一位母亲找到了自己的声音
破碎破碎的门照片. 礼貌詹纳 & 块LLP).As Vicky Greathouse tried to sleep, drops of rain fell on her face. 她感到细雨打在她的手臂上. 她回忆起十多年前的雨夜，当时她和她的四个孩子无家可归，暴露在风中, 雨, and the sun—but she wasn’t living on the streets anymore. The water was leaking through the ceiling in the master bedroom of her house.
Since 2009, Greathouse had been living in the Southeast Washington, D.C.，联排别墅通过D.C. 住房 Authority’s (DCHA)住房 Choice Voucher Program. 曾经洁白的墙壁现在变成了灰蒙蒙的. The stairs were narrow and the kitchen dim, but she wasn’t a picky woman. At 42, 她靠每月不到700美元的补充安全收入(SSI)过活, and her only goal was to have a safe home for her kids. Shortly after moving in, however, the house began falling apart.
“它开始往下跑, 就像水槽漏水, 浴缸漏水, 门坏了, 天花板漏水。,她回忆道。. After weeks of unanswered calls to her landlord, 格雷特豪斯终于得到消息，有人会出来解决房子里的问题. 修理工没有来.
By the summer of 2010, Greathouse was at a breaking point. 厨房的管道简直糟透了. 冰箱坏了. The ceiling in the master bedroom leaked with every rainstorm that came through the area; the one in the living room started caving in because of a plumbing problem in the upstairs bathroom.
格雷特豪斯决定向哥伦比亚特区住房条件法院高级法院提起诉讼，起诉她的房东. 虽然法官下令强制救济，但greathhouse收到的是诉讼，而不是维修. 她的房东已经搬走了格雷豪斯，声称她欠了超过10500美元的房租.
“我不欠她这个. I was worried I had to pay … and be on the street with my kids,” Greathouse says. She initially tried to continue representing herself, 但在一次听证会上，法官下令继续审理房东起诉格雷豪斯的案件，并建议她通过检察官聘请一名澳门赌场官网.C. 澳门赌场官网事务所公益项目的宣传 & 正义的诊所.
学习窍门
As one of the largest legal services providers in the District, the D.C. 澳门赌场官网事务所公益项目宣传 & 司法诊所为成千上万的个人和家庭在涉及住房的案件中提供了急需的法律代理, 家庭法, 公共利益, 消费者问题. The clinic was created in 1992 as a partnership among the 公益性服务 Program, 其他法律服务提供者, and many of the District’s largest law firms and government agencies. Last year more than 300 cases were placed through the clinic.
Greathouse’s case was among those referred to Jenner & 阻断LLP通过诊所. Michael B. 德桑蒂斯是该事务所的合伙人，他自愿与澳门赌场官网梅丽莎·a一起处理此案. 考克斯走在了前面.
几乎没有时间可以浪费了. 该案件于2011年10月提交给该公司. 第一次听证会, 这将决定在整个诉讼过程中，格雷斯豪斯每月需要支付多少租金, 只有一个星期了吗. Already, she had paid $900 into the court registry.
在快速回顾了事实之后, the nonpayment of rent case against Greathouse seemed absurd to Cox. “There’s no conceivable way the back rent would have equaled $10,500,考克斯说。, 最多加一个, Greathouse’s obligation was a total of about $550. 根据住房选择券计划, 自从格雷特豪斯搬进来，政府就一直在给房东寄房租.
在公益计划的支持下，包括志愿者导师Marc Borbely, a staff attorney at the Neighborhood Legal Services Program—the Jenner & Block team learned how to handle these types of cases, including how much relief they should seek and what they should consider a victory. “马克真的很了不起. D.C. 澳门赌场官网协会公益项目 paired us up together,” DeSanctis says. “我们(德桑蒂斯和考克斯)都没有做过最初的那种特殊程序. 他给我们讲解了整个过程. 这真是无价之宝.”
破门而入
虽然詹纳 & 布洛克的考克斯开始采访家庭成员，并为格雷豪斯的证词做准备, Keianna迪克森, 公司的项目助理, went to Greathouse’s home to take photos for evidence at trial. 迪克森被她所看到的震惊了. Before even entering the home, she noticed that the front door wouldn’t close. The frame was broken, leaving a gaping hole near the doorknob. Every time the wind blew, the door would fly open. “太可怕了，”格雷特豪斯说. “任何人都可以进我家.为了把门关上，她和孩子们不得不用一把大锤顶着门.
