Law Clinic in the News

Law Clinic in the News

Current Cases

Fall 2011

The Federal Tax Clinic in University Legal Assistance assisted pro se taxpayers at the United States Tax Court Calendar in Spokane, Washington on October 31st, 2011.  Several students were able to negotiate settlements and advise taxpayers regarding their cases.  Additionally, two students conducted a trial with two witnesses against the IRS during the Tax Court session on November 1, 2011 before the Honorable Judge Stephen J. Swift.  The brief is due at the end of January and an opinion may be issued within six months or so.  Also, in September, two students traveled with the Federal Tax Clinic director to Helena, Montana and assisted pro se taxpayers at that United States Tax Court Calendar session.

September 2010

News from the Gorge

The Environmental Law Clinic represented the man stopping the plan of the Dworshak Nutrient Supplementation Project

Finally - a lawsuit to stop the importation of nuclear waste right through Spokane (which DOE admits will kill almost 1,000 people from repeated exposure to radioactive waste), a trip that will go past Lewis and Clark High School, and most of the hospitals in the area

Hot news today, story running in Tri-City Herald:

This week, Heart of America Northwest filed suit in federal court to stop use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump. The federal Energy Department insists on planning to import and bury 3 million cubic feet of radioactive and toxic wastes from nuclear weapons and energy facilities in landfills near the Columbia River at Hanford, despite their own study showing that it will contaminate the Columbia River and result in numerous cancer deaths over the next hundred years and even through ten thousand years!

Thousands of truckloads of radioactive waste would go through Portland, Spokane and other communities - which studies show will also cause fatal cancers to people who live near the route or who get stuck in traffic, even if there are no accidents.

We have had to file the suit because Washington State would not insist that the Hanford Clean-Up agreement and state permits bar USDOE from dumping more waste at Hanford.

In July, a study of ours was highlighted in a New York Times Sunday edition investigation report, documenting that there is enough Plutonium in the soil at Hanford to make over one thousand seven hundred nuclear bombs - and, the Energy Department wants to dump more waste instead of cleaning up and removing what is already in leaking unlined soil landfills and ditches.

We are asking our members to add an extra $500, $250 or $50 to their annual membership our tax deductible legal effort to help fund the lawsuit - (which will also help our joint lawsuit with the Yakama Indian Nation over plans to cover-up, instead of cleaning up, the unlined leaking ditches used as a commercial radioactive waste dump at Hanford). You can donate securely on-line at http://www.hoanw.org/

Earlier this year, we led the turnout of hundreds of people to comment on a new impact statement, which shows cancer risks far over ten percent for people who use the River or groundwater at Hanford for drinking in the future from USDOE's plan. But, USDOE refused to withdraw its 2004 decision, so we are forced to go to court. Our lawsuit includes USDOE's use of a contractor who produces radioactive wastes it wants to bury at Hanford for preparing its environmental impact statement. We have also found that USDOE was allowed by Washington state to open a landfill for radioactive toxic chemical wastes in the 1990s without any permit or public hearings.

Please send your email to either the Governor of Oregon or Washington urging them to join in suing USDOE to stop use of Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump. and to force USDOE to withdraw its illegal 2004 decision to bury 3 million cubic feet of waste at Hanford.

BIG thank-yous to our Seattle U and UW Law School legal externs Jessica Dales, Adam Woodford, Alec Osenbach, Abe Kaul and Gonzaga University School of Law Environmental Law Clinic Director Mike Chappell and extern Sarah Minkler for making this suit possible!!

Suit filed over sending waste to Hanford
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer  Tri-City Herald August 10, 2010

Heart of America Northwest is suing the Department of Energy over its proposals to send radioactive waste to Hanford for disposal or storage.

In 2004, DOE formally decided to send up to 107,000 cubic yards of radioactive waste to Hanford. In addition, Hanford is being considered as a possible site for the nation's Greater Than Class C low-level radioactive waste, which includes waste so radioactively hot it must be handled with special equipment.

