Washington Court Says Theaters Must Make Movies Understandable

By John Waldo

May 2010

Editor: As John points out in this article, this ruling might seem a bit anticlimactic in light of the Ninth District ruling a few days earlier that the ADA requires captioning, but note that this decision is based on Washington state law rather than the ADA. Thanks to John for permission to share his thoughts with you. For more on his efforts, point your browser to http://www.hearinglosslaw.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wash-CAP won the first round in our movie-captioning case against five corporate defendants when the court ruled that under Washington law, theaters must do what is "reasonably possible" to make their movie soundtracks understandable.

The order from Superior Court Judge Regina Cahan said that the specific steps each theater must take will be decided later at trial.

Her ruling came on cross-motions from Wash-CAP and the theaters. The theaters argued that nothing in Washington law requires theaters to do anything more than open their doors to people with hearing loss, and treat us exactly the same as everyone else.

Wash-CAP argued that under Washington law, treating us just like everyone else wasn't sufficient. Our state law says that when "same service" -- treating us just like everyone else -- doesn't permit us to fully enjoy a business's services, the business must offer "reasonable accommodation." Our state law defines "reasonable accommodation" as taking those steps "reasonably possible in the circumstances" to make all services "accessible," which in turn is defined as "usable or understandable."

Judge Cahan agreed with us. While she did not specifically endorse captioning, and did not state exactly what any of the theaters must do, she did say the theaters would have to do whatever is "reasonably possible," and she intends to determine at trial exactly what that may be.

Trial is scheduled for March 21, 2011.

In a sense, this ruling is a little anti-climactic, coming as it does on the heels of last week's decision by the Ninth Circuit Court that the Americans with Disabilities Act can requires closed captioning. But for a number of reasons, a decision under our Washington state law will be better for Washington movie-goers than a decision under federal law.

So now we see what the theaters do. Will they fight to the death in Washington -- not a particularly good venue for them in light of our excellent state law -- or will they fold their tents here and save their legal "firepower" to fight the Ninth Circuit decision?