Law Clinic in the News

Current Cases

September 2009

The Case of the Peripatetic Pomeranian
Harlee, a two-year old Pomeranian, wandered away from our clients’ home and covered six miles on his 4-inch legs before he was picked up by some Spokane County residents and taken to the Spokane City animal shelter. From there, he was quickly adopted out. Our clients found out the identity of the adopter and went to his house 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. We lost round one when the trial court dismissed the suit. The judge seemed to agree with the attorney on the other side 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. A new student, Skye McCulloch, will bring the matter to trial and, hopefully, she can return Harlee to his original owners. Former student Bret Roberts is continuing to be active in the case, acting as co-counsel.

Zombie Student Loans
Our 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. Our 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. Our 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 that our client commence an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy. Unfortunately, the client was unrepresented at that time and messed up this 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, Mr. Petersen worked through the 3-inch-thick court file and learned 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, we will do 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. Mr. Melvin handled almost all aspects of the trial and post-trial activities under the supervision of Terrence V. Sawyer. We 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 our 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 Messrs. Jin and Labbe. Mr. Colman, under the supervision of Terrence V. Sawyer, completed the brief and filed the motion, and then drafted and filed a reply brief. Finally, in late August, Mr. 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. Mr. 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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Cases Under Appeal

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.

Resolved Cases

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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Previous News

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, our 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, we 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 our 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:

Our 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. Our 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 our client’s children away. He filed for dissolution of marriage, claiming that they were married and that the children were his. He alleged that our client is violent and drinks too much, and requested extreme limitations on her contact with her children. Our 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 language 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 our client saw her children until University Legal Assistance got involved in the case.

We moved to vacate the parenting plan. Emma Wilson argued that motion and Jessica Couser assisted in writing the brief. We 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.

Please be sure to congratulate Labbe and Jin on their excellent work and the favorable result.

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 our office to take a case under the Hague Convention in the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. We represented a citizen of Mexico who had not seen nor spoken with her children for nearly a year. Their father had taken them for a “visit” and 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, we located the children. Our 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. We 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, we deposed the father’s new wife and negotiated telephone contact for our 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 we 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 so we could communicate with our client, who speaks no English.

October 2008

The Costly Fence
Our 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. He stopped only when the client threatened to have him removed by the police.

Many months later, our client began receiving collection notices allegedly for the fence. After months of trying to correct the false charge the client 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.  For over ten years the Clinic has represented these felons.

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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