Author: pricelessmisc

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Fair Housing

Money will help make homes more accessible for low-income people with disabilities in four states​

RALEIGH, September 26, 2016 – Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) announced today that it has settled housing discrimination complaints against the architects, builders and owners of the SkyHouse apartment buildings in Raleigh, Charlotte, and eight cities in other states. The complaints, which were filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alleged that the balconies in the buildings were in violation of the Fair Housing Act because the sliding door thresholds were too high, making them inaccessible for people with disabilities. The respondents in the cases denied that the buildings were inaccessible or in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

As a result of the conciliation agreement​ signed by the parties and approved by HUD on Sept. 13, the respondents will provide $1.8 million to help fund accessibility modifications for low-income individuals in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas, where SkyHouse properties with similar features are located. The fund will be managed by the R.L. Mace Universal Design Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the concept and practice of accessible and universal design.

In addition, to make units more accessible, the owners of the buildings will offer ramps and decking for the balconies, and make other accessibility modifications upon request from residents with disabilities. The respondents will further pay $50,000 for Legal Aid’s damages and attorneys’ fees.

George Hausen, executive director of Legal Aid of North Carolina, praised the respondents for working to achieve a positive resolution of the cases, stating, “We appreciate the effort that the respondents made to address the issues raised in our complaints. The modification fund will help hundreds of low-income people with disabilities remain in their homes by making them more accessible.”

Jeffrey Dillman, co-director of the Fair Housing Project​, noted that the accessibility provisions of the Fair Housing Act are of great importance to people with disabilities, stating, “Accessible housing is an essential means of ensuring that people with disabilities are able to fully participate in the community. Designers and builders must ensure that housing meets these modest federal accessibility requirements, in addition to state and local codes.”

The cases, Legal Aid of North Carolina v. SkyHouse Raleigh, LLC, et al., and Legal Aid of North Carolina v. SkyHouse Charlotte, LLC, et al., were filed with HUD in December 2015. The cases arose from accessibility testing performed by Legal Aid’s Fair Housing Project, which uncovered the alleged violations.

The Fair Housing Act requires all multi-family housing built since 1991 to include certain accessibility features in common areas and individual units to allow people with disabilities to use and enjoy the property.

There are 17 SkyHouse buildings currently completed or under construction. Eleven of them have the high door thresholds that are subject to the agreement. The respondents are SkyHouse Raleigh, LLC; SkyHouse Charlotte, LLC; SkyHouse Charlotte II, LLC; Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, Inc., in Atlanta; Batson-Cook Company in West Point, Ga.; Novare Group Holdings, LLC, in Atlanta; Beacon Partners, Inc., in Charlotte; and NGI Investments, LLC, in Atlanta.

Legal Aid was represented in this case by Michael Allen, an attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based civil rights firm Relman, Dane and Colfax, PLLC. Legal Aid of North Carolina’s involvement in this litigation was made possible in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program.

Individuals may obtain information about the accessibility fund by contacting the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina at (855) 797-3247.

# # #

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Legal Aid’s Fair Housing Project works to eliminate housing discrimination and to ensure equal housing opportunity for all people through education, outreach, public policy initiatives, advocacy and enforcement.

Media Contacts
George Hausen, Executive Director, Legal Aid of N.C., 919-856-2130, GeorgeH@legalaidnc.org
Jeffrey Dillman, Co-Director, Fair Housing Project, 919-861-1884, JeffD@legalaidnc.org
Sean Driscoll, Director of Public Relations, Legal Aid of N.C., 919-856-2132, SeanD@legalaidnc.org

Author: pricelessmisc

CHARLOTTE, July 13, 2015 – The North Carolina State Bar has selected Theodore O. “Ted” Fillette, a leading advocate for the housing rights of poor North Carolinians and a leader of Charlotte’s civil legal aid community for more than 40 years, to receive its prestigious John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award, which honors exemplary service to North Carolina’s legal profession.

​Bar President Ronald L. Gibson, an attorney with the Charlotte-area law firm of Ruff, Bond, Cobb, Wade & Bethune, L.L.P., will present the award to Fillette on Friday at a Bar meeting in Charlotte.

Since 1973, Ted Fillette has been a practicing civil legal aid lawyer in North Carolina. For all but one of those years, he has worked in Charlotte, providing free legal representation to low-income people confronting serious civil – i.e. non-criminal – legal problems. Over his career, Fillette has established himself as one of the state’s leading practitioners and fiercest advocates for the housing rights of the poor.

Ted has represented innumerable individual clients, served as counsel or co-counsel on precedent-setting cases in the state’s highest courts and federal court, and fought in the policy arena to establish more just and equitable housing laws for all North Carolinians.

In his letter to the Bar supporting Fillette’s nomination for the award, Henry E. Frye, North Carolina’s first African-American supreme court chief justice, wrote of how he relied heavily on Fillette’s expertise while attempting to reform the state’s landlord-tenant laws as a member of the General Assembly in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

“Ted Fillette was the most dedicated and reliable resource for me during those years,” Frye wrote. “I could rely upon him for, not only the accurate state of the current law, but also for information as to how the law operated in practice.”

