11/29/2007

Ms. Pedroza (not her real name) is a single mother and the sole bread winner for her two sons and her mother. She has lived in a duplex in Central Los Angeles for more than 20 years. In April 2004, the owner of the property entered into a written contract to sell the entire property (both units) to Ms. Pedroza for $260,000. A sixty-day escrow was opened, but failed to close.

When Ms. Pedroza asked the owners to explain the delay, they told her that the sale was held up to due to technical probate matters. The owners continued to use this excuse for 2˝ years. Then in December 2006, with real estate prices soaring and the fair market value of the property at approximately $550,000, the owners attempted to bully Ms. Pedroza into consenting to cancel escrow by threatening legal action and eviction.

Ms. Pedroza contacted Rene Pena, a paralegal with the Consumer Unit at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA). LAFLA placed the case with partner Jack Yeh and newly elected partner John T. Fogarty of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP. Jack and John teamed up to defend Ms. Pedroza’s rights under the contract. They immediately drafted a complaint, filed it with the Los Angeles Superior Court, and filed a Lis Pendens to prevent a pending sale of the property to a developer. They then arranged for a mediation with all parties, and convinced the owners to sell the property to Ms. Pedroza for just a fraction more than the original purchase price.

Escrow closed just before Thanksgiving, and now Ms. Pedroza owns her own home, with nearly $200,000 in equity in the property. She called John Fogarty the day escrow documents were recorded and thanked Manatt and LAFLA for standing by her and changing her life: "Every morning for 20 years I would wake up and worry about eviction; now, I have my own home, my family has a place they can call their own."

Thanks to Jack and John for their tremendous work in this case.