Article:

Los Angeles Times
June 24, 1999, Thursday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Page 3; Metro Desk

SETTLEMENT: CALIFORNIA'S SECOND-LARGEST BANK AGREES TO MAKE MACHINES
AVAILABLE FOR ITS BLIND CUSTOMERS.

- MAURA DOLAN, TIMES LEGAL AFFAIRS WRITER

   Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to provide talking  ATMs  in California
after more than three years of negotiations with lawyers for the
blind--the first time a U.S. bank has agreed to take such a step.

   Wells Fargo, the second-largest bank in California, is among those
that already provide Braille instructions on  ATMs.  But only about 15%
of the blind can read Braille, and many of those who do say it still
does not allow them to interact with the machines.

   Coming just a day after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed a federal
disabilities rights law, the settlement is a reminder of the continuing
power of both the federal law and state statutes to protect the
disabled.

   Under the out-of-court settlement unveiled Wednesday with the
California Council of the Blind, Wells Fargo will install 20 talking
ATMs  with earphones next year in Los Angeles and San Diego counties and
the Bay Area.

   The settlement calls for talking machines at all of Wells Fargo's
1,500 California locations by the year 2003. Lawyers for the blind
believe other banks will follow.

   "This should really be the beginning of a wave," said Oakland lawyer
Linda Dardarian, who represented four blind Wells Fargo customers and
the California Council.

   Indeed, Bank of America will begin a pilot program of talking ATMs
next year, bank spokeswoman Ann DeFabio said. The bank has not yet
decided where to test the machines or how many to test, she said.

   Wells Fargo's talking machines, which are still in development, will
give voice instruction through headphones on how to make deposits,
withdrawals and transfers, and purchase stamps. There will be one
talking machine at all  ATM sites, and customers will be able to choose
whether to read or listen.

   Dardarian and a Wells Fargo spokesman said the settlement is the
first such plan to be announced. A lawsuit to force a bank in
Pennsylvania to install voice-equipped automated teller machines is
pending in federal court, and Royal Bank of Canada has deployed such a
machine.

   Larry Haeg, a Wells Fargo spokesman, refused for "competitive
reasons" to disclose the cost of providing talking  ATMs.  If the
machines succeed in California, the company will offer them to other
regions around the nation, he said.

   Kathy Martinez, 40, one of the blind plaintiffs in the case, said she
has long been frustrated by being unable to use  ATMs  by herself. Blind
since birth, Martinez reads Braille but says that only allows her to
obtain a small amount of "quick cash."

   At times she has even resorted to asking strangers to help her at the
cash machines, she said.

   "It is scary," the Bay Area resident said. "I do it as little as
possible, but if I don't have a stranger do it, I have to have my
friends do it. There is a lack of privacy."

   She and other blind plaintiffs, including the Council of the Blind,
decided to target Wells Fargo because they bank with the financial
services company.

   Catherine Skivers, president of the advocacy group, said it has not
yet decided whether to pursue similar programs with other banks. She
said there are more than 500,000 legally blind residents of California.

   "I don't know what we are going to do yet," Skivers said. "We are
just basking in what happened here."

   Although the talks could have ended in a lawsuit, Wells Fargo's Haeg
said the company quickly realized that talking  ATMs  represented a
"business opportunity."

   "If there is an opportunity to earn more business and develop
stronger relations with a certain segment of your customer base, why
wouldn't you want to do it?" he said.

   Dardarian said her law office was pleased to reach a settlement
without going to court. The talking machines will be introduced
beginning next June, with locations of high customer use receiving them
first, she said.

   "It is pretty clear that the law--the Americans With Disabilities Act
and the California Disabled Persons Act--requires equal access to  ATM
services," she said. "There is no excuse for not doing it. There is not
a technological barrier, and there is no undue burden that the banks can
show."

   Negotiations with Wells Fargo took years to complete in part because
the different parties had to evaluate various kinds of technology,
Dardarian said.  The technology that was eventually accepted includes
earphones and a voice welcoming the customer to Wells Fargo.

   The voice explains the layout of the keypad and gives instructions in
how the user can make different transactions. When one is selected, the
machine audibly confirms it, she said. The technology is not able to
inform the user verbally of his or her balance, nor can the user
communicate with the machine by voice.

   The settlement also obligates Wells Fargo to make other banking
information accessible to the visually impaired. Account statements,
product brochures, notices, loan applications and legal disclosures will
be made available by audio, in Braille, large print or computer disc, or
online, Dardarian said.

   She declined to disclose how much she and co-counsel Lainey Feingold
will be paid for their legal work in the case, explaining that it was
part of the settlement that is to be kept confidential.

   "We told them we can either negotiate or file a lawsuit as an
alternative," she said, "and they said, 'We will be happy to talk to
you.'"
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