At the time, landlord-tenant laws were based on English common law and tenants had few rights. Landlords were not required to provide safe, habitable premises, and tenants were obligated to pay rent regardless of the property’s condition. There was no grace period for evicted tenants. They could be locked out and have all their possessions left outside with little notice.

When Frye failed to reform the state’s landlord-tenant law wholesale, Fillette convinced him to change the law piecemeal. “We were successful in doing so, and a lot of the credit was due to the hard work of Ted,” Frye wrote. “His efforts to improve the law in North Carolina are worthy of national recognition!”

Fillette, a native of Mobile, Alabama, earned his bachelor’s from Duke University in 1968 and then served in the Volunteers in Service to America program in Boston until 1970, when he started law school at Boston University. In 1973, after earning his juris doctorate, he came to Charlotte to start his career as a civil legal aid lawyer.

That year, he joined the Legal Aid Society of Mecklenburg County as a staff attorney, a position he held until 1981, when he moved to New Bern to serve a one-year stint as litigation director at Pamlico Sound Legal Services. He returned to Charlotte in 1982 to work for Legal Services of Southern Piedmont as litigation director and deputy director, positions he held for the next 20 years.

In 2002, Legal Aid of North Carolina was founded when independent legal aid offices around the state joined forces to form a unified organization with a statewide mandate. Fillette joined the new organization as its assistant director and senior managing attorney of its Charlotte office, a position he holds to this day.

“Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of low-income North Carolinians, who may never have met Ted, nevertheless owe him a debt of gratitude for his decades of dedicated advocacy,” said George Hausen, executive director of Legal Aid of North Carolina.

“Largely as a result of Ted’s tireless efforts over more than 40 years, North Carolina landlord-tenant law has been dragged – often kicking and screaming – out of the dark ages and into the modern era,” Hausen said. “There is still work to be done, but Ted is largely responsible for getting us this far.”

Fillette lives in Charlotte with his wife and has two children.

Learn more about the North Carolina State Bar’s John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award.

# # #

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and remove legal barriers to economic opportunity.

Media Contact: Sean Driscoll, Director of Public Relations, 919-856-2132

Author: pricelessmisc

RALEIGH, February 22, 2017 – Legal Aid of North Carolina congratulates all of our supporters who were included in the Thomson Reuters list of 2017 North Carolina Super Lawyers. Below is a list of this year’s Super Lawyers who have generously donated their time, talents and treasure to Legal Aid over the years. Current and former board members are in blue.

Additon, Higgins, Pendleton & Ashe, P.A.
John Higgins

Alan Gordon Immigration Law
Alan S. Gordon

Alexander Ricks PLLC
Daniel A. Merlin

Allen & Pinnix, P.A.
John L. Pinnix

Alston & Bird, LLP
Chad Andrew Fights; Ben Huber; Mark Calloway; H. Bryan Ives; Richard M. McDermott

Aziz Law Firm, P.A.
Cynthia A. Aziz

Barron & Berry LLP
Vance Barron, Jr.

Bell, Davis & Pitt, P.A.
William K. Davis; Robin Stinson

Black, Slaughter & Black, PA
Barbara Rand Morgenstern

Block, Crouch, Keeter, Behm & Sayed, LLP
Christopher Behm; Lee CrouchFormer LANC board member; Linda B. Sayed

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
Christopher Lam

Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard LLP
Kearns Davis; M. Daniel McGinn; John W. Ormand, III; Mark J. Prak; Ed Winslow

Brown & Bunch, PLLC
Charles Gordon Brown

Butler & Butler L.L.P.
Algernon L. Butler, III

Caudle & Spears, PA
Alex Correll

Cauley Forsythe Law Group
Jordan Grace Forsythe

Colombo, Kitchin, Dunn, Ball & Porter, LLP
Michael Colombo

Copeley Johnson & Groninger PLLC

Leto CopeleyFormer LANC Board Member; Ann Groninger

Craige Jenkins Liipfert & Walker LLP
Gordon W. Jenkins

Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog LLP
Richard T. Boyette

Culp Elliott & Carpenter, P.L.L.C.
W. Curtis Elliott

Daggett Shuler, Attorneys At Law
David DaggettFormer LANC Board Member

Donald H. Beskind, P.A.
Donald Beskind

Ellis & Winters LLP
Stephen D. Feldman; Dixie Wells

Essex Richards P.A.
Robert S. Blair; Jonathan Buchan; Edward ‘Woody’ G. Connette; Heather Culp; John T. Daniel; Marc E. Gustafson; Lauren Lewis

