Executive Director’s Message

This month marks the 10th anniversary of Executive Order 13166 which requires federal agencies to ensure that recipients of federal financial assistance comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by providing meaningful access to Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals. The significance of this anniversary cannot be overstated. In Los Angeles County, 56 percent of the population speak a language other than English at home, and among Asian and Pacific Islanders, it is over 80 percent. California currently has no explicit provisions for interpreters in civil courts for self-represented and/or indigent litigants, and as a result, many indigent LEP litigants are denied meaningful access to justice.

At LAFLA, nearly 34 percent of our client population is Hispanic and 10 percent is Asian and Pacific Islander. Language access issues raise a wide range of concerns for attorneys and judges that involve due process and equal protection issues. Due to the increasing needs of people with limited English proficiency, LAFLA and other nonprofits have developed systems to serve LEP clients more effectively, including bilingual staff, language hotlines and clinics, and extensive partnerships with organizations based in ethnic communities. Our goal is to have  staff that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve.  In the event that we do not have languages available on hand, and for emergencies, our attorneys utilize private telephonic interpreter services to ensure our clients’ needs are met. LAFLA’s LEP Taskforce is in the process of updating and revising our policies and procedures for providing services to LEP clients, and will soon conduct a training series to refresh staff on working with interpreters and translators.

In a recent letter to state courts, Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division said, "Justice requires that all individuals have meaningful access to the critical services provided by the nation’s state court systems, regardless of the individual’s English language skills. It is especially appropriate to remember our shared responsibility to reduce persistent language barriers in court proceedings and services that are of such importance to the daily lives of parties, victims, witnesses and the public."

 As legal aid providers, we realize our responsibility to provide equal justice for all, and the legislature, administrative agencies, and courts should as well.

For more information about Title VI, or to obtain copies of the letter, please visit www.lep.gov.

Silvia R. Argueta, Executive Director

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Neil Martin Elected President with New Officers

LAFLA is pleased to welcome new Board President, Neil B. Martin, left, senior vice president and senior counsel at City National Bank. Martin will serve a two-year term, and was the former vice president of LAFLA’s Board and a member of its Executive, Audit and Finance Committees. For several years, Martin authored the annual update "Supplement" to California Commercial Law: II for Continuing Education of the Bar.  Martin also serves as a Temporary Judge in Small Claims for the Los Angeles Superior Court. Joining Martin, other Board officers include Vice President, Paul B. Salvaty of O’Melveny & Myers LLP; Secretary, Martin T. Tachiki, formerly with the Santa Monica City  Attorney’s Office; Treasurer, Ronald E. Wood of Proskauer Rose LLP; and Client Council Chair, Karen J. Adelseck of the Long Beach Senior Latino Club. 

Pro Bono Update: O’Melveny & Myers Launches Financial Literacy Workshop

In response to a request from one of our nonprofit partners, the Coalition of Mental Health Professionals Inc. (CMHP) to offer financial literacy workshops to residents in South Los Angeles, Pro Bono Director Tai Glenn, working with Managing Attorney Ana Storey of LAFLA’s Consumer Law Unit, reached out to our access to justice partners for interest and support. The result: A Financial Literacy Project has been launched in collaboration with O’Melveny and Myers (OMM) LLP. The project is designed to provide low-income residents with financial literacy information to increase their understanding of these issues especially at a time when these individuals are hardest hit by the credit crisis.

The project’s curriculum consists of six evening sessions covering a range of topics that include teaching safe and knowledgeable borrowing practices and understanding credit card debt. So far, the community’s response has been very positive.  To date, 20 community members are participating in the July session. The next session begins on November 23 and will include a section on holiday spending. The workshop supplements LAFLA’s weekly, on-site legal clinic at CMHP’s office.

According to OMM Attorney and Project Trainer Noa Tal, "Partnering with LAFLA to teach these classes has been an incredibly enriching experience.  We have found participants to be engaged and interested in the material. The workshops thus far have been educational and motivational to the participants as well as invigorating for us." 

Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Filed
To Preserve Housing Rights

On August 3, LAFLA’s Housing Litigator Barbara Schultz and Litigation Director Michelle Uzeta of the Southern California Housing Rights Center (HRC) filed a lawsuit in the Central District Court of California on behalf of a 62-year-old client with significant physical disabilities. The client, Maria Mejia, has resided in her second-floor apartment for 12 years and requires a transfer to a ground-floor apartment to accommodate her disabilities and allow her to live in dignity. The lawsuit was filed against her landlord, Joseph Comonfort, for refusing a reasonable accommodation to the client’s disabilities as required by the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) and related state laws such as the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act. LAFLA’s Senior Paralegal, Alma Fierro brought the case to our attention.

"Under the FHAA, permitting a tenant with physical disabilities to transfer to a ground floor unit has been recognized as a reasonable accommodation," explained LAFLA Senior Attorney Barbara Schultz. "Without immediate relief, our client will be denied and/or experience loss of equal housing opportunities; denied the equal use and enjoyment of her housing; experience a loss of independence and dignity; and put at risk of physical and emotional harm."  Added Michelle Uzeta, "This type of adjustment is exactly what the reasonable accommodation mandate is intended to require. Tenants with disabilities should not have to sacrifice their dignity and safety for housing opportunities."

Update: Since the lawsuit’s filing, a preliminary injunction prohibiting the owner from renting the lower unit was issued and trial is set for next month. The parties are in settlement negotiations and the Mejia’s are presently moving to a downstairs unit.

