY platform would agree that as startups (mom and pop) SHOPIFY is the only dirt cheap way to develop a website. The question is:  how effective is Tenably in keeping everyone compliant?

it is not that simple if you follow the guidelines found on w3.org/TR/WCAG21/ . 

Its a minefield out there. Words of wisdom to everyone reading this, STAY AWAY FROM THOSE WIDGETS. 

[miamibeachlira]

Lets Chat.. Whats the office phone number. I don't want my email to be captured. 

[Cassy_Burnvoth]

HEY ALL! I just installed the AccessiBe app, and it's GREAT! I would highly recommend it to anyone with a website!

[Cassy_Burnvoth]

Can you explain how they "increase your risk of litigation substantially"?

[WebsiteRevenueG]

This entire thread seems like a spam thread in order to promote an accessibility widget. 

[Cassy_Burnvoth]

Whaaaaat??? How so??? I am a REAL PERSON with a REAL COMPANY who got sued...and i'm just trying to help other people out who may be in the same position. I am not an affiliate with accessibe, nor do I receive anything at all when another company uses the software. Just trying to help other people out. 

[Tough_Traveler]

We’re going through this now,  Hiw did this work out for you?