Fialko Law PLLC
Christopher Fialko

Foster Royal, P.A.
Debra FosterFormer LANC Board Member

Garfinkel Immigration Law Firm
Steven Garfinkel

Glenn, Mills, Fisher & Mahoney, P.A.
Carlos E. Mahoney

Graebe, Hanna & Sullivan, PLLC
Chris Graebe

Hamilton Stephens Steele & Martin, PLLC
Tracy James; David Hamilton; Bentford Martin; Mark D. N. Riopel

Harris Creech Ward & Blackerby, P.A.
Bonnie J. Refinski-Knight

Hatcher Law Group, P.C.
J. Gregory Hatcher

Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo, L.L.P.
Mel Garofalo; Patricia Shields

Higgins & Owens, PLLC
Sara Higgins

Horack, Talley, Pharr & Lowndes, P.A.
Robert McNeill; Tate K. Sterrett

Hunton & Williams LLP
A. Todd Brown; Michael Nedzbala; Ryan G. Rich; Melissa Romanzo

Jackson Lewis P.C.
Patricia Holland

James, McElroy & Diehl, P.A.
Gary S. Hemric; Edward  Hinson; Katherine S. Holliday; David M Kern; Preston O. Odom

Johnston, Allison & Hord, P.A.
James W. Allison; Robert Burchette; Jonathan T. Coffin; Ray Farris; William Isenhour; Patrick E. Kelly; Holly Norvell; J. Darrell Shealy

K & L Gates
Christine Hoke; Sean Jones; Eugene Pridgen

Katten Muchin Rosenman, LLP
Rebecca K. Lindahl

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Alton Luther Absher, III; Jennifer Giordano-Coltart; Michael Thomas Morlock; Elizabeth L. Winters

Kirk, Palmer and Thigpen, P.A.
William Kirk

Lincoln Derr PLLC
Beth Stanfield

Lindley Law PLLC
Trey Lindley

Littler Mendelson, P.C.
Jerry  Walters

Lynch & Eatman, L.L.P.
Maria M. Lynch

Manning, Fulton & Skinner, PA
John McMillan; Michael T. Medford; Natalie M. Rice

Maynard & Harris Attorneys at Law, PLLC
Celeste HarrisFormer LANC Board Member

McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC
John Jeffries

McGuireWoods LLP
Andrea C. Chomakos; Kenneth D. Bell; Jean Gordon Carter; Peter Covington; Katherine Cumbus; Joshua D. Davey; Douglas W. Ey; Rakesh Gopalan; Joshua Green; Adam J. Greene; J. Trevor Johnston; Bradley Kutrow; E. Lynwood Mallard; John G. McDonald; Matthew James Morrison; Matthew Emile Orso; Robert H. Pryor; L.D. Simmons; Bruce M. Steen; Scott Vaughn; Barton C. Walker; Monica WebbCurrent LANC Board Member

McPherson Rocamora & Nicholson, PLLC
Larry H. Rocamora

Milazzo Schaffer Webb Law, PLLC
Steve Horowitz

Moore & Van Allen PLLC
Alton Larry Gwaltney; Stephen Hope; Mark R. A. Horn; Anthony Lathrop; M. Cabell Clay; Neill McBryde Sr.; Russell F. Sizemore

Morningstar Law Group
J. Christopher Jackson

Nexsen Pruet, PLLC
John MabeFormer LANC Board Member

Northen Blue, LLP
John Northen

Pantazis Law Firm
Annemarie Pantazis

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP
Catharine ArrowoodFormer LANC Board Member; Daniel Clodfelter; William L. Esser, IV; Josephine H. Hicks; William George Pappas; William F. Potts; Stacy Wood

Parry Tyndall White
K. Alan ParryFormer LANC Board Member

Patterson Harkavy LLP
Burton CraigeFormer LANC Board Member

Poyner Spruill LLP
E. Fitzgerald Parnell; Cynthia L. Van Horne; Sarah L. DiFranco; David Dreifus; Cecil W. Harrison, Jr.; David W. Long; Jerry Parnell

Rayburn, Cooper & Durham, P.A.
W. Scott Cooper; John R. Miller; C. Richard Rayburn

Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A.
Robert Harrington; Buddy Wester; Ashley Durbin; Carl S Beattie; Martin L. Brackett; Peter C. Buck; Stokely G. Caldwell; Garland Cassada; Cary B. Davis; John Garver; Julie Zydron Griggs; Robert Harrington; Edward Hennessey; Thomas Holderness; Graham D. Holding; Jennifer C. Hutchens; Douglas Jarrell; Charles E. Johnson; Jonathan C. Krisko; Stephen M. Lynch; A. Ward McKeithen; Jane Ratteree; Allen Robertson; D. Blaine Sanders; David Schilli; Caroline Sink; William Toole; Brent Torstrick; Angelique R. Vincent-Hamacher; David C. III Wright; Jason L. Wright; Julian Wright

Sarah J. Kromer PLLC
Sarah Kromer

Schwartz Law Firm, P.C.
Jeffrey J. Schwartz

Scudder & Hedrick, PLLC
Samuel A. Scudder

Shanklin & Nichols, LLP
Kenneth A. Shanklin

Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP
Lisa W. Arthur; Carrie Arthur Hanger; Maureen Demarest Murray; Whit Pierce; Patti W. Ramseur; D. Clark Smith, Jr.; M. Gray Styers, Jr.

Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, L.L.P.
Martin H. Brinkley; James K. Dorsett, IIIFormer LANC Board Member; Rosemary G. Kenyon; Isaac Augustin Linnartz; Peter Marino; Carl N. Patterson, Jr.

Tharrington Smith, LLP
Jill Jackson; Wade Smith

The Armstrong Law Firm, P.A.
Marcia H. Armstrong

Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, PLLC
John Gresham; Stephen Luke Largess; Jacob Sussman; Noell P. Tin

Troutman Sanders LLP
Walter D. Fisher; Kiran  Mehta; Anup M. Shah; Paul  Steffens

Turning Point Litigation
Alan DuncanFormer LANC Board Member; Alan W. Duncan; Stephen McDaniel Russell, Jr.

Vitale Family Law
Lorion Macrae Vitale

Ward and Smith, P.A.
Gary Rickner

Ward Black Law
Janet Ward BlackFormer LANC Board Member

Webb & Coyle, P.L.L.C.
W.Y. Alex Webb

Williams Mullen
M. Keith Kapp; Chuck Neely; Elizabeth Davenport Scott

Winston & Strawn LLP
John H. Cobb

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP
Mary Craven Adams; William F. Womble, Jr.; Sean F. Perrin; Cal AdamsCurrent LANC Board Member

Yates, McLamb & Weyher, L.L.P.
Dan McLamb; Barbara Weyher

Author: pricelessmisc

CHARLOTTE · March 22, 2019 – The Litigation Section of the North Carolina Bar Association has honored Ted Fillette, a career-long civil legal aid lawyer and champion of housing rights for the poor, as the 11th recipient of the section’s prestigious Advocate’s Award, which recognizes “superstars” of the legal profession. Ted received his award Feb. 13 at an event in Charlotte.

Ted retired as the head of our Charlotte office in March 2018, finishing out a 45-year career as a civil legal aid lawyer in North Carolina. For all but one of those years, Ted worked in Charlotte, becoming a leader of the city’s legal aid community and one of the state’s foremost housing-rights advocates.

“For over 40 years, Ted Fillette has been a zealous and tireless advocate for the poor and vulnerable in North Carolina,” George Hausen, executive director of Legal Aid of North Carolina, told North Carolina Lawyer in 2018. “It is impossible to overstate his impact: Tens of thousands of families, those facing eviction and homelessness or living in unhealthy substandard and dangerous conditions, have benefitted directly and indirectly from his work.

“Over his extraordinary career, his legal work, both as a litigator and as a policy maker, have literally shaped housing law in our state as well as nationally. His advocacy and leadership have helped to create the legislative and common law protections that we now use to preserve decent, affordable housing for low-income North Carolinians.”

Learn more

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Healthcare Access

NC Navigators are here to help! Call 1-855-733-3711 (toll-free) or visit ncnavigator.net to schedule a free appointment or find a free enrollment event

FAST FACTS
Only ten days left!
December 15 is the last day to enroll in coverage for 2019.

Call or click for free in-person help!
Toll-free: 1-855-733-3711
Online: ncnavigator.net

Find a free enrollment event!
Call 1-855-733-3711 or visit ncnavigator.net for a schedule of free enrollment events from now until Dec. 15.

Don’t miss the deadline!
After Dec. 15, you can only enroll in 2019 coverage if you qualify for a Special Enrollment period. Learn more on HealthCare.gov.

Financial assistance is available!
Nine in 10 North Carolinians enrolled in a HealthCare.gov plan receive financial assistance. Navigators can help consumers determine eligibility for financial assistance.

RALEIGH · Dec. 5, 2018 – December 15 is the last day for North Carolinians to enroll in affordable, comprehensive health coverage for 2019 on HealthCare.gov, the Health Insurance Marketplace established by the federal Affordable Care Act.

North Carolinians who have questions or want help enrolling or re-enrolling in 2019 coverage can call 1-855-733-3711 (toll-free) or visit ncnavigator.net to schedule a free, in-person appointment with an NC Navigator near them, or to find a free enrollment event in their area.

“We have a lot planned for these last 10 days,” Mark Van Arnam, co-director of the NC Navigator Consortium, said.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for consumers to get help. Call us, visit our website, come to one of our events. We are here to help. Time may be running out, but it’s definitely not too late to enroll,” Van Arnam said.

The NC Navigator Consortium, the state’s only navigator organization, is holding nearly 30 enrollment events across the state between now and the end of this year’s open-enrollment period, including multiple events on Saturday, Dec. 8, and Saturday, Dec. 15.

