NAD sues Duval County courthouse for turning away deaf couple seeking marriage license
The NAD said they have filed a lawsuit against the Duval County Clerk of Court in Jacksonville, Florida on behalf of a deaf couple who were denied a marriage license because they did not bring an interpreter with them.
NAD CEO Howard Rosenblum explained in a vlog that the couple, Joel Alfaro and Yusela Machado Silvente, went to the courthouse last year to become officially married on their 10th anniversary of being together, but were turned away because “they did not bring their own interpreter!”
Rosenblum said, “The ADA is very clear — state and local courts must provide sign language interpreters at no cost to deaf people who need court services, including marriage licenses.” The couple still hasn’t received their marriage license.
The NAD is collaborating with two other law firms in the litigation: Phillips & Hunt and Stein & Vargas.
The lawsuit document explains that the couple did try to move on past the interpreter issue by resorting to pen and paper for communication, but the clerk refused.
——--
[Sponsored video from Convo: www.convorelay.com]
—--------
The lawsuit said the courthouse and the Clerk of Court Jody Phillips acted in an “irrational, anachronistic, offensive, and discriminatory” way and violated the “…Constitution, the ADA, and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.”
The case was featured in local news in Jacksonville. Alfaro told News4JAX that after they were denied a marriage license last year, he “made multiple phone calls for several days just to be told — over and over — that they needed to bring their own interpreter.”
News4JAX said they reached out to the Clerk’s Office and received a response that they “do take the allegations seriously…”
An attorney with Phillips & Hunt said “the complaint will be dismissed once the matter is resolved, and if not, then the family will seek damages.”