The 2004 decision was based on an environmental study that was found to contain errors in 2005, and DOE responded by canceling waste shipments to Hanford. It agreed not to import the waste covered in the study at least until a new study, the Hanford Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement, was completed. A draft of the study was released in October 2009.

But that study looked only at where imported waste would be buried at Hanford, not if it should be disposed of there, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington.

Heart of America, a Seattle-based Hanford watchdog, said the 2009 draft study continues to rely on the flawed study.

"Such reliance is arbitrary and capricious" and a violation of federal environmental laws requiring a thorough look at environmental impacts of importing waste, the lawsuit said.

In addition, DOE has not withdrawn its 2004 decision, the lawsuit said.

"If they had withdrawn the decision based on the old, invalid EIS (environmental impact statement), we wouldn't be suing," said Gerald Pollet, executive director of Heart of America.

DOE declined to comment on the lawsuit.

However, DOE spokesman Erik Olds said DOE is not shipping waste from other environmental cleanup sites to Hanford now and has no plans to do so.

The 2009 draft impact statement proposes extending the 2005 ban on importing most types of waste to Hanford at least until the Hanford vitrification plant is operating fully, which is estimated to be in 2022. The $12.3 billion plant is being built to treat much of Hanford's worst wastes.

The proposed ban covers low-level radioactive waste, including waste mixed with hazardous chemicals, that had been proposed to be disposed of in Hanford landfills. It also covers transuranic waste -- typically waste contaminated with plutonium -- that would be stored at Hanford until it could be sent to a national repository.

In addition, DOE amended the draft study in December to expand the proposed limitations on sending off-site waste to Hanford to include Greater Than Class C low-level waste.

However, Heart of America wants an enforceable commitment from DOE, Pollet said. http://www.hoanw.org/more

Heart of America believes that sending more waste to Hanford would increase the number of people who develop cancer because of exposure to waste in 100, 1,000 or 10,000 years.

DOE wrote in the new study that "receipt of off-site waste streams that contain specific amounts of certain isotopes, specifically iodine 129 and technetium 99, could have an adverse impact on the environment."

It suggests two alternatives: Robust treatment of the waste, such as turning it into glass before burying it at Hanford, or limiting or restricting disposal of waste with those isotopes.

Under a scenario that would have waste buried at a new landfill, the Integrated Disposal Facility, about 90 percent of the radioactive iodine that would be released from the landfill would come from imported waste, according to the Washington state Department of Ecology, a Hanford regulator.

About 75 percent of the technetium that would be released also would come from imported waste, according to the state.

Heart of America is asking that DOE's 2004 decision on importing waste be declared invalid and that DOE be required to rescind it and be required to prepare a new environmental impact statement before any new decision to send waste to Hanford.  http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/08/10/1124823/suit-filed-over-sending-waste.html

Annette Cary: 582-1533; acary@tricity herald.com

Federal Tax Clinic

Two students traveled with the Federal Tax Clinic director to Anchorage in June to help pro se taxpayers at the Alaska Tax Court Calendar. The students settled some cases before the Calendar, and brought back a case to resolve on a continuance.

Students in the Federal Tax Clinic will help pro se taxpayers at the October 4th Montana Tax Court Calendar in Helena, and at the Spokane Tax Court Calendar on November 15, 2010.

May 2010

Environmental Law Clinic update:

• Enough Already
  

  Spokane Riverkeeper criticizes federal proposals to limit cleanup and ship even more radioactive and chemical waste to Hanford.

• Muddy Waters
  

  Spokane Riverkeeper files notice to sue Washington Department of Transportation over polluted storm water from highway construction.

March 2010

Order for Permanent Protection Concludes Long, Frustrating Case
For 10 years, clinic students have fought to obtain a Permanent Protection Order for a client victimized by horrifying domestic abuse.

The clinic took the case in 2000, helping the client relocate and obtaining for her a one-year domestic violence protection order. The court’s reluctance to grant a permanent order forced our client into court, where she had to confront her abuser, annually.

The failure of the court to grant permanent protection also forced her to hire bodyguards. The stress of the situation caused her to seek medical care.

