Sued by Equal Access Law Group? What to Do About the Lawsuit

If you have been served with a federal complaint filed by Equal Access Law Group PLLC, this is no longer a demand letter. A blind plaintiff says your website didn’t work with a screen reader, the case is often filed as a class action, and a court deadline is running: generally 21 days from the day you were served to answer or respond.

That deadline is the court’s, not the law firm’s. Miss it and the plaintiff can ask the clerk to enter a default and then ask the judge for a default judgment against your business.

In the first week:

• Write down when and how you were served. The 21 days run from service, not from when the papers reached your desk.
• Don’t call the plaintiff’s lawyers yourself. Anything you say goes into a negotiation you haven’t prepared for.
• Don’t install a widget and hope. An overlay doesn’t fix the code these complaints describe. See using an accessibility widget like accessiBe.
• Keep everything. The complaint, the summons, your site’s development records and any accessibility work you have done.

Holding a letter from Equal Access rather than a lawsuit? See what to know about Equal Access Law Group demand letters.

In 2026 Equal Access Law Group has filed its website lawsuits almost entirely in the Midwest. Federal court records show about 400 cases naming the firm from January through October 2026:

• Illinois: about 275, nearly all in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.
• Indiana: about 75, in the Southern and Northern Districts.
• Wisconsin: about 55, in the Eastern and Western Districts.

We found none in New York’s federal courts this year, though the firm did sue New York businesses in Manhattan and Brooklyn federal court in 2024 and 2025.

The businesses sued are mostly online stores, from small shops to national brands such as Coty and Daniel Wellington, and many are based in other states. The same plaintiffs appear again and again. Plaintiff surnames on 2026 filings include Cole, Booker, Bennett, Walker, Williams, Hussein, Vaughn, Nonato, Echols, Barlow, Davis and Youngren in Illinois; Mueller, See, Pelaez and Deinnocentes in Indiana; and Cruz, Cazares, Corbett and Potrykus in Wisconsin. Lawyers who sign the filings include Alison Chan, David B. Reyes, Michael F. Ohrenberger, Russell Monilla and Jason B. Marshall.

The court records show exactly where silence leads.

In Illinois, a court order to fix the site, on a deadline, under oath. In Cole v. Tackle Express, Inc. (N.D. Ill. No. 1:25-cv-10992), the business never appeared. On March 5, 2026, the court entered a default judgment declaring that its website violates Title III of the ADA. It ordered the business, within 180 days, to make the site usable with a screen reader and a keyboard: image descriptions, labeled form fields, working menus, logical focus order, and the ability to browse and complete a purchase. The business also has to file a sworn certification, signed under penalty of perjury, that the work is done. The court kept jurisdiction to enforce the order. In Cole v. Exotic Snack Guys, LLC (N.D. Ill. No. 1:25-cv-07820), no one appeared for the business at the hearing, and the court granted a default judgment on February 26, 2026.

In New York, money as well. New York’s state and city laws add damages that federal law doesn’t. In Isakov v. Parched Hospitality Group (S.D.N.Y. 2025), an Equal Access case, a business that never answered was ordered to fix its website and keep it offline until it was fixed, and to pay $1,500 in damages plus $3,305 in attorney’s fees and costs.

Under the federal ADA, a plaintiff who wins can also ask the court to make the business pay their attorney’s fees. A default doesn’t make the case go away. It only means you lose the chance to fight it.

A lawsuit from Equal Access is not automatically a loss. The questions that decide these cases are specific to you.

Does the plaintiff have standing? In 2019 the Seventh Circuit, the federal appeals court for Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, upheld the dismissal of a blind plaintiff’s website suit against a credit union he could never join (Carello v. Aurora Policemen Credit Union). Whether a plaintiff could and would actually use your business is often the first fight.

Can an Illinois, Indiana or Wisconsin court hear a case against your business at all? Selling online into a state can be enough. In Curry v. Revolution Laboratories (2020), a trademark case, the Seventh Circuit found that Illinois courts could hear a case against a company with no Illinois office because it had sold to hundreds of Illinois customers through its website. Whether that reasoning reaches your business depends on what you sell, where, and how, so it is worth checking early. For businesses sued in New York from out of state, see sued in New York but based in another state.

What has been fixed, and when? Real, documented fixes can change how a case ends, but the timing and the record matter. See should you fix your website before or after responding to an ADA lawsuit.

Pushing back can work. In Pittman v. Gavrieli Brands, LLC (N.D. Ill. No. 1:25-cv-07938), the business fought the case and served written discovery. The plaintiff then asked to dismiss the case. On September 3, 2026, the court dismissed it with prejudice and awarded the business part of its attorney’s fees, those tied to the document requests and interrogatories it had served.

Michael Samuel has defended about 100 ADA cases since 2019, most of them about websites, including matters brought by Equal Access Law Group. For website cases, the firm charges a flat fee that covers all work up to trial, including a motion to dismiss.

If you have been sued in Indiana, Michael can defend the case. If your case is in Illinois or Wisconsin, he will tell you on the first call whether he can take it.

Either way, call (212) 563-9884 before your answer deadline. You can also upload the complaint to our free complaint checker for a plain-English summary first.