The Disability Rights Legal Center on behalf of disabled people, on October 17 filed a class action lawsuit that seeks a federal injunction against San Bernardino County and the Superior Court of the State of California for lack of adequate facilities for people with disabilities. The class would require immediate physical modifications to five county courthouses in Redlands, San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga.
The class claims that the County and the State violated federal and state laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the California Rehabilitation Act and the First, Fifth and 14th amendments to the US Constitution.
After experiencing difficulties at three different courthouses in the County, a person with physical disability, Ruthee Goldkorn of Moreno Valley filed the suit, which has since been amended to include four other plaintiffs all serving the court on various capabilities: expert witnesses, attorney, litigant and disabled rights advocate, and all have expressed to have experienced difficulties in the courtrooms, bathrooms and other courtroom facilities throughout the County.
The original plaintiff has these sorry words: “I have had to bang on glass doors and fight my way up ramps. I have been caught in the lady's room without any way out other than having a man open the door."
The class specifically cited that none of the courthouses in San Bernardino County are ideally accessible, including Redlands – where there are no handles on the door. To enter or exit people with disabilities must call the attention of the court’s security guard. And then you have narrow access aisle from the parking lot to the courthouse and uneven parking lot's slope.
Already, the plaintiffs are suggesting of one model, the refurbished Riverside courthouse with such features as platform witness stands that lower and raise.
When the class was announced to the press, one plaintiff put it rather curtly: “The courthouse should be at the forefront of work to get done. I am here to send a loud message to San Bernardino County - let my people in!”
At the same time raising public awareness about the issue, the class suit is on the right track. As would any public facility, reasonable accessibility to such an important address as a courthouse is but proper. We are curious to see a witness stand that can accommodate a ‘witness with disability’. After all, this people get down to crucial business and they deserve much attention – not disruption, for that matter.