Professor Gail Hammer, who has supervised the students working on the case, said court officers appear to have been trying to protect the liberty rights of the opposing party.

“Some seem to have the idea that you have to show that there are new acts of violence before the order can be extended,” she said. “But the statutes and the case law show that no new acts are required.”

Finally, clinic student Andy Smith convinced a Spokane County Superior Court judge to issue a permanent protection order.

Others who have worked on the case include:

• Delia Garza
• Arnold Jin
• Erin Mirch
• Holly Crawford
• Laura Joseph
• Edwina Elcox Wager
• Lavette Holman
• Jeffrey Hedlund
• And many others

Consumer Law Expert Visits the Clinic
The Consumer Law Clinic recently hosted Pennsylvania-based consumer law litigation expert Cary Flitter.

Cary Flitter

Flitter is a founding member of Lundy, Flitter, Beldecos & Berger, PC. From his office in Narberth, Pennsylvania. He serves on the adjunct faculty at Temple University's Beasley School of Law and is widely published in the area of consumer law.

At Gonzaga, Flitter met with students in the Consumer Law Clinic, reviewing their cases and suggesting appropriate strategies.

That afternoon, he conducted a three-hour CLE for area attorneys. Flitter engaged the audience in discussion on a wide range of issues confronting attorneys developing Consumer Law practices.

Another Successful Consumer Law Conference
Professor Alan McNeil and five students recently returned from a three-day Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Conference held March 5-7 in Jacksonville, Florida. Students Brian Cameron, Laurel Carr, Bryce Kartchner, Sophia Romero-Medina, and Shayne Sutherland all attended the conference on scholarship awarded through the National Association of Consumer Advocates. More than 250 attorneys attended the conference.

Attending attorneys included practitioners from legal services agencies, state Attorney General’s offices, class-action firms, and private-sector firms.

The students made valuable connections with practicing attorneys and learned a wealth of knowledge about illegal and abusive debt collections practices and how to protect consumers from these practices.

2010 Tax Court Calendars
The Federal Tax Clinic will be assisting pro se taxpayers at three Tax Court Calendars in 2010: Anchorage, Alaska, in June; Helena, Montana, in September; and, Spokane, Washington, in October.

February 2010

Update to: Elderly Widow Trapped by Unscrupulous Mortgage Lenders (Clinic News, November 2009)

After almost a year of litigation, the Consumer Law Clinic was able to settle an attempted foreclosure of our 79-year-old client's home. The terms of the settlement allow her to stay in her home at a very modest mortgage payment.

The students are now pursuing damages from the lending company that convinced our client to refinance her home 12 times over a three-year period.

"This is one of the worst predatory lending cases the clinic has seen," said Professor Al McNeil, who supervised the effort.

January 2010

General Public Interest Practice Clinic Takes on Unemployment Compensation Matters
Professor Sawyer’s General Practice Clinic is now cooperating with the Washington Unemployment Law Project to represent claimants for Unemployment Insurance Benefits. The Unemployment Law Project has generously provided its training materials and allowed its regional director, Laurie Powers, to present the basics of the law to our students.

“Unemployment Compensation hearings are an excellent learning opportunity as well as being consistent with the clinic mission to serve the community,” Prof. Sawyer said.

The hearings are scheduled on a short time frame, allowing the student to interview the client, prepare witnesses and exhibits, conduct the hearing and get a result within a few weeks. This allows students to repeat the process several times in a semester, allowing for reflection and improvement in a supervised environment. From time to time, there may be a need to appeal the decisions to the Superior Court.

Since the rules of evidence are relaxed, and pre-hearing motion procedure is at a minimum, the student can focus on direct and cross examination at the hearing. Further, the law of unemployment compensation can be quickly learned by a second- or third-year student who has a classroom course load in addition to the clinic. Second- and third-year students can benefit from this practice.