NC Navigators will be available at the enrollment events to hold free, confidential, one-on-one meetings with consumers. The enrollment events are completely free and open to the public. No appointment or prior registration is required.

NC Navigators are trained to help consumers enroll in coverage on HealthCare.gov. They can help consumers understand the details of the plans available on HealthCare.gov, complete the enrollment process and determine their eligibility for financial assistance. Last year, nine in 10 North Carolinians who enrolled in coverage on HealthCare.gov received financial assistance.

After December 15, North Carolinians can only enroll in 2019 coverage on HealthCare.gov if they qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. Consumers can qualify for a Special Enrollment Period if they experience certain life changes, like getting married or divorced, having a baby or adopting a child, moving, or losing health coverage. Learn more on HealthCare.gov.

NC Navigators are available throughout the year and can help consumers determine if they qualify for a Special Enrollment Period.

North Carolinians who are already enrolled in a HealthCare.gov plan should log into the website to make sure their information is up to date. There are new plans available that might better fit their needs and budget.

# # #

Media Contacts
Mark Van Arnam, Co-Director, NC Navigator Consortium, 704-785-0839, MarkV@legalaidnc.org
Sean Driscoll, Director of Public Relations, Legal Aid NC, 919-856-2132, seand@legalaidnc.org

The NC Navigator Consortium is a group of seven health care, social service and legal aid organizations that helps North Carolina consumers enroll in affordable, comprehensive health insurance plans on HealthCare.gov, the Health Insurance Marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act. Members of the consortium are Access East, Capital Care Collaborative, Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, Council on Aging of Buncombe County, Cumberland HealthNet, HealthNet Gaston, and Legal Aid of North Carolina, which leads the consortium. Learn more at ncnavigator.net.

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide nonprofit law firm that provides free civil legal help to low-income and vulnerable North Carolinians. Learn more at legalaidnc.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Housing

​Legal Aid clients threatened with eviction after appearing in exposé about skyrocketing rents in mobile home parks owned by Time Out Communities

IN THE NEWS
Media coverage of the eviction crisis caused by Time Out Communities

Precarious spot for mobile home owners as investors swoop in
Associated Press – September 15, 2019

The Unexpected Cost of Hurricane Florence for Some in N.C.
The Weather Channel – July 31, 2019

Residents slapped with eviction notices after AP story
Associated Press – July 11, 2019

Mobile home residents hit with soaring rent after hurricanes
Associated Press – July 9, 2019

After Matthew And Florence, A Mobile Park Ownership Company Is Hiking Rents And Issuing Evictions
WUNC – May 6, 2019

Residents Upset After Lot Fees Double
Spectrum News – April 16, 2019

Trailer park residents plead for help
The Robesonian – April 15, 2019

Law firm offering help to improperly evicted tenants
The Robesonian – March 27, 2019

Mobile home park buyouts, chicken farms concern commissioners
The Robesonian – November 5, 2018

Update, Sept. 16, 2019: The Associated Press quoted Legal Aid NC attorney Nicole Mueller in a September 15 article about investors buying up mobile home parks around the country. Read the article.

Update, Aug. 1, 2019: One of our clients featured in the Associated Press articles discussed below appeared on The Weather Channel’s Weather Underground program July 31 to describe her struggle with Time Out Communities. Watch the segment.

LUMBERTON • July 18, 2019—Minutes before the Robeson County Courthouse closed on July 9, a representative from Time Out Communities, a Florida company that owns more than 20 mobile home parks in Robeson County, filed eviction proceedings against two of its tenants.

While evictions of tenants living in Time Out parks are nothing new—in fact, they are increasingly common—the timing of these two evictions is notable.

Only hours earlier, the Associated Press had published an article about skyrocketing rents in Time Out parks—an article in which both tenants were prominently featured.

“I interpret it as just way too coincidental that they would be doing that,” Nicole Mueller, our attorney who represents the two tenants, told the Associated Press for its follow-up article on July 11. “To me it seems retaliatory that they were giving these clients more time to pay or to figure out other situations … until they saw this news story.”

Our two clients, James Lesane and Shirley Pittman, are longtime residents of parks owned by Time Out Communities. Both are elderly and survive entirely on disability benefits. Neither can afford the $465 a month that Time Out is now charging for lot rent, which covers only the plots of land on which their mobile homes sit.

For Lesane, the new lot rent is more than triple the $150 a month he used to pay. The increase is only slightly less steep for Pittman, who previously paid $210 a month. After the new rents took effect, both continued to pay their old rents—all they could afford—while looking for new places to live.

The arrangement seemed to be working—Time Out allowed both tenants to remain in their homes—until the Associated Press article came out.

The company claims that the eyebrow-raising timing of the eviction filings was indeed a coincidence. Time Out told the Associated Press that it had “begun working on the paperwork for both eviction notices prior to the article’s publication” and that “many other eviction notices were filed on the same day.”

