I recently started a business couple months ago. First few months trying to set up everything from scratch.

It is my first business and I still don’t make much profit yet, but things seem to get better each month as it is just a start. Yesterday I received a email – demand letter of $40K for my website not being ADA compliant.

I was not aware of this law at all and that is my fault for not looking things up before I make the website (used Shopify). I looked into what other people have been through, call lawyer, settle, etc. I called a lawyer in my city and the meeting alone is $400. I hear sending a letter back to the demand letter is few thousand dollars too.

I am scared because I dont have money like that just from my pocket and not responding to a letter is apparently accepting my guilt in silence.

Can I reply to demand letter myself? How does settlement go if that is the only option? Will I get sued for this and how much does lawsuit going to cost me? I’m sorry for nagging it is just I don’t have spare money make barely any profit. Do I have to close the business if I can’t pay?