State courts continue access struggle in face of lawsuit

William Brown has sued 25 counties and the state of Tennessee for violating the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. State lawyers admitted renovations of inaccessible courthouses were coming along slowly but claimed constitutional protection against the lawsuit.

“A lot of these counties have made efforts to comply, but the work they’ve done is fundamentally wrong, and they’re probably going to have to redo it,” Brown told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Brown represented George Lane in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in January. Lane sued the state of Tennessee for up to $100,000 for what he contends was humiliating treatment during a 1996 hearing at the Polk County Courthouse, where he had to be carried up its steps because it did not have an elevator.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case by summer. Brown said the issue in both cases is whether the state and counties must follow their own law.

“They’re not enforcing their own public policy. They’re not even reviewing plans,” he said.

Brown cited a 1970 state code that requires the state fire marshal to review blueprints and inspect buildings for accessibility. “Maybe they’re too busy.”

State fire marshal officials are very busy, spokeswoman Paul Wade said.

“We have more plans than we can say grace over,” she said. “We simply don’t have enough bodies to do all the examinations.”

Gov. Phil Bredesen’s 2005 budget provides more funding for the fire marshal’s office so more staff can be hired, Wade said. She referred all other questions to the Tennessee attorney general’s office, where a spokeswoman declined comment.

Brown said site visits are complete at 10 of the 25 counties covered in his report.

Courthouses in Claiborne, Hancock, Meigs, Jefferson and Grainger counties have not yet complied despite renovation efforts, according to the report.

A Knoxville architecture firm conducted the study for an undisclosed amount, Brown said. Architects began onsite reviews two weeks ago and have written reports for six courthouses, he said. Inspectors should finish their work by April.

Officials from several counties cited funding shortages for failure to comply with the law.

The report found several doors too narrow for wheelchairs to pass through at the Hawkins County Courthouse.

“A lot of it boils it down to the fact of financing what you need to do,” said county Mayor Crockett Lee.

But faulty planning can hamper multimillion efforts to equip courthouses with elevators, ramps and specialized toilets, Brown said. Meigs County has spent $2.7 million to revamp its courthouse, but the report shows the landing at the top of the ramp to the front door is sloped.

“If you’re in a wheelchair, when you reach to open the door, you start rolling back,” Brown said. “It’s just one of a host of problems.”

Meigs County Mayor Ken Jones said his county is making a good-faith effort to come into compliance.

Brian McDonald, the Knoxville architect overseeing the project, said he submitted the renovation plans to the state fire marshal’s office but that it would not review them.

“That kind of surprised us, because the county doesn’t have a local inspector,” he said. The blueprints went unexamined.

Problems also were found with the courthouse in Hancock County, including the absence of an elevator.

County officials will continue to accommodate people in wheelchairs by carrying them upstairs to General Sessions Court, Hancock County Mayor Greg Marion said.

“We’re a small, Mayberry kind of place, and we really never have problems, because we always take care of each other,” he said.

Donna DeStefano, a director of the Tennessee Disability Coalition, said if the Supreme Court doesn’t force the state and counties to comply with the law, courthouses may never be fully compliant.

“These counties don’t have a lot of money, so without the federal muscle, they won’t do what they’re supposed to do,” she said.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.