Pair of Housing Clients Served by Crowell Associates
The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down many aspects of daily life, including CVLS’ neighborhood clinics. But since the beginning of 2022, Kathy Koester and our clinic chairs have been working to restore access to justice for low-income clients in their communities. Our Community Law Clinic at Legal Prep Charter Academy has been particularly diligent.
The Legal Prep Clinic is a partnership with the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) and meets on the first Tuesday of every month. Earlier this year, a pair of clients – both with housing issues – were recently helped by its volunteers.
Irene met with Crowell & Moring attorney, Dalton Hughes, regarding a dispute with her mother’s condo association over repairs to her garage door. Irene’s mother receives hospice care and relies on a home aide for help with daily living. As the home aide was driving out of the garage, the garage door closed on the car, causing damage to the vehicle and to the door. The condo association later sent Irene’s mother an invoice for damage to the door, which neither Irene nor her mother could pay.
Dalton stepped in on behalf of Irene and successfully negotiated with the condo association. He was able to show that the garage door’s sensors should have prevented the door from closing on the car. Irene and her mother were absolved of any responsibility, and all repair fees have been paid.
Around the same time Irene met with Dalton, Tammy was interviewed by another Crowell volunteer named Wei Hsu. Tammy was having trouble getting her security deposit back at the end of her housing lease. Her landlord had improperly withheld a portion of her security deposit after alleging that she damaged the entrance to her unit.
Wei took on Tammy as a client and drafted a demand letter to the landlord’s registered agent. After grabbing the attention of the landlord, Wei worked out a return of the rest of Tammy’s security deposit. Both clients now have their legal issues behind them thanks to Dalton and Wei!
