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PRO BONO HOUSING CLIENT PROTECTED
Heller Ehrman recently achieved a favorable settlement for a client who was threatened with eviction in an unlawful detainer action. For the past eight years, our client has lived in a single-room occupancy residential hotel in San Francisco, where she pays $450 a month for her room, which does not have a kitchen or bathroom.
Last March, our client’s landlord filed the action to evict her on the basis that she was cooking in her room in violation of the hotel’s rules. Our client acknowledged that she cooked in her room, but explained that the prior landlords had let her cook and that the current landlord continued to allow other tenants to cook in their rooms. She claimed the landlord was discriminating against her because of her sexual orientation and was retaliating against her for complaining to the building inspector about the lack of heat in her room.
After months of discovery, and our client’s repeated rejection of the landlord’s settlement offers, the case ultimately moved toward a jury trial. On the eve of trial, however, our client agreed to settle the case for a waiver of nearly six months of unpaid rent and a payment of $5,000, provided that she moves out in August. The firm is now helping her find other suitable housing.
CHANGING THE WASHINGTON STATE HOMESTEAD LAWS
A series of articles published by Seattle’s Fred Corbit on the homestead exemption along with his subsequent efforts on behalf of the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) resulted in increased protection for all Washington State homeowners. The homestead exemption is the equity in a home that is protected from the claims of judgment creditors.
As a result of Fred’s articles, the WSBA concluded that the state policy of protecting a substantial portion of homes from judgment creditors’ claims was not being met because over the past two decades the homestead exemption had remained constant while the value of Washington homes had skyrocketed. The WSBA sponsored legislation to increase the homestead, and when the proposed legislation ran up against substantial opposition from collection agencies, turned to Fred.
Fred prepared additional reports and testified on numerous occasions before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. His efforts eventually led to the Washington legislature passing a bill to increase the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $125,000. The bill was signed into law by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, and the new law took effect on July 23, 2007.
BERKELEY FOOD AND HOUSING AWARD
On March 9, San Francisco’s Maya Solo, Sam Ernst, Bill Neuman and Bob Borton were honored with Certificates of Excellence by the Berkeley Food and Housing Project (BFHP). The awards, given at BFHP’s annual gala dinner, recognized Maya and Bill for their assistance on difficult lease negotiations with the agency’s landlord over the last two-and-a-half years and saluted Sam and Bob for their help with related litigation, which was successfully settled. BFHP is a non-profit organization that serves the homeless population of the greater Berkeley area with seven programs ranging from evening meal service to permanent supportive housing. BFHP’s programs annually provide over 25,000 nights of shelter and 50,000 meals to nearly 2,500 homeless and low-income men, women and children. Heller Ehrman works with BFHP through the Community Organization Representation Project, a program of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
SAN FRANCISCO'S HOMELESS ADVOCACY PROGRAM (HAP)
In 2005, through San Francisco's Homeless Advocacy Program (HAP), San Francisco summer associates Chad Carr and Roy Rosenthal, supervised by San Francisco’s Sarah Armstrong, succeeded in establishing an indigent, disabled client's eligibility for social security disability income.
The client was a victim of domestic violence with serious mental health issues. Although the client has a college degree and had been employed as an adult, her health problems, including a diagnosis of schizophrenia prevented her from working. Alienated from her family, the client was on the verge of homelessness when she began living and receiving treatment at a drug rehabilitation center. The Social Security Administration had denied benefits on the basis of incomplete medical evidence of disability and past drug use.
On a tight deadline, Chad and Roy met with the client and her therapist, gathered supporting documentation, assisted the therapist and doctor in preparing a detailed report and diagnosis, and prepared a letter brief to the administrative law judge. At the hearing, Chad presented the case to the judge, responding to questions and asking questions of the agency's medical expert. The judge found that the client was disabled and therefore entitled to social security benefits dating back to 2002.
In a second HAP case, San Francisco summer associates Jeff Finucane and Molly Newland, under the supervision of San Francisco’s Dave Thomas, successfully helped their client obtain supplemental security income (SSI) benefits. The client suffered from a seizure disorder and hyperthroidism, in addition to asthma and heart and lung problems. When she came to HAP, she had found an apartment and had begun to put her life back together, but her disabilities made it impossible for her to work. When the client’s application for SSI benefits was then denied, Jeff, Molly, and Dave filed an appeal that documented her severe disabilities. On the morning of the scheduled hearing, the SSA administrative law judge called to announce that he was canceling the hearing, having decided to grant SSI benefits based on the brief and supporting documents prepared by Jeff, Molly, and Dave.
