In the News...Updates on LANC activities
From
"Staff News..."
-
11/05/07 -
Congratulations to Carolyn Burton (Staff Attorney,
LANC-Sylva Office),
who obtained a judgment of over $160,000
(which included punitive damages of $100K) against a
defendant who fraudulently obtained and converted
to his own use, our client's ED (Equitable Distribution) settlement.
The local District Court judge indicated
that this was the largest punitive damage award he
has ever given
a prevailing party.
-
10/23/07 -
Congratulations to
Brien
Rose Hub (Staff Attorney,
LANC-Wilmington Office) who just had a great win in
a mortgage foreclosure hearing before the Clerk of Superior Court of
Duplin County. Brien carefully researched the financial
default data from the lender and was able to show the Clerk that it was
inconsistent, confusing, and did not meet the lender's burden of proof
of establishing that a default even existed. The Clerk found this
to be the case, and dismissed the foreclosure with prejudice.
They were seeking $63,374.46, and lost. This was a complex case
involving a dismissed Chapter 13 bankruptcy without a discharge, and
acknowledged late payments to the bankruptcy court by the client. There
was also a past default prior to the filing of the bankruptcy Chap. 13
action. Brien put a great deal of work in this case, and is to be highly
commended, especially since it is her first foreclosure defense.
-
10/23/07
- For those of you who
may have missed it, staff members from the
LANC-Durham Office
were interviewed and quoted in
the article,
"Finding a way,"
which appeared on the front
page of the
October 1, 2007
edition of North
Carolina Lawyers Weekly.
The article was a side-by-side article with another article,
"Summit's potential impact starts with combining talent, resources,"
which was about the (then) upcoming Civil Access to Justice Summit.
The
"Finding a way"
article begins by stating that the those at the October 12
Summit
would seek "...novel ways to provide legal assistance to the state's
low-income residents. At Legal Aid of North Carolina, they do that
every day...." The article goes on to provide an overview of LANC,
interspersing comments from LANC-Durham Office staff. Excellent
article and wonderfully done job by our
Durham
spokespersons!
[Article:
"Finding a way"
Oct 1, 2007, NC Lawyers Weekly]
[Article:
"Summit's potential impact starts with combining talent, resources,"
Oct 1, 2007,
NC Lawyers Weekly]
[Media Release, NCBA:
"Summit on Access to Justice held Oct. 12," October 15, 2007]
[Also see
"NC Equal Access to Justice Commission" webpage on the LANC Internet
website.]
-
10/04/07
- Congratulations to
the
LANC-Winston-Salem Office for its successful
litigation of the Amos Case.
Several months ago, our
client, a mentally ill vet living in public housing, was arrested and
charged with possession and use of cocaine. He was away from the Housing
Authority site at the time of arrest. The client had NO criminal record of
any kind. His criminal case was dismissed based on a psychological
evaluation that declared that he was unable to
stand trial. After several hearings the court ruled yesterday to dismiss
the HAW's case because it failed to give proper notice. Thanks to trial
litigator Susan Gottsgen, the pre-trial work of Liza Baron, and all who played any role (Yvette,
Tracy, Barbara and the HEEC Unit)
in the successful litigation of this case. This tough hard fought
case had a wonderful outcome.
[see the 10/07/07 Winston-Salem Journal article,
Defendant wins his case; HAWS also gets a victory.]
[also see the 07/26/07 Winston-Salem Journal article,
Evicted man back
home, waiting for his day in court.]
-
09/27/07 - After close
to three years of litigation, Vilma Suarez
(Managing Attorney, LANC-CIU and formerly of the
LANC-Smithfield Office) and our pro bono attorneys, Tom Berkau and
Robert Spence, Jr., obtained an important victory for
an 80-year-old client. Our client's son had
apparently forged her signature in the deed to her house. Then he
had mortgaged the
house. Suarez had to withdraw from the case because she ended up being a
witness. Not only our forensic documents expert showed that the
signature was not our client's, but Suarez was deposed to show that our
client was in her office at the same time that she allegedly signed the
deed.
Superior Court Thompson ruled in Summary Judgment that the deed was
procured by fraud and declared the deed and the deed of trust null and
void. As a result our client gets back her house free of any
encumbrance. We are very grateful to attorneys Tom Berkau and Bob Spence,
Jr. for their help.
-
09/27/07 -
S. Quon Bridges, a former staff member
of the Durham office, has been appointed to serve as a
District Court Judge in the Ninth Judicial District.
Bridges was a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow, a paralegal and a staff
attorney with the Henderson office of the North Central Legal Assistance
Program (NCLAP) from 1980 through 1988. Bridges served on the
Board of Directors of NCLAP from 1990 through 1996. He was a
member of the Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP), providing co-counseling
and consultation to legal aid staff. He has continued to be a
supporter of Legal Aid and other organizations for change in the
Henderson area.
[also see 09/14/07 News & Observer article,
"Replacement picked for 9th district judge."]
-
09/17/07 - Congratulations to
Monica Savidge
(Staff Attorney,
LANC-Wilmington Office)
as the lead counsel on an
outstanding win in her client's appeal in Wake County Superior Court.
The Superior Court Judge ruled that the NC Crime Victims
Compensation Commission was wrong in refusing to pay for the medical
bills for psychiatric treatment of a 14-year-old rape victim.
Jim Wall (Senior Managing
Attorney,
LANC-Wilmington Office) reports: "This
was the case of SM v. North Carolina Crime
Victims Compensation Commission, Superior Court, Wake
County. SM is
the mother of
a 14-year-old girl
(CM) who was taken
by a friend to her first "high school party" at a mobile home in a rural
area. Five men, 18-
and 23-years-old were there. The
client and her friend were the only girls. The men gave the girls
alcohol, and later marijuana. CM became
intoxicated, and a 20-year-old
male began to ask her to have sex with him. CM refused, and the men
continued to ply her with alcohol until she became unable to resist. The
20-year-old male then had
sex with CM. CM's mother applied to the NC
Crime Victims Compensation Commission for assistance in covering CM's
hospital and psychiatric bills. The Commission refused because CM had
been participating in a non-traffic misdemeanor at the time of the rape.
We appealed, and a State Administrative Law
Judge, after hearing all the evidence, ruled that CM's conduct (drinking
and marijuana use) were not the proximate cause of the rape. The
full Commission refused to follow the ALJ's decision, and we appealed to
Superior Court in Wake County. Judge
R. Allen Baddour, Jr., reversed the Commission and ordered them
to pay benefits, finding that the conduct of CM could not have been the
proximate cause of her rape by a man more than five years her senior.
An appeal by the Commission is possible,
but the case is a strong one."
[Note: Also see 09/15/07 article from the News & Observer,
"State must pay rape victim's medical bills."]
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