Whatever the company’s motivations, the end result for Lesane and Pittman is the same grim reality: the real possibility of impending homelessness. For now, the tenants are in an anxious holding pattern while they await their July 24 eviction hearings in small claims court.

Thankfully, they will not be alone. By their side that day will be Nicole Mueller, their Legal Aid lawyer. Mueller is an attorney with our Disaster Relief Project. She and two of her fellow disaster-relief lawyers, Katashia Cooper and Emma Smiley, joined by colleagues in our Pembroke office, have handled about 100 Time Out cases since last spring. The NC Justice Center is also representing Time Out tenants.

There are plenty of cases to go around. Mass evictions of Time Out tenants have become routine, as the company has bought up nearly two dozen parks in the county over the last few years, subjecting an increasing number of tenants to its remorseless business model.

According to its website, Time Out now owns 21 mobile home parks in Robeson County, 19 of which are in Lumberton and one each of which are in Fairmont and Shannon. Relying on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Associated Press reports that Time Out’s properties contain 1,200 mobile home lots.

Attracted by the lowered property values caused by Hurricane Matthew, the company swooped into the area in 2017 and began buying up properties by the bushel, only to jack up the lot rents to an unaffordable level for the existing tenants, resulting in an eviction crisis.

Possibly due to the breakneck pace at which Time Out is filing them, not all of the company’s evictions are legal.

“That’s where we come in,” wrote Candace Harke, managing attorney of our Pembroke office, in an op-ed in The Robesonian from March.

“Companies have the right to profit, but they absolutely do not have the right to break the law,” she wrote.

From Harke’s op-ed:

In several cases, a court has ruled that tenants did not receive proper notice of lease termination — a step that landlords must take before initiating eviction proceedings — and did not receive that notice within the timeframe required by state law.

Tenants are also facing habitability issues — paying inflated rents for homes that are run-down and in need of repair, dangerously so in some cases — and are being offered complex rent-to-own contracts with unclear terms that many residents do not understand.

Tenants who are facing eviction or have other housing problems can apply for our help by calling our statewide toll-free Helpline at 1-866-219-LANC (5262) or by submitting an online application.

Author: pricelessmisc

WILMINGTON · June 22, 2018 – The North Carolina Bar Association’s Minorities in the Profession Committee honored Victor J. Boone, a career-long legal aid lawyer in Wake County, at the Legal Legends of Color awards ceremony June 22 in Wilmington.

“I can’t tell you how humbling this is,” Victor said while accepting the award. “To be honored by your peers is truly a humbling experience and one that I certainly appreciate. I know that a lot of thought was given to whom you should recognize, and I know very well that there are others who are just as deserving, if not more so. It is with a great deal of humility that I accept this award.”

Victor has been a legal aid lawyer for his entire 43-year legal career. He started as a staff attorney at the Wake County Legal Aid Society in 1975, the same year he earned his J.D. from N.C. Central University School of Law.

Over the next few decades, Victor remained at the Legal Aid Society as it expanded to serve additional counties and became East Central Community Legal Services. He eventually became executive director of the organization, which later became Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Raleigh field office.

Since then, Victor has led our Raleigh office as its senior managing attorney, and served as regional manager of our Triangle region, which includes the Durham, Pittsboro and Raleigh offices.

Over his more than four decades of service, Victor has earned a reputation in the legal community as a peerless champion for the rights of the poor and oppressed, a selfless mentor to his colleagues, and a gentleman to all he encounters.

In 2014, the Wake County Bar Association recognized Victor for these qualities by awarding him its Joseph Branch Professionalism Award (pg. 3), which honors community, integrity, civility and diversity.

“In addition to being a tireless advocate, Victor has shown wise, steady, calm and capable leadership as an administrator, mentor and friend,” James Dorsett III, a partner at Smith Anderson, wrote in his nomination letter to the Wake County Bar. “Victor, by his integrity and professionalism has demonstrated how to get along well with others, including adversaries, while advocating passionately for his cause,” Dorsett added.

Victor’s dedication to service and leadership is as evident in his personal life as it is in his professional one. His extracurricular service to the legal profession and the broader community has included serving as a vice-president and board member of the Food Bank of North Carolina, chairing or sitting on various state and local bar committees, participating in the Adult Role Model Program, serving as an N.C. State Bar councilor from the 10th Judicial District, and teaching professional responsibility to students as an adjunct at NCCU Law.

Victor lives in Garner with his wife, Rhonda Raney. He is a native of Garysburg in Northampton County.

Author: pricelessmisc

RALEIGH, December 11, 2017 – The Wake County Bar Association presented an eye-popping $106,746 gift to Legal Aid of North Carolina during the Tenth Judicial District’s Annual Meeting on Dec. 5. Proceeds were raised during the tenth annual Wake Bar Awards fundraiser and variety show Nov. 2 in Raleigh through sponsorships, a silent auction, private contributions and remaining funds from the October retirement party for Judge Donald W. Stephens of the Wake County Superior Court. This year’s haul is not only the largest in the event’s history – it broke last year’s record by over $17,000 – it’s the largest amount brought in by any fundraiser for Legal Aid in recent memory.

