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"TERMS OF USE" IS NOTIFICATION EXPRESSING THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF WHICH THIS WEBSITE MAY BE ACCESSED AND UTILIZED. USE AND/ OR SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION HEREIN CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS.
In using the on-line Interpreter reservation service, users agree to employ this site only for the legal purposes in which this site was originally organized. Users also agree not to exploit this website for personal gain, illegal commissions, or any other reasons not approved by Fulton County government. This site is constructed and maintained by Fulton County, Inc. of the State of Georgia and all uses of this site shall comply with all applicable rules, laws, and regulations of State and Federal imposition. Any legal claims arising from this site shall be brought in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia.
No Attorney-Client relationship is established by use of this site, its owners, agents, partners, personnel, representatives, or affiliates. No legal advice is rendered as a result of transactions initiated or processed on this site, nor is there any express or implied agreement or guarantee of any sort for favored legal outcomes as a consequence of using this site. The personnel of Fulton County Superior Court Administratorâs Office are not an interpreter certification service and is not affiliated in any capacity with the training of certified Court Interpreters. This site is not intended to substitute for legal advice, nor does it secure the competencies of a licensed legal advisor. For answers to specific legal inquiries, consultation with an attorney is recommended. The intention of this site is only to reserve the services of court interpreter professionals. By securing a reservation and/or confirmation for requested services, you indemnify any disputes with Fulton County government agencies, Commissioners, officers, Superior Court, and the Court Administratorâs Office from any liability for loss of litigation, clientele, or any other pecuniary loss.
This site, as operated by Fulton County Superior Court Administratorâs Office, conveniently and efficiently manages the on-line assigning, scheduling, and invoice processing of court interpreter services. Accordingly, this notice addresses the access of information and collection and security of personal information that may be obtained through use of the Fulton County Interpreter Reservation site. Attorneys or Pro Se defendants are responsible for the submission of requests and rendering payment for court interpreter services. Users acknowledge themselves to be the authorized handlers of financial information submitted for the amount necessary. In pursing this method of retaining court services, a separate authorization verification and user agreement must be submitted with each request. The terms of use are applicable and incorporated by reference and submission. Initial requests for language services requires the user to identify themselves accurately, set up a personal account, and submit to password security in order to protect sensitive and personal information, which is obtained for the purposes of payment for services only. Information security and privacy is critical to Fulton County and will be maintained only as long as necessary to conduct business or as required for legal compliance. Denote that privacy protection is not inclusive of or applicable to employment applications, personnel files, or legal documentation and/or law enforcement investigations. Upon submission of an on-line request for a court interpreter, a printable and time stamped confirmation page should be retained for user records. All requests should be submitted with at least 48 hours notification. Users will be held liable for reserving services: payment is non-refundable without proper cancellation, which must be submitted within 24 hours of court appearance. Users agree to transmit only requested, proper, and relevant information. All other actions are expressly prohibited. It is the userâs responsibility to notify our office of any change in name, address, or other personal information.
External Links:
Navigation of the Fulton County Interpreter Reservation Website may provide Internet links to other relevant and associated sites for reference purposes. Accordingly, such sites are not necessarily endorsed by Fulton County and the County may not be liable for the information and contents, or lack thereof.
Court Reporter Compensation:
Effective January 1, 1998, the Georgia Supreme Court ruling states that âthere shall be no uniform, state-wide compensation system at this time. Local courts will have the responsibility for developing and testing a variety of approaches to compensation consistent with guidelines that may be established by the Commission and by statute (O.C.G.A. § 17-12-40)â. In response, the Fulton County Superior Court has determined that indigent defendants whom are appointed counsel may also be appointed a court interpreter, if necessary. Contrastingly, defendants who retain counsel are also responsible for the retention of their own court interpreter as well. All applicable fees and per diem rates are established by Fulton County.
Georgia Requirements to Provide Interpreters:
On January 13, 2003, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that parties who are Non- English speaking or otherwise not affluent in the language are entitled to the assistance of a competently qualified court interpreter, so as to facilitate in translating court events to parties in want. The decision also instituted the Georgia Commission on Interpreters for Non-English Speakers, which implements the Georgia Rules for Use of Interpreters. Rule I of Appendix "A" states that "a court interpreter shall be appointed when the judge determines, after an examination of a party or witness, that: (1) the party cannot understand and speak English well enough to participate fully in the proceedings and to assist counsel; or (2) the witness cannot speak English so as to be understood directly by counsel, court, and jury."
