Florida Civil Legal UPDATE

Just got this from Donna Graf and had to share.  Everyone in Orlando is going Magic-crazy.  Including the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association, Inc.

From their building:

Civil Filing Fees Waiver Restored in SB 1718 - By Ann Perko

FLS is happy to report that Gov. Crist signed SB 1718 on May 27, 2009, which means that the waiver of civil filing fees for indigent clients has been officially restored into law. After five years of lobbying and legal work by FLS, all the legal services and legal aid programs, and our allies, the Florida Association of Women’s Lawyers, SB 1718 was negotiated during the conference to include waiver. We thank everyone who helped us during this long process, but need to recognize the tremendous work of Steve Metz and Josh Doyle who represented our interests along with the interests of the courts on behalf of the Florida Bar.

Application for Indigent Status:
Your client’s process of applying for indigent status should not change. However, once the person has been found indigent under s 57.082, the filing fee will be completely waived under new language in 57.081(1).

Payment Plan:
New language in 57.082(6) provides that filing fees that are waived should not be included in a payment plan.  If there are other fees or costs that your client is faced with paying, those costs should be included in a payment plan if your client is unable to pay for them prior to filing the case.

Delay of Case:
Aside from the filing fee, any remaining costs are still not required to be paid up front. The law was amended to provide that the case may not be impeded in any way… due to nonpayment of any fees or costs by an indigent person. F.S. 57.082(6)

Recovery of Fees by Prevailing Party
The law was amended to provide that if a prevailing party is awarded costs in an action, that those costs should be applied to filing fees or costs that have not been paid. F.S. 57.081(3)

The changes to 57.081 and 57.082 appear in green underline and are as follows, after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

Southern Legal Counsel (SLC), Florida Institutional Legal Services (FILS), and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) filed a lawsuit in federal court today on behalf of a class of homeless plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of a number of ordinances and practices that target homeless individuals living in St. Petersburg.

Since early 2007, St. Petersburg has passed six ordinances that target homeless individuals, including four different ones that make it unlawful to sleep, lie down or recline outside at various locations throughout the city and prohibiting the use of temporary shelters. The other ordinances outlaw panhandling throughout most of downtown and prohibit the storage of personal belongings on public property.

“The City of St. Petersburg has essentially turned the issue of homelessness over to the criminal justice system. Subjecting homeless individuals to an endless cycle of arrest, incarceration and homelessness under these city ordinances and practices wastes valuable city and county resources and is ineffective in addressing the root causes of homelessness,” said Kirsten Clanton, a staff attorney at SLC.

According to the 2007 Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless’ Annual Homeless Count and Survey, there are 5,195 homeless individuals, 1,221 of which are unsheltered, living in Pinellas County. Approximately 40%, or 1,700, of those individuals reside primarily in the City of St. Petersburg. The 2009 Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless’ Annual Count and Survey documented a 20% increase in the total number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals living in Pinellas County. Without adequate shelter space or affordable housing, many homeless St. Petersburg residents are forced to live outside.

The named plaintiffs in the suit have been cited or arrested for a wide range of activities they must do to survive. In addition, police have banned plaintiffs from certain public parks, have unlawfully searched them, and have penalized some for having property in public spaces.

“The City of St. Petersburg’s use of the county jail to “solve” the issue of homelessness is counterproductive, inefficient and expensive. It actually makes the situation worse because criminal convictions create additional barriers for those who struggle to obtain stable and safe housing,” said Peter Sleasman, a staff attorney at FILS.

SLC, FILS, and NLCHP assert that the ordinances and practices used to target the plaintiffs violate a wide range of constitutional protections, from the Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, to the right to travel, to free speech rights. The groups also claim that certain of the challenged measures are void for vagueness, violate the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and violate equal protection rights.

“While we unfortunately see many communities across the country criminalizing homelessness, what has been happening in St. Petersburg over the past couple years is one of the worst examples nationally of widespread abuse of homeless persons’ civil and human rights,” said Tulin Ozdeger, NLCHP’s Civil Rights Director.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to stop enforcement of the ordinances and practices at issue and a declaration of the unconstitutionality of these practices.

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Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. (SLC) is a not-for-profit public interest law firm that is committed to the ideal of equal justice for all. SLC seeks to make this ideal a reality by providing legal representation to selected individuals and groups who otherwise would not have access to the justice system and whose cases may bring about systemic reform for the benefit of others similarly situated. SLC litigates on behalf of a diverse group of clients, including children and adults with disabilities, public housing tenants, residents of state institutions, historic communities, public school students, and others who have been denied access to the courts.

Florida Institutional Legal Services, Inc. (FILS) is a not-for-profit legal aid office providing legal assistance to individuals in jails, prisons and other state institutions. One of FILS’s missions is to reduce incarceration by combating counterproductive laws that criminalize homelessness. FILS believes that federal, state and local governments can reduce costly institutionalization by adopting policies that promote stable housing and employment for those at risk of incarceration.

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) was established in June 1989, two years after Congress passed the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the first comprehensive federal legislation addressing the problems of homelessness. NLCHP’s Executive Director, Maria Foscarinis, played a major role in the Act’s passage.

NLCHP’s mission is to prevent and end homelessness by serving as the legal arm of the nationwide movement to end homelessness. To achieve its mission, NLCHP pursues three main strategies: impact litigation, policy advocacy, and public education.

The Orlando Sentinel sat down recently with our friends at Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida to learn about the state of client access to legal assistance.

“People who were able to afford an attorney can no longer afford one now in these economic times with people losing their jobs,” said Lena Smith, pro bono manager for Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida. “We have a limited number of attorneys, but our client base is growing.” …

One telling number: Community Legal Services of Mid Florida has seen a 700 percent jump in people seeking advice on bankruptcy in the 12 counties it serves.