The mission of the law school includes an aspiration “to instill in our students a desire to engage in public service and to further social justice during law school and after graduation.” Service to the community is a constant thread that runs through all of the clinic’s programs. The unemployment law program furthers that purpose by allowing the students to improve the lives of the working people of the state. With the economy in a slump, the numbers of claimants for unemployment compensation has greatly increased. The number of appeals has grown in proportion.

“There is a compelling need for representation in those cases,” said Administrative Law Judge Wynne O’Brien Persons, who briefed the students on the hearing process in a January meeting at the clinic.

Environmental Law Clinic Stays Busy
Professor Mike Chappell and his students enrolled in the Environmental Law Clinic have been busy. Follow these links:

• Center for Justice: Taking on Toxics
• Pacific Northwest Inlander: Sedimental Journey
• Center for Justice: Bad Bill, Big Smack

December 2009

Son Steals Home From Mom
More than 10 years ago, the clinic's client signed a Quit Claim Deed to her home in favor of her son. She did so at his advice and without understanding its consequences. She was told that it was to protect her from bills and liens but that this would always be her house. Several events occurred over the years that caused her to question her son about the title to the home but she was always reassured that the home would be hers.

One day the client’s daughter, searching the Internet, discovered that the title to her mother’s home was in the son’s name and that several loans had been taken out on the property. The client sought legal advice.

After negotiations failed, litigation began. The case was eventually dismissed after a judge ruled that the client's claim was barred by the statute of limitations and that earlier events had put her on notice of her claim.

University Legal Assistance appealed the case and is currently seeking review in the State Supreme Court. The clinic is seeking to have the statute of limitation tolled when confidential relationship impairs a person’s normal judgment and caution.

November 2009

Elderly Widow Trapped by Unscrupulous Mortgage Lenders
The client is a 79-year-old widow who married at age 16, raised three children, and spent her life devoted to her now deceased husband. In 1947 the couple bought a small, two bedroom home for approximately $20,000.

After her husband’s death, the client had no choice but to take out a second mortgage to pay for debt she accumulated. After the initial loan was taken, a mortgage broker contacted her when she responded to mailers sent to her home. Three years and seven refinances later, the client was faced with a mortgage payment that took 90 percent of her $1,100 a month income. Foreclosure soon followed – the client owed more than $120,000 on a home that was worth $107,750. Due to her lack of sophistication and having had no financial experience, she relied on the expertise of these brokers and lenders that gave her these loans.

Regardless of how the client incurred the debt, these mortgage brokers and agents took advantage of her desperation and lack of financial savvy to earn refinancing fees – rather than directing her toward better options, such as credit counseling or bankruptcy.

The clinic is currently litigating this case in bankruptcy court in an adversarial proceeding brought against the lenders. The mortgage broker cannot be found. The foreclosure has been stayed and the clinic's goal is to keep her in her home.

Landlords Abuse Damage Deposit Laws
The clinic has seen an upsurge of landlords abusing damage deposit laws that unjustly victimize tenants. One case that couldn’t be ignored found a property management company retaining all of a $2000.00 damage deposit and claiming $2000.00 more in damages from the clinic's client. An invoice of damages claimed “excessive wear and tear” on virtually every item in the rental property, including baseboards in the closets, door stops, furnace filters, and the concrete driveway. The client lives alone but fortunately had witnesses to the condition of her rental property when she left.

The clinic aims to recover the client’s damage deposit. It is also seeking other tenants who were charged outrageous damage fees from the property management firm.

September 2009

Ancient Remedy Employed to Determine Pet Ownership
Harlee, a two-year old Pomeranian, wandered away from the home of the clinic's client and wandered six miles before he was picked up by Spokane County residents and taken to the Spokane City animal shelter. From there, he was quickly adopted out. The clients learned the identity of the adopter and attempted to get the dog back, offering to pay all expenses. The adopter offered to call the police instead.

Clinic students, under the supervision of George Critchlow, sued in replevin. Replevin is an ancient remedy that dates back to the kings of England. The clinic lost round one when the trial court dismissed the suit. The judge seemed to agree with the opposing attorney that the shelter system could not function if owners of lost dogs could get a court to overturn the adoption.