In compliance with this ruling, the Fulton County Superior Court employs diligent efforts to utilize interpreters who are duly certified by the Georgia Commission on Interpreters. In the event that such personnel are unavailable, registered interpreters are employed instead. Fulton County currently obtains interpreters in seventeen (17) languages including, Arabic, Creole, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Hmog, Italian, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Russian, Serbian, Sign Language, Spanish, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Interpretation is provided during consultations between attorney and client as well as court settings.
Other resources detailing the use of court interpreters are:
Interpreters Act,
28 U.S.C. § 1827
O.C.G.A. § 15-1-14
O.C.G.A. § 24-9-4
O.C.G.A. § 24-9-104
Ramos v. Terry, 279 Ga. 889 (2005)
INTENT:
To implement the procedure for requesting, scheduling, securing, and cancelling the services of Court Interpreter personnel. Equivalent policy for indigent and pro se defendants will also be addressed herein.
Effective June 1, 2011, the advanced and formal scheduling of interpretation professionals will be mandatory for each matter subject to applicable State laws requiring the services of court interpreters. It is in the best interest of all parties to request an interpreter upon discovery of need. Fulton County Administratorâs Office will provide interpreters pursuant to State laws entitling non-English speaking and hearing impaired litigants to the services of competent language translations in order to maintain legal compliance and to better assist court clientele.
DEFINITIONS:
I. "Certified interpreters" refers to fully credentialed translation personnel who have sufficiently satisfied State testing requirements to interpret and translate a specific language in a court of law. They are held accountable for obtaining and developing their competencies and are adhered to an ethical code of conduct as stipulated by Commission on Interpreters (COI).
II. "Non-English speaking" and âhearing impairedâ means any principle party who maintains a vested interest in a legal proceeding and who has a restricted ability to speak or understand the English language.
III. "Exotic language" means any language other than Spanish.
PROCEDURES:
I. The only acceptable methods of requesting interpreter services are restricted to telephonic conferences with the Court Administrations Principle Secretary or via electronic transmissions of e-mail, confirmed facsimile, or on-line at the Court Interpreter Reservation website. Documentation must contain automated time and date stamp in order to be considered valid. Documentation of requests and the maintenance reservation confirmations is strongly encouraged in the event of conflict.
II. Cancellations must be executed via electronic transmissions of e-mail, confirmed facsimile, or on-line at the Court Interpreter Reservation website only. Documentation must contain automated time and date stamp in order to be considered valid. Maintenance of requests and cancellations confirmations is strongly encouraged in the event of conflict. There is a 24 hour notification requirement for cancelling Spanish Interpreter appointments and a 48 hours requirement for the cancellation of all other languages.Failure to improperly cancel a reservation may result in the imposition of a cancellation fee. Cancellation notices must be forwarded directly to sca.interpreters@fultoncountyga.gov or submitted via facsimile to (404) 730-5368.
III. As the State regulates court interpreter professionals and encourages licensed certification, the Fulton County Superior and State Court will mirror the same trend in proportionate degree specifically due to the interest of matters concerning criminal commissions that carry a minimum ten (10) year mandatory incarceration sentences. Accordingly, it is necessary to obtain the services of a certified court interpreter professional and only certified interpreters will be scheduled for matters involving murder, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, rape, armed robbery, and kidnapping. There are no exceptions to this clause.
IV. Court Administration will conduct a thorough credential verification for each interpreter with COI. Verification is prerequisite to employment. In the event that verification cannot be obtained, the services of Translation Station, Inc. will be utilized to retain the services of a recommended and registered professional. The presiding judge will be immediately notified upon an inability to secure an acceptable court interpreter.
V. In the event that the services of a certified âexotic languageâ interpreter cannot be obtained, Court Administration will secure a registered professional instead. The Court Administrator is responsible for approving the conditional utilization of non-certified interpreters. Said approval must occur each time an interpreter in the aforementioned conditions is used.
