posted 09-17-2004 12:31 PM                    

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State: Cinema discriminates against deaf
Attorney general files complaint against Regal for refusing to install captioning equipment
Thursday, September 16, 2004
BY TED SHERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

The state attorney general gave two thumbs-down yesterday to the largest movie theater chain in the country, charging the company with discrimination over its refusal to install equipment that would make the films it shows more accessible to the deaf and hard-of- hearing.

Four other multiplex cinema operators, meanwhile, agreed to offer captioning in nearly 40 movie screens across the state before the end of the year.


The complaint against Regal Entertainment Group and Regal Cinemas -- which owns and operates 152 screens at 12 locations throughout New Jersey -- was an issue of fairness, Attorney General Peter C. Harvey said.

"The concept is simple," declared Harvey. "We are not going to allow companies and governmental agencies to treat people with disabilities as if they're outsiders."

Advocates for the deaf say while an increasing number of first-run Hollywood movies now are available with embedded captioning, the failure of many theaters to install the technology to display that dialogue has meant that for too many, the only way they can see a movie is to wait for it to come out on DVD.

"There's a big difference between seeing a film on the big screen and on DVD," complained Scott Christern, 42, of Montvale, who is profoundly deaf, and is limited to just three theaters in New Jersey where he can watch a movie with captioning.

Earlier this year, the Attorney General's Office began discussions with several New Jersey multiplex theater owners on accessibility, but Harvey said only Regal refused to make any accommodation to the state.

"We got excuse after excuse," he said.

The state lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Mercer County under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, seeks an injunction that would force Regal to provide captioning, or other systems for the hard-of-hearing. It also demanded unspecified punitive damages and attorneys' fees.

Regal, based in Knoxville, Tenn., did not return calls for comment.

The legal action by the Attorney General's Division on Civil Rights marked the first time the state used its Law Against Discrimination as film critics.

Under the statute, the state said movie theaters are "places of public accommodation," and therefore must comply with the law's prohibition of discrimination against the deaf and individuals with hearing impairments.

Several lawsuits elsewhere in the country have been brought in the past under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, with varying degrees of success.

Four years ago, three deaf men in Washington, D.C., filed a national class-action lawsuit accusing two other cinema chains of failing to make captioned, first-run movies available to deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons, and three other chains -- including Regal -- were similarly sued in Portland.

Earlier this year, the American Multi-Cinema (AMC) and Loews Cineplex chains, under a court settlement, agreed to provide captioning in 12 Washington area theaters.

However, the Portland suit was dismissed, according to the plaintiffs' attorney, Dennis Steinman, after the courts ruled that the movie theaters could not be compelled to install new technology if it could not be done at a reasonable cost. Last year, a federal judge in Houston ruled that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, movie theaters were not places of public accommodation.

In New Jersey, Harvey said the state law mandates access.

"Every adult and child, regardless of her or her ability or disability, should be able to fully enjoy going to the theater and experiencing a movie," the attorney general said. "For too long, this area of out popular culture has been virtually closed to the deaf and hard of hearing, but we are changing that."

Under the terms of four separate settlement agreements announced yesterday by Harvey, AMC, Loews Cineplex Theaters, Clearview Cinemas and National Amusements will either equip theaters with closed-caption technology, or expand the number of theaters it is already in use.

The state will have 39 theaters equipped for captioning by year's end.

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