In a report released last year, The Florida Bar committee on pro bono work found that only 52 percent of attorneys are providing free legal help, a rate that been stagnant since 2002.

Florida attorneys are asked to provide 20 hours annually of legal help pro bono (without compensation), or to pay $350 to legal aid organizations.

These penetrating questions and many more have been answered by the Jacksonville Daily Record.

Check it out!

I have just received the list of ADA coordinators for each program from Sharon Caserta of JALA.  The chart is hard to duplicate here, but click over to the FLS website for the full list.

Since 2003, member programs in the Florida State Support System have been meeting to develop and refine the network of support for local programs that exists within the statewide programs.  As part of that work, the State Support Network Group (SSNG) is making available to everyone the following resources.  In fact, recommendation 4 of the SSNG states:

The attached Substantive and Advocacy Skills/Litigation Support charts should be disseminated widely.  Field staff should use these documents as a starting point to determine which state support office they should contact first for technical assistance. Staff within state support will promptly respond to these requests or, if appropriate, direct the individual with the question to another staff member within the state support network who has more suitable expertise and  can better respond to the question.

The first two resources that are provided are charts that plot various substantive and advovcacy and litigation support topics along with the state support program that should be contacted for assistance in the given topic.  All documents are in PDF format.

Click here for the Substantive Expertise Chart.

Click here for the Advocacy & Litigation Support Chart.

The next four resources are documents each from Southern Legal Counsel, Florida Inistitutional Legal Services, the Florida Immiagrant Advocacy Center, and Florida Legal Services, which further direct those in need of assistance to the correct staff member in each office.

Click for:

SLC

FILS

FIAC

FLS

A very special note from Dorene Barker:

Finally! After many sessions of lobbying to restore waiver of filing fees for the poor, we were able to finally restore it!! As most of you know, FLS has made this a number one priority since it was removed during the Article V rewrite. Congratulations to  Ann Perko, FLS substantive expert  who conducted the research, drafted all the materials, testified at  the hearings and walked the Capitol corridors with us (and of course Kent who was always providing excellent guidance behind the scenes!)  Ann, Arthur & I took it as far as we could and handed it off to the Florida Bar.  Florida Bar Lobbyists, Steve Metz and Josh Doyle expertly navigated the budget process and came out with a huge win for poor Floridians. This would not have happened with out them!! Many of you have contributed directly to this legislative victory. I truly believe that all of your contributions played a very significant role and for that WE at FLS wish to thank you for taking the time to talk, write letters and visit with your local legislators and leadership about waiver!!  A special thanks to Mary Anne De Petrillo who was always ready to assist with whatever request was made of her and for keeping the faith!!! Thank you!!

TheLedger.com reported on the events leading to the restoration of the waiver.  It’s a good thing this will occur.  As you will also see in the article, many court fees are also being increased.

One exception to higher court filing fees will be the waiver for people who can show they are indigent, which is expected to cost taxpayers $4 million a year.

“We thought we’d join the other 49″ states, said Senate Ways and Means Chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales. “We felt that we wanted to do our best to make sure that no matter what your situation you have the ability to access our courts. We think that’s an important principle.”

The waiver was part of the Senate’s court fee bill but not included in the House’s version. The fee for filing a tenant case also will drop from $265 to $180.

Late last month we hosted a training entitled “Essential Skills for Paralegals and Support Staff.”  I’m told that this was the first time in the memory of many that we’ve held a statewide training geared specifically toward our non-attorney staff in Florida.  As a trainer at the event, I want to use my megaphone here to tell you all that this experience was important.  And it should be repeated with regular frequency.  I’m told that a special thanks is owed to Ronda Fuqua, Sharon Ferguson, and Kathy Grunewald for their vision and persistence in making this training happen.

We are normally limited to accepting about 32 students for these CLAE-led trainings.  And at times we struggle to reach that number.  Within three days of posting information about the Paralegal & Support Staff training, we had already filled all available slots.  We had to ask CLAE to enlarge the student pool, which they graciously did, to nearly 50.  We still had a wait list and many fine applicants did not get to attend the April event.  Kathy Grunewald and Sharon Ferguson are looking for ways to repeat this training sooner rather than later.  I’ll keep you posted on their efforts.

Since the end of the training, emails have been pouring in with thanks and gratitude from the students.  Sarah Foweler of JALA stated the thanks first (and hopefully she won’t mind me sharing her words with all of you):

On behalf of the ’student body,’ we extend our sincere gratitude to FLS training staff, program attorneys, and all other administrative staff for developing this training curriculum for us.  It was very instructive, enlightening, and challenging :)    I’m sure everyone gleaned something constructive from just being there networking and conversing with other program staff members.   It was definitely needed and much appreciated.  Here’s to many more!

Also, a special ‘THANK YOU’ to SHARON FERGUSON for her persistant efforts in making this training a reality.  It would not have been possible without you. Keep up the good work!

And, finally, to our program directors and supervisors for allowing so many of us to attend the training at the same time (in spite of almost closing up shop until we returned), we thank you!

I’m reminded of the sheer importance of our professional paralegal and support staff to the work that we do.  My thanks and deep appreciation to you all.  Fabulous photos after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Civil Rights Division of the Florida Attorney General’s Office recently invited a representative of the Florida civil legal aid delivery system to the Capitol to accept an honor on behalf of the entire system concerning our fair housing advocacy.  Kris Knab, Executive Director of Legal Services of North Florida, was presented by the Attorney General, Governor, and other members of the Florida Cabinet with a resolution that recognizes the our collective work in fighting housing discrimination and predatory lending practices.  Ms. Knab thanked the AG and others on behalf of the delivery system.  Pics after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »