Pool Builders have better things to do than fight ADA lawsuits.

It was September 16, 2020. Right in the heart of the COVID frenzy. One of my clients received a complaint (lawsuit) from an attorney, stating:

“My client has suffered loss and injury because they have a disability, and were unable to fully utilize your website.”

What?

We’re not talking about wheelchair ramps for your brick and mortar locations. (Those annoying lawsuits mostly ran their course a decade ago.) The attorneys and scammers (or is that redundant?) have found a much easier and much larger target for extorting money from business owners: Your website.

Lucky them. Now they don’t have to drive around looking for retail stores that lack a wheelchair ramp.

Now they can sit in their pajamas and hit any and every business through your website.

Of course, they’ll start with companies big enough, that have the money to make it worth their effort.

HINT: If you’re bringing in more than $2 million in revenue per year, then they will likely consider you big enough to be worth their effort.

When you receive one of these lawsuits, here’s more or less what it will say:

“Plaintiff…” (AKA, the disabled person who is now on my payroll, and helps me file these frivolous and spurious lawsuits against anyone and everyone we can find) “…has experienced difficulty and discomfort in their efforts to access and utilize your facilities, including your website.” And “This denial of full and equal access to your facilities constitutes a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

And somewhere deeper in the lawsuit, it will say something to the effect of:

“We believe my client may be able to move past this unfortunate pain and suffering if they (we) receive a compensatory payment in the neighborhood of $50,000.”

Yes, lawsuits suck.

Sadly, I fear the question is not “Will I ever get hit with one of these lawsuits?” but “WHEN will I get hit with one of these lawsuits?”

As a marketing agency that builds hundreds of these websites for pool builders like you, you can bet I had a little panic as well.

Because making every web page (and every element on every page) ADA compliant for anyone and everyone who has any sort of difficulty with seeing, hearing, mobility, or even epileptic seizures, well, let’s just say that would be a nightmare.

In fact, it would probably cost more than the cost to build the website in the first place.

The knight in shining armor…

Fortunately, there is an easy fix here. Because these new website lawsuits are rampant, several software companies were inspired to come up with website “plug-ins” that will immediately make your website at least partially ADA compliant.

After researching the options, I found “accessiBe” to be the clear winner, for 2 reasons:

1. AccessiBe uses sophisticated Artificial Intelligence to scan the entire website, and fix the problems. They achieve 98% ADA compliance in less than 48 hours. (Other plugins struggle to get you to 70% compliance, which means you will still be vulnerable to lawsuits.)
2. Their subscription includes a “Litigation Support Package,” so if you ever get sued while using their software, AccessiBe will step in to assist. (FYI, they’ve NEVER lost a case.)

Personally, I think the most intriguing part of this “ADA protection” is that you don’t have to rebuild your website. In fact, your website won’t change at all, as far as your “regular” website visitors are concerned.
Instead, it puts a little “ADA accessibility” icon on the website, which does two very beautiful things:

1. It gives the disabled everything they need to utilize your website.
2. And more importantly, it instantly shows the world you are COMPLIANT and PROTECTED.

It’s kind of like having a large, loud dog in your house. Most bad guys will see the warning, and move on to easier pickings.

And to be perfectly honest, I don’t care if they go sue someone else. I just don’t want them to sue YOU.

If you want to take a closer look at accessiBe, they offer a free trial here.

With the trial, you can run a free audit, just to see how “ripe” you are for the scammers.

If you’re too busy, but still a little worried, and you want my team to run the report for you, just reply back with “Please check it,” and we’ll get you your report within 24 hours.

To your success…

Brett Lloyd Abbott
Head Guru at Pool Builder Marketing LLC