New York ADA Website Lawsuit Defense

The short answer: hire a lawyer who defends ADA website cases regularly in the New York courts, and who can show you three things. First, written decisions you can check, with the court and index number. Second, cases on the public docket. Third, a fee in writing before you commit. Then make sure the lawyer knows the firm that sued you and can get the case in front of a judge before your deadline.

My name is Michael Samuel. I have practiced law in New York since 1993 and I have defended about 100 ADA cases since 2019, most of them about websites. Since March 2025, courts have dismissed four website accessibility lawsuits on motions I made, three in New York State Supreme Court and one in federal court. I handle website cases on a flat fee that covers all work up to trial, including a motion to dismiss.

This page sets out what to look for in a lawyer, what the court records show about my cases, how a website case usually goes and what it costs, and where to read about the firm that sued you.

Your deadline comes first. In federal court you generally have 21 days after you are served to respond. In New York State Supreme Court it is generally 20 days if the papers were handed to you in New York and 30 days if they were served another way, including through the Secretary of State. A demand letter, unlike a lawsuit, has no court deadline. If you’re not sure which you have, see how to read an ADA lawsuit complaint or upload it to our free complaint checker.

Any lawyer can say they handle ADA cases. These are the things you can check, and where to check them for me.

1. Written decisions you can read. Ask for dismissals with the court, judge, index or docket number and date, so you can look them up yourself. Mine are on the results page, with links to the decisions.
2. A record on the public docket. Federal cases list the lawyers on each side. Our results page lists, by docket number, more than 20 federal ADA cases in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York where I appear for the defendant, with the plaintiff’s law firm on each one, taken from the public dockets.
3. Knowledge of the firm that sued you. A handful of law firms file most of these cases, and each has its own habits: which court, which claims, which plaintiffs, how it negotiates. We have written a guide to each of the main ones, listed further down this page.
4. Admission in the right court. Website cases in New York are filed in the federal courts in Manhattan and Brooklyn and in New York State Supreme Court. I am admitted in New York and in the federal courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
5. A fee in writing. You should know the cost of the defense before you decide anything. For website cases I charge a flat fee that covers all work up to trial, including a motion to dismiss, and I quote it before you commit.
6. A plan for the website itself. Most of these cases end with the site being fixed, and how and when that happens can affect the case. Your lawyer should coordinate the fix with the defense, not leave it to chance.

You can also confirm that any New York lawyer is real and registered on the New York courts’ attorney search. My registration number is 2563005. For how to check a lawyer or a letter you weren’t expecting, see how to check whether an ADA demand letter is real.

Each of these cases was dismissed on the defendant’s motion. The full decisions are linked on the results page.

• Carrico v. Homelement, LLC, Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, Index No. 160643/2026, Hon. Arlene P. Bluth, October 22, 2026. A website accessibility lawsuit brought by Mizrahi Kroub LLP for a plaintiff who has filed other website suits in the same court. On our motion, which the plaintiff did not oppose, the court dismissed the complaint and directed judgment for the defendant, with costs and disbursements.
• Alexandria v. Just Shades, Inc., Supreme Court, New York County, Index No. 166307/2025, Hon. Judy H. Kim, July 11, 2026. The plaintiff had filed, by our count, 54 largely identical website lawsuits since 2023. The court dismissed the complaint in its entirety and refused leave to amend, holding among other things that the plaintiff never asked the business for an accommodation.
• Sumlin v. Royal Batch, Supreme Court, New York County, Index No. 161493/2025, Hon. Phaedra F. Perry-Bond, June 15, 2026. The court took judicial notice of the plaintiff’s 36 nearly identical lawsuits in eighteen months and found his standing allegations “bare legal conclusions or inherently incredible.” Dismissed, leave to amend denied.
• Martin v. Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company, Ltd., U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 24-cv-3758, Hon. Allyne R. Ross, March 2025. A proposed class action dismissed for lack of standing. The plaintiff’s claimed intent to return was “self-evidently false”: he said he lived in Brooklyn, and the company has no Brooklyn locations.

What they have in common: template complaints, serial plaintiffs, and a defense built from the complaint’s own words, made on time. Not every case can be dismissed, and many end better with a negotiated resolution and a properly fixed website. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

1. The first week. We confirm the service date and the real deadline, read the complaint against the plaintiff’s other lawsuits and check what your website actually does. Nothing goes to the plaintiff’s lawyer before that.

2. The early defenses. In many cases there is a motion worth making before anything else. Whether the plaintiff has standing, meaning a believable plan to come back to your site. Whether the ADA even covers a business that sells only online, on which New York federal judges disagree. Whether a New York court has jurisdiction over a business based in another state. And whether the state and city law claims that carry the money damages were properly brought.

3. The website. The federal ADA claim asks only for the site to be fixed, so a complete, documented fix can change the case, but when and how you do it matters. See should you fix your website before or after responding.

4. The resolution. Cases end by dismissal, by a negotiated settlement that usually includes fixing the site, or, rarely, by trial. If you were sent a letter rather than sued, the first steps are different: see what to do in the first 48 hours.

What it costs. There are two different numbers. The first is your own defense: for website cases I charge a flat fee covering all work up to trial, including a motion to dismiss, quoted before you commit, and the first consultation is free. The second is what a settlement might cost, which depends on the claims and the case. Published industry estimates for small-business website settlements mostly fall between $5,000 and $20,000 before legal fees, and New York cases often run higher. See how much it costs to settle an ADA website case.

Most New York website accessibility lawsuits and demand letters come from a small number of law firms. In the 90 days to October 15, 2026, one firm alone filed 111 of the 263 ADA lawsuits in the federal courts in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Each guide below explains who the firm is, what its papers ask for, the deadline and what a defense looks like.

• Mizrahi Kroub LLP
• Gottlieb & Associates
• Joseph & Norinsberg
• Shaked Law Group
• KSS Law (New York State Supreme Court)
• Law Office of Jennifer Tucek
• Equal Access Law Group (demand letters)
• Apex Trial Law (demand letters)

For why the same plaintiffs and firms sue so many businesses, see is my ADA lawsuit a scam? If your case is about your building rather than your website, see our ADA defense page.

Michael Samuel has practiced law in New York since 1993 (New York attorney registration number 2563005) and is admitted in the federal courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He has defended about 100 ADA cases since 2019, most of them about websites, for businesses in New York and for businesses elsewhere sued in New York courts.

Website cases are handled on a flat fee that covers all work up to trial, including a motion to dismiss, quoted before you commit. The first consultation is free, and you will get a straight answer about whether your case has a defense worth making or is better resolved quickly.

For the website itself, we work with Codexyo, an independent web accessibility team that fixes sites like yours. They are not lawyers, and you’re free to use anyone.