David Updike v. Multnomah County

870 F.3d 939, 2017 WL 3758346, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 16761
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 31, 2017
Docket15-35254
StatusPublished
Cited by145 cases

This text of 870 F.3d 939 (David Updike v. Multnomah County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
David Updike v. Multnomah County, 870 F.3d 939, 2017 WL 3758346, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 16761 (9th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

GOULD, Circuit Judge:

David Updike, who has been deaf since birth, uses American Sign Language (“ASL”) as his primary language. He brings this action against Defendants the State of Oregon (“State”) and Multnomah County (“County”), alleging that the State and the County did not provide him with an ASL interpreter at his arraignment on criminal charges, and that the County did not provide him with an ASL interpreter and other auxiliary aids in order for Updike to effectively communicate while he was in pretrial detainment and under pretrial supervision. Updike brings claims for violations of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213, and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 701-7961, negligence, and false arrest. Updike appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Defendants on all claims. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand this case for further proceedings.

I

A

David Updike has been deaf since birth and communicates primarily through ASL, which is his native language and preferred method of communication. Updike does not consider himself to be bilingual in English and does not read or speak English well. Updike is not proficient at reading lips because he has never heard English words—in these circumstances, it is difficult to know the shape that lips make to produce certain words. All of Updike’s friends are deaf and Updike’s ex-wife is deaf. Updike explains that he “live[s] in the deaf world.”

In the early afternoon of January 14, 2013, officers from the Gresham Police Department arrived at Updike’s home to respond to a 911 call reporting a disturbance. The 911 caller told the operator that the disturbance 1 involved deaf individuals, but the officers did not bring an ASL interpreter with them. The officers arrested Updike and took him to Multno-mah County Detention Center (“MCDC”) for booking.

MCDC has a telecommunications device for the deaf (“TDD”) available. MCDC staff, including corrections deputies and medical providers, can request an ASL interpreter as needed. The County has a contract with Columbia Language Services, Inc. to provide interpreting services, including “Interpretation for the Deaf,” “Interpretation for the Deaf/After Hours,” “Remote/Electronic Interpretation,” “Interpreter [Servicesj/Normal Hours/ASL,” and “Interpreter Services/After Hours/ ASL.”

*944 At MCDC, Updike signed for an ASL interpreter and a teletypewriter (“TTY”) 2 and tried to speak the word “interpreter,” but was denied these requests. Instead, Officer Ozeroff showed Updike statements written by the other person involved in the disturbance and a witness, and wrote'Updike-a note asking Updike to write down what happened. Updike had trouble writing down what happened because written' English is not'his preferred form of communication. No ASL interpreter was provided.

At booking, a female corrections office removed Updike’s handcuffs and spoke to Updike. Updike tried to read her lips and could not understand her. statements. Deputy Kessinger, a booking deputy, completed Updike’s intake. Updike was also photographed and fingerprinted. Updike requested an ASL interpreter during the booking process but was not given one.

After booking, Updike was placed in a holding room. Updike saw other inmates making telephone phone calls, and he wanted to call an attorney and his mother. He asked a corrections officer for a TTY, by saying “TTY,” and motioned his hand to his ear to mime a telephone. The officer instructed Updike to sit down and gestured for Updike to sit down, Updike stated and signed “I need an interpreter,” but the officer did not respond to this request. Updike then spoke the word “paper” and made a writing gesture. The officer denied-the request for paper and a writing instrument, and told Updike to sit down.

After the booking process, Updike again asked to use a TTY by gesturing typing , and lay making a verbal request to a different corrections officer. The officer denied the requests and instructed Updike to sit down and wait.

Still at MCDC, Updike met with Nurse Nielsen and asked for an ASL interpreter. Updike wanted to communicate that officers hurt his neck and back during the course of his arrest, but the nurse did not request or provide an interpreter despite his request. The nurse pointed to questions on a health intake form, but Updike could not read the form very well and used body language to answer, the questions the best he could. The nurse did not examine his neck and back, and Updike could not communicate that those areas hurt.

Updike met with Recognizance Officer Iwamoto from Multnomah County Pretrial Services Program. Updike had trouble reading the officer’s lips and requested an ASL interpreter. The officer did not provide one. Updike also requested a TTY, but was not given one. Updike then learned that he would be held overnight and would appear in court the next day. Officer .Iwamoto assured Updike that Iwamoto would notify the court that Updike would require an interpreter at his arraignment. .

Officer Iwamoto’s practice is to communicate with deaf people in custody by writing notes. Officer Iwamoto testified that if Updike was again arrested, he would likely not be given an ASL interpreter for his recognizance interview, and. that he believed this practice needed to. change, Iwamoto stated that he felt, that written communication was sufficient to complete Updike’s recognizance interview in order to make a release determination. Iwamo-to’s summary of his interview with Updike noted that the interview was conducted by writing, but that Updike would “need a sign language interpreter for court.” This, information became part of the court’s records, and went to the judge, the. district attorney’s office, and the defense attorney. The information was also made available to *945 pretrial release services. Iwamoto stated that he made this determination because arraignment occurred by video conference, and not because he himself had difficulties communicating with Updike by writing during the recognizance interview.

While at MCDC, Updike also met with Deputy Waggoner, a classification deputy. Waggoner’s notes said that Updike was deaf; this notation was made so corrections staff could give Updike accommodations, including getting the TTD machine for Updike to make phone calls. However, Deputy Waggoner did not call for an ASL interpreter during his triage interview with Updike because Waggoner did not think that Updike needed one and felt that Updike communicated fine using written English. Waggoner has never been -trained on the necessary steps to obtain an interpreter for a deaf person during booking, and does not know how to get an ASL interpreter if he had trouble with a deaf inmate during a triage interview. Waggoner indicated in the Classification Summary Report that he believed Updike read fine, but also noted that Updike answered “yes” to the question asking whether Updike had a disability that would impact his ability to understand instructions while detained.

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Bluebook (online)
870 F.3d 939, 2017 WL 3758346, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 16761, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/david-updike-v-multnomah-county-ca9-2017.