Overton County Agrees to Settle Allegations It Violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by Discriminating During Public Meetings Against Residents with Hearing Impairments

NASHVILLE – The United States has reached an agreement with Overton County, Tennessee, to resolve allegations that it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), announced Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee. Overton County is alleged to have ignored requests for hearing assistance during public meetings.

According to the complaint’s allegations, the complaints alleged that they requested auxiliary aids and services from Overton County with regard to hearing assistance during various county public meetings, including its Budget Committee and county legislative body meetings. The complainants alleged that they could not hear during public meetings and informed the county of these problems. The complainants alleged that Overton County ignored these requests, refused to use microphones in the spaces designated for its public meetings, and told the complainants that they could sit closer to the county commissioners if they had hearing issues. During a public meeting, a county commissioner offered to provide equipment for certain audio/listening upgrades to the spaces in which public meetings were held, but the county rejected this proposal. As a result, the complainants were not able to fully participate in public meetings.

As part of the settlement, Overton County agrees that the modifications sought by the complainants did not fundamentally alter the nature of public meetings, and that providing auxiliary aids and services so individuals with disabilities can participate fully in public meetings does not constitute an undue burden or fundamental alteration to the nature of the meetings. Overton County will take steps to furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services to ensure that communications with participants with disabilities are as effective as communications with others, including upgrading the audio and amplification systems in the public Chancery courtroom in which its county legislative body meetings are held, installing assistive listening systems in any space in which it conducts public business, and ensuring that any space in which it conducts public business will be assessed for upgrading microphones so that individuals with disabilities can fully participate in public proceedings conducted in those other public spaces. The county also will implement a process by which an individual with a qualifying disability can request an auxiliary aid, service, or reasonable modification that will ensure that individual can fully participate in any public meeting.

Assistant United States Attorney Ellen Bowden McIntyre in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee investigated the complaint and negotiated the Settlement Agreement. Overton County worked collaboratively with the United States Attorney’s Office to resolve this complaint.

The civil claims settled by this resolution are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

The ADA was passed on July 26, 1990. The Act reaffirmed our nation’s commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities have the right to live, work, and full participate in the community alongside their fellow citizens.

More information about the ADA is available at the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA Information line at (800) 514-0301 or (800) 514-0383 (TTY) and via the ADA website at http://www.ada.gov or through contacting the U.S. Attorney’s civil rights hotline at 313-226-9151. ADA complaints may be filed by email to ada.complaint@usdoj.gov.

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