VI. Due to accountability standards, court interpreters who are neither certified nor registered will beprohibited from officially interpreting in the courtrooms of Fulton County Superior and State Court.
VII. In the event that a certified interpreter is not reasonably available or if the court determines that the gravity of the case and potential penalty to the defendant(s) is so minor that delays are unjustified, an interpreter who is not certified, but registered, may be appointed.
VIII. Where a defendant successfully demonstrates indigence, judicial assessment will appoint the servicesof an interpreter free of charge. Contrastingly, defendants who independently retain the services of private counsel are also responsible for obtaining their own interpreter, and are also responsible for rendering due payment.
IX. Interpreter services do not include conferences between the non-English speaking person and the interpreter outside of the courtroom unless approved by the presiding judge.
X. The Judge reserves the authority to removal an interpreter for good cause including
(1) inability to adequately interpret,
(2) rendering official statements or self-reporting interpreting deficiencies,
(3) knowingly and willfully making false interpretations while serving in an official capacity,
(4) knowingly and willfully disclosing confidential or privileged information obtained while servingin an official capacity,
(5) failing to follow other standards prescribed by law,
(6) failing to appear as scheduled without good cause, and/or
(7) discovery of certification revocation or registration lapse.
Privacy Disclaimer:
Thank you for visiting Fulton Countyâs web site which is designed to make it easier and more efficient for citizens and businesses to interact with the County Government. Your on-line privacy is important. Fulton County Government endeavors to protect the privacy of your personally identifiable information, such as full name, address, email address, telephone number and/or other identifiable information that you may provide.
COLLECTION OF VISITOR INFORMATION
For every visitor to our site, there are several common pieces of information that are collected. Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, operating system, the date and time of the visit, and the addresses to which a visitor linked during a visit to our web site are all recorded. This information is used to create summary statistics. We do not associate any of this information with individual persons, distribute this information, or use it in any manner other than for statistical analysis in improving our site to better serve our visitors. Personally identifiable information may be necessary in order for us to provide certain services. The purpose for collecting the information will be stated at the time of the request. This information will be used for internal purposes. If you choose to omit this information some services may not be available. You are voluntarily providing personally identifiable information by sending email to Fulton County or submitting an on-line form. Your contact information may be used to send you further information or be forwarded to another Fulton County department or agency in order to respond to your request.
DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
Fulton County Government does not collect information for commercial marketing purposes. Visitors should be aware that information collected from the Fulton County web site is considered public information under the Georgia Open Records Act O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 et seq. and may be disclosed pursuant to this or other law.
USE OF COOKIES
A cookie is a small piece of information that is sent to your browser when you access a web site. Cookies are not used to record any personally identifiable information. Cookies are used by some County web applications to pass needed information from one page to the next. Rejecting a cookie in these applications will render the application useless.
DISCLAIMER
This web site is provided as a service from Fulton County Government with great effort made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the contents contained herein. Fulton County disclaims all liabilities associated with any inadvertent inaccuracies within this web site. In the case of errors or discrepancies posted on this web site, including deadline dates, the official printed materials maintained by the involved County department, agency, or office will take precedence. This Disclaimer/Privacy Statement applies solely to information collected through co.fulton.ga.us. Links referenced throughout this site do not constitute any form of endorsement by Fulton County Government or any of its employees. Links are provided as a source of additional information only.
SECURITY
In order to secure your privacy, do not divulge any passwords or sensitive information (e.g. credit card number) to anyone in a phone call or email. When you are finished with those applications that are password protected or require the input of your personally identifiable information, it is always recommended that you close or otherwise exit the browser page. Email is not a secure form of transmission. As such Fulton County does not recommend that you submit sensitive information via email.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS
Unauthorized attempts to modify any information stored on this system, to defeat or circumvent security features, or to utilize this system for other than its intended purposes are prohibited.
CHANGES TO THIS DISCLAIMER/PRIVACY STATEMENT
Fulton County reserves the right to change this Disclaimer/Privacy Statement at any time without prior notice. Revisions to this Disclaimer/Privacy Statement will be posted to this location with the last date of revision.
Interpreters Scheduling Program v3.0, June 4, 2021 2:00 PM
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