“Wow,” said Victor Boone, managing attorney of our Raleigh office. “We have never been more grateful for the support of the Wake County Bar Association. Its members are uniquely committed to supporting our mission and are incredibly generous with their time and resources. We thank them and, especially, all of the individuals involved in the fundraising effort and Bar Awards program for making both undertakings such a success. They make a tremendous difference in helping us meet the vast legal issues that confront our client community.”

“Lawyers of the Wake County Bar Association and the Tenth Judicial District bar are committed to the idea that all people, regardless of income, are entitled to access to justice in our courts,” said Ashley Campbell, President of the Wake County Bar Association and Tenth Judicial District Bar. “We are proud to make this gift to Legal Aid of North Carolina to honor this commitment and to support our community.”

The Wake Bar Awards are unique, not only for the support they inspire for Legal Aid, but for the raucous entertainment they provide. This is no staid cocktail hour or “rubber chicken” dinner. Rather, it’s a no-holds-barred variety show where lawyers let their hair down to rock out, act out, let loose and laugh out loud. This year’s superhero-themed event, “Rogue Justice,” featured musical numbers, presentation of the Golden Limine awards, a silent auction and plenty of legal luminaries decked out in wild costumes.

“At times like these, we need big laughs as much as we need big checks,” George Hausen, executive director of Legal Aid, said. “With potential federal funding cuts on the horizon, support from the private bar – and the chance to have fun with our colleagues – are as important as ever. On behalf of everyone at Legal Aid, I want to thank the Wake County Bar Association and all its members for supporting equal justice and for having fun while they do it. Cheers!”

In Washington, funding for the Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal aid programs in the country, is in a precarious position. The White House seeks to eliminate LSC in its budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, a move that would result in the loss of about half of our funding. The outlook is better in Congress, though House appropriators are seeking an $85 million cut for LSC, which would mean millions of dollars lost for us. Senate appropriators, on the other hand, are seeking level funding for LSC.

If you want to help give equal access to justice to North Carolinians in need, visit our Give Help page to learn about the different ways you can support us.

Author: pricelessmisc

RALEIGH · Sept. 26, 2017 – Legal Aid of North Carolina will join the Wake County Bar Association to honor local attorneys for their public service at the first-ever joint Pro Bono Appreciation Event on Wednesday in Raleigh. The event will honor Wake County lawyers who provided pro bono legal services over the past 12 months or performed other forms of public service as government attorneys. The event will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Sitti restaurant, 137 S. Wilmington St.

“As lawyers, service is our true calling,” said Ashleigh Parker Dunston, an assistant attorney general in the N.C. Department of Justice, who chairs the bar association’s Public Service Committee. “In Wake County, we are lucky to have so many attorneys who are dedicated to answering that call so generously. We’re excited to thank them for their service, and hope to inspire more to follow their lead. We want to make this an annual event.”

Stephanie D’Atri, an attorney with Hatch, Little & Bunn, L.L.P., in Raleigh, is the vice-chair of the bar association’s Public Service Committee and a former Legal Aid lawyer. “Performing pro bono legal services and public interest work for underprivileged members of our community is our social obligation, our professional responsibility, and, simply, the right thing to do,” D’Atri said. “Intrinsic value may alone guide a lawyer’s desire to perform this critical work, but we hope that taking a moment to recognize and honor lawyers who remain committed to these ideals will add value to what they do and encourage others to follow.”

As one of the main beneficiaries of the generosity of Wake County lawyers, Legal Aid of North Carolina is privileged to join the bar to celebrate its members’ invaluable service. By participating in Legal Aid’s many pro bono programs, Wake County attorneys make a real difference in the lives of our clients.

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2016, 283 pro bono attorneys performed 2,377 hours of pro bono service for Legal Aid clients. The value of this service transcends dollars and cents, but the monetary value is impressive nonetheless: Those 2,377 hours are worth roughly $600,000 on private market, and they provided $1,100,000 in tangible, quantifiable monetary benefit to our clients. That value came in the form of everything from home equity saved from illegal foreclosure to Medicare benefits saved from wrongful termination.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance of pro bono service to us,” said Victor Boone, managing attorney of Legal Aid’s Raleigh office. “The need for our help is so great, and we will never have all the resources necessary to meet that need. The generous contributions of time and talent from attorneys in Wake County help us serve thousands more clients in need than we would otherwise. Our pro bono volunteers are critical partners in our efforts to provide equal justice for all.”

Wake County lawyers supplement their service to Legal Aid clients by giving generously during the annual Wake Bar Awards, a fundraiser-slash-variety-show that lets lawyers cut loose while raising tens of thousands of dollars for our organization. Tickets are still available for this year’s event, “Rogue Justice,” which will be held Nov. 2 at the N.C. Museum of History.

