Access to California Courts:
If you are going to court for any reason (as a witness, juror, party, or if you just want to watch), you have the right to have an interpreter, an assistive listening device, realtime captioning or other accommodation provided for you.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that all state courts provide equal and full access to individuals with disabilities. California has adopted Court Rule 989.3 to meet its ADA obligations. For more information on Rule 989.3, see www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/access/documents/accfair.pdf .
If you need an accommodation, some courts will require that you fill out an MC-410 form and return it to the court at least five days before you need the accommodation. Click here for a printable copy of the form: www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/mc410.pdf This form is short but it requires very specific information describing the court proceeding you plan to attend. If you need help filling out this form contact the court clerk or your nearest deaf services office. The information that you provide on this form will be kept confidential by the court.
Below you will find some contact information for your local county court. . For those courts that have helpful information on their own websites, we provide links that you can click on. For the courts that do not have any useful information on their website, we provide voice phone numbers and addresses. For these courts, we suggest calling through a relay service or making your request by filling out the MC-410 form and mailing it to the attention of the court clerk at the addresses listed.
We have contacted those counties that currently do not have disability access information available on their websites and we requested that they make this information available as soon as possible.
If you find out that your county court does not have any communication access information or does not respond to your request for an interpreter or other accommodation, please contact us and we will be happy to help you.
Remember: You have rights but you have to ask!
Click Below to Find Information Specific to Your County
Counties:
Please contact Anna Leach-Proffer at anna.leach-proffer@deaflaw.org or (510) 483-0962 (Voice/ TTY) with any questions or comments.