Water from plumbing issues in the upstairs bathroom had dripped down the walls, 渗进地毯. 房东仍然拒绝修理任何东西. To comply with a mandate by the Department of Health and the DCHA, 格雷特豪斯和她的孩子们不得不自己掏钱用手把所有的地毯拉起来. “(他们)说地毯必须搬走. We couldn’t stand the odor because we were getting sick,格雷特豪斯说, 谁的家庭正在处理由住房条件引起的肺炎和支气管炎.
“You could see the nails and the staples on the floor. There were a lot of problems with mildew and smell. They also had issues with maggots … and flies due to the carpet,” Dixon recalls.
The stakes were high and Cox felt the pressure. “客户真的需要一个声音. She needed someone to tell her story,” she says. “These are the cases that keep you up at night. These are real people with real problems that need real solutions.”
Greathouse was facing eviction from her subsidized housing. With a limited income of under $700 for a family of four, it would be extremely difficult to find a new home if she were forced out. “真的，当她来找我们的时候，她想做的就是能够锁上她的门，”考克斯说. “当你坐下来阅读投诉时，你会看到这个故事很残酷.”
发出自己的声音
在听证会当天, 考克斯的目标是将Greathouse每月必须向法院登记处缴纳的租金减少40%，直到法院诉讼程序结束，并要求房东修复房屋状况.
考克斯和德桑蒂斯被告知，对于这种类型的病例，40%的减幅是一种激进的立场. 格雷特豪斯准备为她悲惨的生活条件作证，但她从来没有这样做过. Before the hearing, her attorneys negotiated a deal with the landlord. “我想，在那个时候，房东意识到她拖欠房租的要求是不合理的. 我们能够陈述案情并解释为什么她不应该从我们的客户那里得到任何钱,考克斯说.
The results were a huge victory for Greathouse. 而不是40%的减排, 她得了100%, which meant she didn’t have to pay any rent into the court registry for the remainder of the hearings; she also got a check for the money she already had paid into the court registry. 门框的修理是这次听证会上唯一的争论点, with the landlord stating that she could not afford to fix it. 法院下令修理, 在短短几周内, 格雷特豪斯终于有了一扇可以上锁的门, 就在寒冷的冬天来临之前.
2012年1月，各方预计将举行一次日程安排会议，以确定驱逐听证和住房条件案件的审判日期. 房东没有出庭，对格雷特豪斯的起诉被毫无偏见地驳回了. 随后，法官将法庭日期定在3月份，进行损害证明听证会，并就住房条件提起诉讼. 房东又一次缺席了听证会.
“We were able to provide [Greathouse’s] testimony, and she was able to talk about the pictures and the conditions of her house,考克斯说. 在这一点上, 法官命令房东进行格雷豪斯所需要的房屋维修，并支付226美元的赔偿金, and dismissed the eviction case with prejudice. The threat of insurmountable and unjustified back rent was gone for good.
“I felt good about it and proud I did go to court. I had to fight back and get help,” Greathouse says. “Some lawyers, they just go to court and you don’t get a chance to speak. 她给了我发言的机会.截至7月, 格雷特豪斯的房子大部分都修好了，现在只等着换新地毯和修垃圾处理机.
“当我们的志愿者和我们一样对许多客户的生活状况感到愤怒时，我们总是感到一种胜利的感觉,马克·赫尔佐格说, D .副主任.C. 澳门赌场官网协会公益项目. “迈克尔和梅丽莎发泄了他们的愤怒，为他们的当事人取得了令人难以置信的胜利. Vicky and her kids now can live in decent and safe housing, 哪一项是基本人权, but which all too often escapes people living in poverty.”
德桑提斯重申了让当地澳门赌场官网参与这类案件的重要性. “对我来说, 这是澳门赌场官网的最高使命，在我们的社区里有一个需要帮助的个人客户，他们需要非常真实和直接的帮助 . . . . There is such a horrible shortage of legal services for the underprivileged in D.C. If lawyers don’t step up, a lot of people are going to be denied justice. If they do step up, it’s pretty easy to help,” DeSanctis says.
考克斯同意, 说, “我们都希望生活在这样一个社会里，人们获得司法救助的机会不取决于他们的收入或财富, and this is one small way in which we can help contribute as positively as we can.”
作者:泰国披乐
摘自《华盛顿澳门赌场官网》2012年9月号
达维.C. 酒吧工作人员作家Thai Phi Le at (电子邮件保护).