Supporting Legal Aid is only one way that Wake County attorneys give back to their community. The bar association holds a variety of public service events throughout the year. Notable ones include:

  • Annual Day of Service. Every year, Wake County lawyers take over a nonprofit for a day to provide free legal help, childcare and lunch to those in need. This year’s event will take place on Oct. 7 at the Raleigh Rescue Mission, a shelter and provider of other services to Raleigh’s homeless population.
  • Lunch with a Lawyer. Launched 23 years ago by Raleigh attorney Paul Suhr, Lunch with a Lawyer is the Wake County Bar’s longest-running public service project. The project is a partnership with the City of Raleigh’s Summer Youth Employment project that connects lawyers with Wake County students who want to learn more about becoming an attorney.
  • Lawyers Read. The Lawyers Read program gives the gift of literacy to struggling elementary school students in Wake County schools. Lawyers visit a school once a week to read with first and second graders who would benefit from extra one-on-one time with a caring mentor.
  • Annual Clothing Drive. A partnership with Note in the Pocket, a Raleigh nonprofit that provides clothing to poor children in Wake County, this annual effort collects closets full of clothes for children in need, and puts lawyers to work sorting and delivering them for the organization.

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Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Learn more at LegalAidNC.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The Wake County Bar Association is a voluntary organization for legal professionals whose mission is to enhance members’ opportunities and well-being through professional, educational and social activities, as well as serve the public. Learn more at WakeCountyBar.org.

Media Contacts

  • Sean Driscoll, Director of Public Relations, Legal Aid of North Carolina, 919-856-2132, seand@legalaidnc.org
  • Ashleigh Parker Dunston, Public Service Committee Chair, Wake County Bar Association, 919-716-6438​

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Education

RALEIGH · July 25, 2018 – Attorneys with Advocates for Children’s Services, a project of Legal Aid of North Carolina, yesterday filed the latest in a series of formal complaints with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction alleging that the Wake County Public School System  still routinely violates the rights of its students who have mental health disabilities. The complaint identifies seven students whose rights have been grossly violated by the school system. However, these seven – by illustrating the system’s patterns and practices – represent hundreds of others treated the same way.

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires the school system to educate all students with disabilities – including students with mental health disabilities – in an appropriate manner and in the least restrictive environment.

The system routinely violates these legal requirements by:

  • Suspending students without holding required manifestation determination reviews: a meeting of the student’s special education team to determine if the student’s behavior is related to their disability, in which case the school is legally prohibited from suspending the student;
  • Failing to provide educational services to suspended students with disabilities beginning on the 11th cumulative day of suspension;
  • Failing to provide transportation to alternative placements across the county, leaving students with mental health disabilities stranded at home receiving no instruction at all; and
  • Relying on overly restrictive placements for students with mental health disabilities instead of using counseling, social work, or other supports in schools, and instead of using appropriate, research-based behavior assessments and interventions.

Other rights violations include holding Individualized Education Program team meetings without the student’s teachers present, failing to update the IEPs of students in discipline-related alternative placements, and failing to appropriately monitor the progress of students in alternative placements.

These violations have led to – and will continue to lead to – dire educational consequences for students with mental health disabilities, if not fixed on the systemic level. Consequences faced by students in the complaint include: grade repetition, academic failure, over 40 days missed to suspension, placement in restrictive alternative programs, being required to receive all instruction at home, and drop out.

As one complainant parent stated, “I don’t think they did my son properly. My child wasn’t getting the education he needed, fell behind when WCPSS didn’t provide transportation for weeks to an alternative program, and thought he had no choice but to drop out. For him, school was hard enough. Wake County Schools didn’t need to make it harder.”

The school system often responds to these violations by offering compensatory tutoring services. However, Cari Carson, a Skadden Fellow attorney with Advocates for Children’s Services, says that “valuable, compensatory services are often hard for a family to access. The tutoring may only occur during the parent’s work day, or may be offered only after a student has already failed a semester. Frequently, the school system doesn’t offer the compensatory tutoring until the student’s family involves a lawyer of their own. What happens to all of those families who don’t have a lawyer? Moreover, individual compensatory services do nothing to remedy the widespread violations affecting the many students with mental health disabilities who are being denied an appropriate education. This is a systemic problem that will only be solved with a systemic solution.”

This is Advocates for Children’s Services’ fourth complaint since 2009 alleging that the Wake County school system systemically violates the rights of students with mental health disabilities. The Department of Public Instruction has found the Wake County Public School System to be out of compliance with the law multiple times as a result of these complaints. However, the school system continues to deny appropriate educational services to many students with mental health disabilities.

“It’s time to turn the tide for students with mental health disabilities in Wake County schools,” Carson said.

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About

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Legal Aid’s Advocates for Children’s Services project seeks to end North Carolina’s school-to-prison pipeline by defending the rights of low-income children in public schools.

Media Contacts

Sean Driscoll, Director of Public Relations, 919-856-2132, seand@legalaidnc.org