LAFLA Helps The "Last Woman Standing" Receive Relocation Benefits

 "If it wasn’t for Legal Aid and attorney Fernando Gaytan, I don’t know what I would have done" said Client Navaline Smith. "When no one else would stand with me, Legal Aid was there to help me every step of the way." 

Ujima Village ("Ujima") was a subsidized, multi-family affordable housing development located on a 16-acre site in Willowbrook, South Los Angeles. Ujima, which means "collective work and responsibility" in Swahili, was envisioned as an oasis for working-class black families, and a bridge to homeownership. At one time, the complex boasted 300 affordable housing units and other amenities such as playgrounds and a multi-purpose community center.  Comprised mainly of  two-story townhomes, it had its own vegetable garden, surrounded by two lakes and the adjacent Magic Johnson Regional Park .  Read April 19, LA Times story.

Today Ujima is a ghost town.  All of the families have been relocated after the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACoLA) decided to shut down the complex.  The closure was prompted in part by the discovery of volatile soil vapors escaping from what was once an oil tank farm, which posed a potential risk to human health.  As early as mid-2008, residents of Ujima began moving out of the complex.  Residents receiving Section 8 were told they had no choice but to move to a different apartment and to transfer their subsidy voucher without additional relocation payments.

For Navaline Smith, a single mother working two jobs in order to put her son through private school, continuing on a government subsidy was simply not an option.  A former restaurant owner who worked her way up through the ranks of her job to become an assistant occupational therapist, Smith lived at Ujima for more than 20 years before it closed. She knew something was wrong when HACoLA insisted that she remain on Section 8.  She witnessed other residents being told by the Housing Authority that they could elect to receive down-payment assistance as a relocation benefit pursuant to Federal Relocation laws.  When asked why she decided to speak up when other residents had moved with a voucher, Smith said, "I simply could not accept that I would be forced to stay on Section 8... I had to take a stand." That is when Smith came to LAFLA for help and began an almost two-year battle with the Housing Authority for proper relocation benefits. 

LAFLA advocates vigorously represented Smith in several administrative appeals, including a request for review by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, arguing that Section 8 recipients are entitled to elect receipt of down payment assistance in lieu of a voucher under applicable relocation laws.  While her appeals proceeded up through the various administrative levels, Smith continued to pay her rent and live at Ujima.  "I’m the last woman standing," Smith would tell visitors, as she showed them the once lush community garden now overgrown with waist-high weeds and vandalized apartment units occupied by transients.

Determined to correct what was an obvious violation of relocation laws, LAFLA attorney Fernando Gaytan pursued Smith’s case up the administrative process and had prepared to seek judicial intervention in the matter.  In order to avoid defending the matter in Superior Court, the Housing Authority agreed to pay Smith’s relocation benefits as required under California Relocation Law. As part of an agreement to settle her relocation-related claims, Smith will receive over $50,000 that she may use as down payment towards the purchase of a home. Smith is now working with a first time home buyers program to purchase a foreclosed property in South Los Angeles. 

LAFLA Attorneys Up Front and Center at NLADA Conference

Senior Attorney, Paula Cohen, leads a workshop on family law issues.

LAFLA sent a strong contingent of nine attorneys and one client board member to the recently held National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) Sub Law Conference and Litigation Directors Conference in Chicago.

Explained Grace Lee, attorney in LAFLA’s Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Unit, "The attorneys had a unique opportunity to improve substantive knowledge on key areas, as well as network and develop strategies to meet the advocacy needs of our communities."

Several LAFLA attorneys also served as trainers at the conference, sharing their expertise with a national audience.  Senior Attorney Paula Cohen led a workshop titled, "Addressing the Family Law Needs and Barriers of High Conflict Cases: The Need to Foster Better Outcomes for Children, Fathers, and Mothers."  

LAFLA’s General Counsel Toby Rothschild, Attorney Ji-lan Zang, and Law Fellow Keith Fujiu together presented a workshop titled, "Shutting Down Phony Legal Aid Entities," while Attorney Grace Lee served on panels addressing language access issues in workshops titled "Can You Hear Me Now?: Ethical Representation of LEP and Deaf Clients" and "Language Access 101:  The Rights of Limited English Proficient Individuals." 

A Night of Giving, Good Wine & Food,
Recipe for Success at Grand Cru

It was the perfect night for giving to a good cause and to sample the best wines and international cuisine . Nearly 1,400 supporters, sponsors, members, staff and friends came out on a warm summer night in Long Beach to show their commitment and celebrate LAFLA 16^thannual Grand Cru event. More than 1,000 award-winning wines were sampled, complementing culinary delights from over 35 of the area’s finest restaurants. The event also featured, for the first time this year, a "live" auction that tempted the attendees with exciting sports memorabilia, hollywood souvenirs, artworks and yatch excursions, among other items.

Many thanks to the Grand Gru Board and volunteers who make the event seem effortless despite many hours spent planning and preparing for the event. Proceeds from the event will help fund LAFLA’s programs and services at a time when the demand is at its greatest. Thanks you all for your generosity and continuing support.

In the News

• Grand Cru Project Director Ludmila Montoya was quoted in an article titled, Grand Cru Wines, Dines At Rainbow  that appeared in the Long Beach "Grunion Gazette" newspaper on August 18.
• The July/August 2010 issue of  the "Clearinghouse Review Journal of Poverty and Law"  featured an article titled, Help for Undocumented Victims of Crime, written by Senior Attorneys Sheila Neville and Susana Martinez of LAFLA’s Immigration Unit.
• On August 5, Senior Attorney Barbara Schultz  completed an interview with the online legal newspaper, Metropolitan News-Enterprise, about the filing of the housing disability lawsuit.