Sued by The Marks Law Firm? What a New York Business Owner Needs to Know

If your store, restaurant or office in New York City has been served with a federal lawsuit from The Marks Law Firm, P.C., you are one of dozens of businesses it has sued this year. The firm, based in Midtown Manhattan, brings disability access cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act about whether people with disabilities can get into and around a business. The lawyers on its 2026 cases include Bradly G. Marks, Darren R. Marks and Richard M. Madnick.

These are cases about your physical premises, not your website: the step at your door, the height of your counter, the width of your aisles. And they usually name two defendants, your business and the company that owns the building.

The date that matters. These cases are in federal court, so you generally have 21 days after you are served to answer or move to dismiss. If you signed and returned a request to waive formal service, you have 60 days from the date the request was sent. Write down the date you were served today, and keep every page.

Federal court records show at least 42 ADA suits filed by the firm in New York from January 1 to November 3, 2026: 27 in Manhattan federal court (the Southern District of New York) and 15 in Brooklyn federal court (the Eastern District of New York).

The defendants are mostly neighborhood businesses: delis, bagel shops, coffee shops, bakeries, takeout restaurants, a dry cleaner, a tattoo studio, a vape shop, and souvenir and convenience stores, along with a few chain locations. In the complaints we checked, the building owner is named too.

A small group of plaintiffs brings most of them. In 2026 the plaintiffs named Doncouse (10 cases), Shalto (9), Brown (8), Landis (5) and Cox (3) account for 35 of the 42. Doncouse has been a plaintiff in the firm’s cases since at least 2022. For why the same plaintiffs sue so many businesses, and why that alone doesn’t end a case, see is my ADA lawsuit a scam?

A list of barriers, and a promise to add more. The 2026 complaint we read in full, filed in July against a Manhattan variety store and its landlord, says the plaintiff, who uses a wheelchair, couldn’t get in because of a step at the entrance. It then lists a service counter higher than 34 inches, aisles narrower than 36 inches, merchandise displays she couldn’t reach, missing signage, no accessible emergency exit and no accessibility policy. It says only a full inspection will show every violation, and that the complaint will be amended to add whatever the inspection finds.

Money, not just a renovation. Unlike some other premises firms, Marks complaints add claims under the New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws. That complaint asks for an order to fix the premises, and for the premises to be closed if the order isn’t followed, plus compensatory and punitive damages, any profits made while the premises was inaccessible, and the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees and costs. More on where the money claims come from: why an ADA lawsuit asks for money.

Two defendants: the building and the business. Under the federal ADA regulations, both the landlord who owns the building and the tenant who runs the business are responsible for access, and between the two of you, the lease can decide who is responsible for what. The complaint we read also says the landlord had been sued over access barriers at least three times before, and uses that to argue the violations were willful. If your building has been sued before, expect the same argument.

Details aimed at standing. The complaint says the plaintiff lives about 0.3 miles from the store, shops in the neighborhood and will return once the barriers are gone. Those details are there because whether a plaintiff will really come back is often the first fight. For a plain-English walk-through of your papers, see how to read an ADA lawsuit complaint.

Many of the businesses the firm sues never answer, and the court records show what follows. Judges usually warn the defendants, extend the deadline once, and then direct the plaintiff to move for a default judgment.

• In 2024 a Manhattan federal judge entered a default judgment on all claims in one of the firm’s cases, sent it to a magistrate judge to decide the repairs and the damages, and let the plaintiff apply separately for attorney’s fees.
• In a 2021 Manhattan case brought by Doncouse, a default judgment ordered a store and its landlord to put in a ramp or another accessible entrance, add signage and provide an accessible emergency exit within 60 days, and to pay her $1,000 in damages under state and city law, with attorney’s fees to be decided later. The court held the landlord and the store jointly responsible.
• In 2026 a Manhattan variety store that let its deadline pass asked the court to lift the clerk’s entry of default, and the judge set the request for oral argument. A late response can sometimes still be heard, but it is an uphill start.

So a default doesn’t make the case go away. It means renovating on a court’s schedule, paying damages and fees, and never getting to raise the defenses in the next section. This week: write down the date you were served, find your lease, tell your landlord or tenant, tell your insurance carrier, and photograph the entrance, the counter and the aisles as they are today. Don’t call the plaintiff’s lawyer yourself.

Standing. A plaintiff has to plausibly show a real plan to come back to your business, not just to your neighborhood. In 2022 the Second Circuit, the federal appeals court that covers New York, raised that bar, and in one of the firm’s 2022 cases a Manhattan judge told the parties, in their settlement talks, to consider whether the plaintiff had standing at all. Marks complaints now include details like the plaintiff’s distance from your door, so standing is leverage that depends on your facts, not a guaranteed win. In Martin v. Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Co., a case we defended in Brooklyn federal court, the court dismissed an ADA class action for lack of standing. Our decisions are on the results page. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. More: what standing means in an ADA lawsuit.

What is readily achievable for your building. For an existing building, the ADA requires removing barriers only where that is “readily achievable,” which the law defines as easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense. The cost and the resources of the business count, and the regulations put the entrance first, then the areas where you serve customers, then the restrooms. Some items are cheap, such as lowering part of a counter or clearing an aisle. Others, such as a ramp over a tall step on a narrow sidewalk, may not be readily achievable at all. Where removal isn’t readily achievable, the regulations point to alternatives, such as curb service or bringing merchandise to the customer.

The 1991 safe harbor. Parts of a building that met the 1991 ADA standards and haven’t been altered since March 15, 2012 don’t have to be brought up to the 2010 standards. Your own expert should check the complaint’s list item by item.

The money claims. The state and city law claims are where the damages come from, and they need their own answer. In the 2021 default above, the plaintiff asked for and received $1,000. What a claim is realistically worth in your case is one of the first things to work out.

The lease. Who pays for what between landlord and tenant can matter as much as the defense itself. Read the repair, compliance with laws and indemnity clauses early.

Tax help for the work you do. If changes are needed, federal tax law helps pay for them. The Disabled Access Credit (IRS Form 8826) is 50% of eligible spending between $250 and $10,250 in a year, so up to $5,000, for a business with gross receipts of $1 million or less or no more than 30 full-time employees in the prior year. The credit doesn’t cover barrier removal in a building first put into service after November 5, 1990. Businesses can also deduct up to $15,000 a year for qualified barrier removal costs, and the IRS says the two can be used in the same year. Ask your accountant whether you qualify.

Michael Samuel has defended about 100 ADA cases since 2019, in the federal courts in Manhattan and Brooklyn and in New York state court, including physical access cases against stores, restaurants and their landlords. Physical access cases are quoted after we review the complaint and the property.

When a Marks complaint comes in, we check the service date, the plaintiff’s other lawsuits and what each one says about coming back, which items on the list are really required and readily achievable for your building, what the state and city damages claims are realistically worth, and what the lease says about who pays. If you’re the landlord or the tenant, we also look at what the other side owes you under the lease.

Call (212) 563-9884 before your answer deadline, or upload the complaint to our free complaint checker for a plain-English summary first. Other premises firms we have written about: Barducci Law Firm, Jennifer Tucek, Hanski Partners and The Parker Law Group and The Weitz Law Firm.