[blindlaw] ADA and Discovery

Mon Apr 5 01:19:53 UTC 2010

Hi John,
Your client has suffered as a result of a mistake due to your blindness? 
I'm sorry to sound harsh, but I would conclude that you are not qualified to 
be a lawyer, representing clients, until you figure out a solution to get 
this problem resolved.  Blindness is not an excuse for malpractice.  It 
seems to me that you would have an obligation to make sure you have some way 
of reading documents, no matter the form.  If that requires a human reader, 
then that is your obligation.
You can't automatically expect that everything will be handed to you in an 
accessible form, particularly in discovery where it is not unheard of for 
the opposing side to attempt to hide documents even from a sighted attorney. 
You must be able to read everything, no matter its form.  Personally, I 
believe the best way of accomplishing this is with a reader, because, though 
you can try to "force" the other side to have to provide things in 
accessible form, what if they don't?  The responsibility for the well being 
of your client is still ultimately yours.

Sarah

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Ramsey" <joramsey at cox.net>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 04, 2010 5:20 AM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] ADA and Discovery

> Hello Denise,
> I truly appreciate your suggestion and am in the process of doing that,
> however, in the meantime, my client has already suffered one adverse 
> ruling
> based on a handwritten image scanned into a computer with no readily
> identifiable title. Also, as I have already mentioned, all of their PDF
> files are in accessible whereas most every other PDF image I receive is
> accessible. It is definitely in whatever method of scanning that they are
> using.
> I will keep you posted.
> Cordially,
> John
>
> John A. Ramsey Jr., P.A.
>
> P.O. Box 6063
>
> Gainesville, FL 32627
>
> Phone: (352) 505-6642
>
> Fax: (352) 240-6453
>
> This communication contains information that may be confidential and/or
> legally privileged. It is intended only for the use of the individual or
> entity to which it is addressed. If you have received this communication 
> in
> error, please call us at (352) 505-6642 and destroy any associated printed
> materials and delete the electronic material from any computer. Please be
> aware that any unauthorized disclosure, use or publication of this
> communication or the information it contains may result in criminal and/or
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> uncomfortable with such risks, you may decide not to use email to
> communicate with John Ramsey.  Please contact us immediately at (352)
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> messages may be delayed or undelivered through circumstances beyond our
> control.  Thank you.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of denise avant
> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 10:02 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] ADA and Discovery
>
>
> Hello,
> I practice criminal law in Chicago with the Public Defenders office.
> However, it is done at the appellate and collateral remedies levels, and I
> have been able to get State Motions and Briefs in word or regular adobe.
> Most of the Assistant State's Attorneys, and Assistant Attorney Generals 
> are
> very nice in e-mailing me the electronic file. But this is done on an
> individual basis. I'm not certain there is an overall policy by the 
> offices
> itself to do that. Things may be different at the federal level as the
> various prosecutors and defense as well as the courts have communicated in
> an electronic manner for years. If you have not already done so, perhaps 
> you
> should find someone in the public defenders office and other offices to
> explain why your assistive technology cannot handle their documents.
> Essentially, I am suggesting if you haven't done so already, make an 
> attempt
> to educate and see if this gets the job done.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Ross Doerr
> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 7:27 PM
> To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] ADA and Discovery
>
>    Hi John:
> I don't practice criminal law, and do not have any direct experience in a
> challenge under the ADA to the form of discovery from an adverse party. 
> The
> few times it has come up for me, usually involving an issue with the
> State (in my case Maine) a telephone call asking them (usually the 
> attorney
> general's office) to convert it for me has always resolved the problem for
> me. I may get it converted as an RTF, but at least I can read it, and the
> unreadable PDF document that I have from them initialy, can always be used
> as the "referencing document" for court purposes.
> What usually happens to me is the other side will scan a document on their
> printer and push the PDF button, and then think that it is now a real PDF
> that can be read by JAWS or the adobe acrobat document reader. With all 
> due
> respect to my sighted colleagues, they haven't a clue that all
> PDF's are not created equal, and they think that they have just given you
> what everyone else gets. so, since they have probably read somewhere that
> assistive technology for blind people can read a PDF, your assistive
> technology can handle it from there.
> Like I said, most of them havent a clue what "our world" is really like,
> because they haven't had to pay any attention to it before. This issue is
> fascinating for me, so by all means please keep the list
> posted on what happens with it. I very much want to know what comes of it
> all.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "John Ramsey" <joramsey at cox.net>
> To: "'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 3:34 PM
> Subject: [blindlaw] ADA and Discovery
>
>
>> Hello All of the Criminal practitioners on the list,
>> I practice criminal law here in Florida and have encountered a
>> problem.
>> When
>> the State and Public Defender's Offices are providing me with documents,
>> they are in a PDF that JAWS reads as blank. As you can imagine the 
>> default
>> titles of the PDF files can basically nullify any real attempts to
>> discover
>> what the document is. My question is: has anyone had to challenge the 
>> form
>> of discovery under the ADA? If so, what was the outcome?
>> Cordially,
>> John
>>
>>
>> John A. Ramsey Jr., P.A.
>>
>> P.O. Box 6063
>>
>> Gainesville, FL 32627
>>
>> Phone: (352) 505-6642
>>
>> Fax: (352) 240-6453
>>
>>
>> This communication contains information that may be confidential
>> and/or legally privileged. It is intended only for the use of the
>> individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you have received
>> this communication in error, please call us at (352) 505-6642 and
>> destroy any associated printed materials and delete the electronic
>> material from any computer. Please be aware that any unauthorized
>> disclosure, use or publication of this communication or the
>> information it contains may result in criminal and/or civil liability.
>> Due to this message being transmitted over the Internet, John Ramsey
>> cannot assure that the messages are secure.  If you are uncomfortable
>> with such risks, you may decide not to use email to communicate with
>> John Ramsey.  Please contact us immediately at (352) 505-6642 if you
>> decide not to use email.  You must also be aware that email
>> messages may be delayed or undelivered through circumstances beyond our
>> control.  Thank you.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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