The judiciary will review its language access plan and provide mandatory training for court employees who come in contact with people of limited English proficiency, per the settlement with the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
It will also translate vital court documents into the five most common non-English languages encountered by the court — Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Korean and Polish – and post them online and make them available at the courthouse, according to the agreement.
Finally, the New Jersey judiciary will pay about $90,000 to a whistleblower, an employee of the Monmouth County court, who was allegedly retaliated against for notifying prosecutors about the issue, and issue notices about its nonretaliation policy under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The state court system did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the agreement and has denied the allegations.
"The judiciary, like the Department of Justice, is committed to ensuring equal access to the courts for all," the state judiciary said in a statement. "Many of the improvements detailed in the memorandum were already in place. As the memorandum acknowledges, the Monmouth Vicinage has undertaken considerable efforts to ensure meaningful access for LEP individuals — and it will continue to comply with all of the requirements set forth in judiciary policies and the memorandum."
"We remain committed to ensuring that all litigants in New Jersey have equal access to New Jersey's court system regardless of language barriers," said New Jersey U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger in a statement Thursday. "This agreement will ensure that limited English court users will have equal access to the New Jersey state courts in Monmouth County."
The federal investigation into alleged discrimination in the Monmouth County vicinage began in 2019, with prosecutors notifying the judiciary in June 2023 about its findings and concerns.
The investigation found barriers to people with low English proficiency such as "refusing to provide an interpreter for assistance with forms, failing to translate or explain vital documents to court users with LEP and failing to adequately inform staff of language access policies and procedures," according to the agreement.
Prosecutors noted work that the Monmouth County court has already done to improve language access, including moving the Self-Help Resource Center and Ombudsman Office near the courthouse door and displaying court information in languages besides English throughout the courthouse.
"People with limited English proficiency can lose their children, homes and fundamental rights when they face language barriers in our court systems," said Kristen Clarke, assistant Attorney General in the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, in a statement Thursday. "The Civil Rights Division will continue fighting to ensure that courts remove language barriers for the public."
The New Jersey judiciary is facing a separate lawsuit from a former judge of the Millville Municipal Court, who has alleged that the court system constructively fired him in retaliation for raising concerns that the court disproportionately scheduled defendants with Hispanic-sounding last names for in-person court dates, when there is a translator present. The case is currently in discovery.
--Editing by Alex Hubbard.
Update: This article has been updated with comment from the judiciary.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
