Sued for not being ADA Compliance

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

An online store owner was sued for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) due to website accessibility issues for visually impaired users. They’re evaluating accessibility apps like AccessibilitySpark and accessiBe as potential solutions.

Key Recommendations:

  • Achieving a perfect Google Lighthouse Accessibility score is suggested as a strong defense, though it doesn’t guarantee immunity from lawsuits
  • Accessibility apps alone may not fix underlying code issues; working with a developer for code review and fixes is recommended
  • Common problems include unsuitable color schemes and theme/app compatibility issues

Current Status:
Multiple other store owners have since reported receiving similar lawsuits, with lawyers demanding thousands of dollars to settle. The original poster hasn’t provided updates on their case outcome, leaving others seeking guidance on how to proceed with their own legal situations.

Summarized with AI on October 30. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi our online store was recently sued for not being accessible for visually impaired people, American Disability Act of 1990.

Can you advise us what’s the best thing to do moving forward? We are looking at these app on the app store https://apps.shopify.com/accessibilityspark?search_id=67cf496c-3df1-42af-a02f-f89e9d879199&surface_detail=ACCES&surface_inter_position=1&surface_intra_position=11&surface_type=search

and also this https://accessibe.com/

Do you think if purchasing this apps is the best solution? Looking forward for your reply. Thank you!

2

The first and foremost you need to make sure your store gets 100 in Google Lighthouse Accesibility testing. Even though this does not guarantee that you will not be fined, it provides a strong defense against such claims.

We can help you perfect accesbility score, though it is relatively costly and time consuming. Please contact us via our website for more details. Link below :backhand_index_pointing_down:

1 Like
3

Thank you for your insight. So you are saying that these apps https://accessibe.com/ and https://apps.shopify.com/accessibilityspark are not really reliable and a waste of money? We don’t want our money to be waste that is why we are carefully reviewing options. Thank you

4

I doubt that any app can fix your code and improve your score. Such tools can be utilized to offer more options to users.

Reasons for Accessibility issues vary. For instance your color scheme may not be suitable for certain demographic and it may be causing your score to drop. To overcome complexities like this, it is important to work with a developer.

That being said, you can also run Lighthouse test yourself and see what issues come up there.

5

Hey, can you tell me what has happened with the lawsuit? I just got served and have no idea where even to start.

6

Hi,

Generally the first step would be to perfect Google Lighthouse Accessibility score on your store. A code review and fixes would be required by developer. You may need to upgrade your Shopify theme or switch themes or apps depending on the issues.

Please create an account on our website so we can help with specifics there.

7

We’re now being targeted by this too. How did the lawsuit work out for you? We’re very upset, of course, as we are a very small business and the lawyers are quoting us thousands of dollars to “settle”

8

This is happening to us now. How did it work out for you? Do you have any advice?

9

Hey, our store was also just served. Can you share some insight on what happened and how you dealt with it?