DRLC Sues San Bernardino County Courthouses
Class-action lawsuit includes complaints about courthouses in Redlands, San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga
SAN BERNARDINO - A class-action lawsuit against the San Bernardino County Superior Court for a lack of adequate facilities for people with disabilities was announced Tuesday in front of the courthouse in San Bernardino.
Shawna Parks, director of the Disability Rights Legal Center of Los Angeles, announced the suit and asked each plaintiff to introduce themselves.
Plaintiff Ruthee Goldkorn of Moreno Valley originally filed the suit after experiencing difficulties at three different county courthouses - Redlands, Rancho Cucamonga and San Bernardino. According to the complaint, Goldkorn is "a person with physical disabilities that affect her mobility and/or manual dexterity and she uses a wheel chair for mobility. As a litigant and witness with physical disabilities, she has been adversely affected by defendants' conduct."
"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," she said to reporters and passers-by Tuesday. "The county chooses what facilities to make accessible. 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!"
Goldkorn's suit was recently amended to include four other plaintiffs: expert witness Alfred Chichester of Mentone, attorney Michael Flippin of San Bernardino County, disabled rights advocate Kim Wilder of Mentone and litigant Jon Longberg of Riverside County.
Each plaintiff requires the use of a wheelchair for mobility and have experienced difficulties in the courtrooms, bathrooms and other courtroom facilities throughout the county.
"This is a difficult one," Chichester said, referring to the San Bernardino courthouse. "It is really disruptive when I have to go through the courtroom because I have to get in through the audience and people have to get out of their seats."
Chichester has also had to get chairs moved so that he can maneuver easily in the "well" of the courtroom. In a few cases Chichester was unable to get close to the witness stand and was stationed next to the plaintiff though he was there as a witness for the defense.
"People become blurred about who I am," he said. "(And after the disruption) when you finally get down to business you wonder how much attention has been lost."
Chichester assumes that if changes were to be made to the San Bernardino courthouse it would resemble the refurbished Riverside courthouse with such features as platform witness stands that lower and raise.
"I'm seeking reasonable accessibility, not perfection," he said.
Chichester said that none of the courthouses in San Bernardino County are ideally accessible, including Redlands.
According to reports, the Redlands courthouse entrance presents difficulties for people with disabilities because there are no handles on the door. To enter or exit people with disabilities must ring a bell to have a security guard open the door.
Parking spaces at the Redlands courthouse are also too small and the access aisle from the parking lot to the courthouse is too narrow, the reports say. The parking lot's slope is also uneven, reports said, forcing wheelchair users to push up in the opposite direction of the courthouse to find flat ground.
Inside the courthouse, the clerk windows are all too high for people in wheelchairs and the restroom doors weigh more than 30 pounds and are difficult to open for people with disabilities, the reports said. The round doorknobs are also difficult for people with manual dexterity issues.
Aware of the potential for a brand new courthouse in San Bernardino, Parks said they do expect the process to be a quick one.
With probate cases moving to Redlands, Parks said that these issues need to be addressed sooner.
"That's why it is really important (that we are) asking the county to come up with a plan to address these issues," she said. "And we are certainly looking to raise public awareness about the issue."
Extracted from http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/ci_4511134
Writer Darcie Flansburg