Clinic students appealed, filing an opening brief and a reply. This spring, the Court of Appeals ruled that the city shelter had no authority to transfer ownership of a lost dog unless the animal was found within the borders of the city. The court held that where the dog was found is an issue of fact, to be determined by the trial court. Student Skye McCulloch, will bring the matter to trial, with the goal of returning Harlee to his original owners. Former student Bret Roberts is continuing to be active in the case, acting as co-counsel.

Zombie Student Loans
The client took out several thousand dollars in student loans in the early 1990’s. Almost 20 years later, a private government contractor is collecting $40 per month from her Social Security retirement. The client obtained a discharge in bankruptcy court in 1997, which specifically included the student loans. Getting student loans discharged in bankruptcy is unusual so it was not surprising the collector denied that it was actually discharged. The client asked for and received an order from the bankruptcy court confirming that the student loan was discharged, and ordering the agency to stop collecting. This was not good enough for the collector, who demanded the client commence an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy. Unfortunately, the client was unrepresented and lost the case. The court dismissed her petition for failing to answer the collector’s discovery questions.

Into this morass stepped third-year student David Petersen. Through the summer, Petersen worked through the court file, learning a great deal about bankruptcy law. He has drafted a sheaf of documents to support a demand that the collector cease and desist. If that fails, the clinic is prepared to file a motion for contempt and damages in the original bankruptcy court in the Western District of Washington.

Divorce, Property Only
The clinic serves elders under a contract with Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington. From time to time, it handles a divorce for an elderly client.

In mid-May, David Melvin started his summer clinic with a trial date for late June. Last-minute settlement efforts fell through and the case went for a two-day trial before Superior Court Judge Tompkins. Melvin handled almost all aspects of the trial and post-trial activities under the supervision of Prof. Terrence V. Sawyer. The clinic obtained a fair and equitable result for our client that will provide her with financial stability for her retirement years.

This case in not over. Synova Edwards, a new third-year student will finalize the retirement funds transfers and wrap the case up along with her other work this fall.

More Litigation in the Sudanese Refugee Case

Last spring, clinicians secured the return of two children to the clinic's Sudanese client, in a case described earlier. Almost immediately, the alleged father brought a second action in Superior Court, seeking to be declared the de facto parent of the two children. Dennis Labbe and Arnold Jin, the students who worked to get the first result, drafted a motion and brief to dismiss the new case, even as they were finishing up school and beginning to study for the bar. Darryl Colman started the clinic in May and absorbed the convoluted history of the case from reading and meeting with Jin and Labbe. Colman, under the supervision of Prof. Terrence V. Sawyer, completed the brief and filed the motion, and then drafted and filed a reply brief. Finally, in late August, Colman argued the motion and obtained an order dismissing the second case.

This case is still not over, however. The other side also appealed the first decision. Colman will draft the brief in that case and, if the court permits argument, he may get to argue an appeal in the Washington Court of Appeals.

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January 2007

Landlord Must Protect Tenant's Property in Eviction
The Washington Appellate Court in Spokane ruled that a landlord who evicts a tenant must store the tenant's personal property in a reasonably secure place. In a ground-breaking decision, the Court addressed an ambiguity in the law regarding the landlord's duty to store tenant's property.

Cases Under Appeal

March 2007

Jury Finds Russian Immigrant's Rights Violated
A federal court jury found that Bowen Property Management and two of its employees violated the civil rights of four Russian immigrants. This complicated case involved charges of bribery, extortion, and the misuse of government subsidized housing, and was decided in U.S. District Court.

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Resolved Cases

March 2009

Sudanese Woman Reunited With Her Children

Congratulations to clinic students Dennis Labbe and Arnold Jin on a favorable ruling after a bench trial that took parts of three weeks. University Legal Assistance represented a refugee from Sudan who does not speak English, and does not read or write any language. Her children had been taken away from her by a man who took advantage of her illiteracy and used the legal system to take her children by claiming that he was married to her and that her children were his children. Without the ability to read English, without knowledge of the legal system, and without legal representation, the clinic's client was defenseless against the possibility of never seeing her children again. The story is factually complex and the case is procedurally and legally complex, with state and federal constitutional issues. A simplified version of it is below.

In addition to the trial work, Labbe deposed the opposing party and defended the deposition of our client. Prof. Gail Hammer supervised the students’ work, but they conducted the trial. Labbe was first chair and made the opening statement. Both students conducted direct and cross examinations, introduced and opposed exhibits, and made and met objections.

To accommodate the court's schedule, the clinic submitted closing arguments in writing. The judge was Superior Court Judge Harold Clarke III, who consistently exhibited respect, patience, and careful attention to the parties, witnesses, and attorneys. He and his staff put in extra time to accommodate the case, including several night sessions. GU psychology professor Anna Marie Medina provided expert testimony on domestic violence. GU law professor Nadine Farid provided crucial interpretation assistance when the official interpreter was unavailable.

Former clinic students Iain Dick, Emma Wilson, Jessica Couser, Trinity Santos, and Angel Base worked on the case over the past couple of years, helping lay the groundwork for the trial.

A simplified version of the case:

The clinic's client married a man in Sudan and they had two children. Civil war reached her village in the form of attackers burning houses and killing villagers. The client could not find her oldest daughter and her husband, and she fled for her life. She fled on foot, carrying one of her young children and pregnant with another. She made her way to Khartoum, where she eventually met the opposing party in this case. He told her he could get her out of the country and she relied on his help. He got them into Egypt and eventually into the U.S. by claiming that they were married and that her two children were their children. In August 2004, refugee services placed them in Spokane.

In Spring of 2006, the opposing party began the process of using the legal system to take the client’s children away. He filed for dissolution of marriage, claiming that they were married and that the children were his. He alleged that the client is violent and drinks too much, and requested extreme limitations on her contact with her children. The client’s landlord had told her to expect some papers related to a repair to be done on her apartment, and when the dissolution papers were served on her, she assumed they were repair papers from the landlord. Her first language is Dinka. Her second is Arabic. There are distinct dialects in Arabic, and the Spokane refugee services personnel who speak Arabic do not speak her dialect. Because the translation process was difficult for her, she did not get them translated. She moved to Tennessee, where there are more Sudanese refugees and a support system for her and her family. In the meantime, the opposing party entered a default against her.

The client had no knowledge of the Washington court action, until the opposing party filed an action to enforce the parenting plan in Tennessee in May 2007. The children were taken from school and brought back to Washington. That was the last time the client saw her children until University Legal Assistance got involved in the case.

Clinicians moved to vacate the parenting plan. Emma Wilson argued that motion and Jessica Couser assisted in writing the brief. They prevailed in a half-day hearing. However, because of the allegations the opposing party had made, the court temporarily left the children with him and allowed only supervised visits with the mother.

The decision following the trial declared the opposing party to be a nonparent with no parental rights. The children are now being returned to their mother's custody.

Gonzaga Federal Tax Clinic Heads to Anchorage
The Federal Tax Clinic at Gonzaga University is recognized by the United States Tax Court as an academic clinical program that can practice before the Court. The Tax Court is sending out a special mailing to all pro se taxpayers in the State of Alaska to advise them that Gonzaga’s Federal Tax Clinic is available to represent low-income taxpayers with cases before the Tax Court. The Tax Court has a session scheduled for its Regular and Small Case Calendar in Anchorage, Alaska, during the week of June 8, 2009. The director of the clinic and two students will attend the Calendar Call to help pro se taxpayers, and may have cases for trial for that session.

January 2009

Two Abducted Children Returned Home; Happy Holidays Result
In the spring of 2007, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children asked the clinic to take a case under the Hague Convention in the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The clinic represented a citizen of Mexico who had not seen nor spoken with her children for nearly a year. Their father had taken them for an apparent visit, but disappeared into the United States with them. The California Attorney General’s Office tracked the father to Washington state, where he has a felony conviction for sexual assault of a 13-year-old.

