County Sued Over Access to Courthouses

A college professor who claims he was unable to serve on an Orange County jury because parts of the courthouse were not wheelchair accessible filed a lawsuit against the county Monday, contending that his civil rights were violated.

In what is believed to be the first legal challenge of its kind in California, associate professor Arthur Blaser, who teaches political science at Chapman University in Orange, said he is fighting to force California courthouses to give the disabled equal access to the jury box.

“I believe it’s very important for people to be active in their community,” said Blaser, who has a law degree and specializes in international human rights. “And so for me, it’s very frustrating that I am prevented from doing what is my right as a citizen to do, and that is to do my jury duty.”

Orange County officials declined Monday to discuss the specifics of Blaser’s case but said plans are in the works to make the structural changes needed to accommodate the disabled. In the past, they said, they have worked to find ways to help disabled individuals serve on juries.

“We have taken temporary measures such as installing ramps where there are no ramps,” said Pat Hill, who oversees jury services for Orange County Superior Court. “We are now going through and seeing what else we can do.”

The issue is significant because of its ramifications in Orange County and its potential to set a precedent that allows more disabled people to serve as jurors statewide, said attorney Laura Diamond of the Los Angeles-based Center for Law in the Public Interest, which filed the lawsuit on Blaser’s behalf.

Blaser said he was summoned to jury duty by the Orange County Superior Court in 1994 and 1996.

Upon his first visit, he was sent to Harbor Court in Newport Beach, where he discovered that the restroom could not accommodate his wheelchair. Blaser said he was not selected to sit on a jury at the time, but the inaccessibility to such a basic amenity would have made it impossible for him to serve.

When he received his second notice, he checked a box asking him whether he had any special needs due to a disability, and he was promptly excused, he said.

“I never wanted to be excused,” Blaser said.

The 44-year-old Orange resident suffered a stroke in May 1993 that left him unable to control his legs and left hand. According to the suit filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court, Blaser is asking for a court order forcing the county to provide those with disabilities equal access to the public courthouses.

The professor said he is not asking for damages.

Under the landmark 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, municipalities must make government services, buildings, programs and activities accessible to the disabled, with the exception of cases in which cost is an undue burden.

The professor’s lawsuit claims he has “a clear, present, and beneficial interest in and right to the county’s compliance with this regulation in that, among other things, the county’s failure to comply has endangered his safety and violated his civil rights.”

The county was obligated to be in compliance with the federal law by January 1995. But by that time, the county had only identified problem areas, Diamond said.

“The county began the process required by the ADA,” Diamond said. “They identified volumes worth of barriers, including bathrooms being inaccessible. Of course, what they didn’t do is figure out how they would fix the problems.”

County officials concede they failed to correct some of the problems by the deadline, but cite the county’s December 1994 bankruptcy as one of the reasons they were unable to come up with the funds to make the structural changes.

“We’re not proud of the fact that we haven’t been able to do that,” said Marlene Nelson, assistant executive officer in charge of Superior Court administration. “There’s a variety of reasons. . . . The bankruptcy is probably one of them.”

Blaser’s attorneys disputed the county’s argument, pointing out that while officials failed to provide access to the disabled, they have consistently provided other services, such as road repairs.

“The reason that changes weren’t made is because the county didn’t put a priority on them,” Diamond said.

Suits involving the right of disabled people to serve on juries have sprouted up across the country, in many cases resulting in rulings for the plaintiffs, said Judge Matthew Crehan, an Ohio jurist who has researched the subject.

Crehan and others believe Blaser’s lawsuit is an important part of a process in which the boundaries of the disability accessibility law are being defined, much the way the civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex or race have been interpreted through legal challenges.

“They are citizens, and they definitely deserve to have accommodations made to them in order to be on a jury,” Crehan said. “Being in a wheelchair does not affect a person’s ability to think.”

Blaser is not alone in the fight for equal access in California. Diamond said she has received several complaints from court visitors, including an attorney, about Superior Court’s lack of access. But none were willing to file a suit. Then Diamond contacted Blaser, who said he did not even think twice about challenging the county.

“I felt happy because I know that the county had violated ADA, and somebody had cared enough to do something about it,” he said. “As a disabled person, there’s really little opportunity to be involved in something this significant. So I’m happy to be part of it.”