With the help of the U.S. Marshal, the clinic located the children. The client applied for a visa to come into the United States to be available to pick up the children if the court returned them, but her application was denied. After many hours of negotiation, Kelsey Davis and Mari Bergstrom coordinated transportation arrangements with the Mexican Consulate, then filed a petition in federal court for return of the children.

The father’s new wife, a U.S. citizen, appeared at the hearing and told the court there was a court proceeding in Mexico that supposedly contained information about why the children should not be with the mother. She told the court that her husband, a Mexican citizen, was in Mexico.

The court continued the hearing until the court papers from Mexico could be examined. Clinic students obtained copies of the court papers from Mexico and had them translated, a slow and very expensive process.They did not contain the information the father’s wife had claimed they did. In the meantime, the clinic deposed the father’s new wife and negotiated telephone contact for the client with her children.

In November of 2008, 1 ½ years after the children were taken from Mexico, Rachel Kaufman convinced the federal court to order the children returned to their mother.

Before the clinic took the case, the client had no hope of ever seeing or speaking with her children again. Thanks to the efforts of clinic students, they are back home with her. Kelsey Davis and Mari Bergstrom conducted the initial investigation, research, and negotiation. Davis wrote the Petition and supporting documentation. Kaufman conducted a deposition, marshaled the remaining documents, and made the final argument to the federal court.

Joanna Schaefer and Patrick Cannon assisted with legal research and analysis. Alena Wolotira and Levi Adams translated letters and emails, enabling the clinic to communicate with the client, who speaks no English.

October 2008

The Costly Fence
The client, a very elderly gentleman, had inquired with a local builder about building a fence along his driveway. After deciding this cost was prohibitive, the client declined to sign a contract. The builder started work on the project anyway, stopping only when the client threatened to have him removed by the police.

Many months later, the client began receiving collection notices allegedly for the fence. After months of trying to correct the false charge he turned to University Legal Assistance. Several interns worked on the case, which culminated in a favorable cash payment to the client from the collection agency for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Landlord Intimidation is Costly
Elderly clinic clients were victims of an attempt to defraud them out of $7000.00 in cleaning charges after they vacated an apartment they had been renting for a number of years. The landlord sued the clients for cleaning fees that were both excessive and unfounded. The landlord had also try to intimidate the clients by telling them they would never be able obtain legal representation. After several months of litigation, the clients received more from the plaintiffs than they had attempted to collect from our clients.

Abusive Mortgage Practices
A single mother had run afoul of abusive mortgage lending practices. Guided into loans she didn't understand and couldn’t afford, she was soon facing foreclosure and loss of her home.

Aggressive efforts by clinic interns stopped foreclosure threats and restructured her financial situation into something she could manage.

The client sent us this note:

“I was desperate for some legal help, but had absolutely zero money to pay for it. The people there are so helpful and understanding and I was never made to feel inferior because of my lack of finances. This has been one of the most positive experiences of my entire life. Now, thanks to all the help I received, I can get on with my life and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Special thanks to Ashley Walker, Arnold Jin, and of course, Alan McNeil.”

March 2008

Clinic Represents Convicted Felons in Voting Rights Case
Convicted felons who are African-American, claim that Washington’s disenfranchisement provision runs afoul of the federal Voting Rights Act, which prohibits any law that has the effect of disparately impacting the voting rights of racial minorities. The clinic has represented for more than 10 years.

Foreclosure Rescue Scams
There is an entire industry of bottom-fishing “investors,” who seek to acquire property at substantial discounts to fair market value. This is a legal activity, unless and until such “investors” cross the line by holding themselves out as advisors and fiduciaries, using a promise to help as a scheme acquire property. In Washington, if you promise a man drowning in debt a financial life preserver, and subsequently throw him an anchor that takes him under, be prepared to pay the price. Clinic students saved a man's home who fell into such a trap.

Man Presumed Dead is Actually Alive
Widow asked to repay $90,000 she received in Social Security widow's benefits after her husband is found to be alive.

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