News

Skagit Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services will be adding a legal advocate, an office closer to the Skagit County Courthouse and more outreach to marginalized communities with its share of a $600,000 grant. The three-year grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women to the Seattle-based Northwest Justice Project, which partners with the Skagit County organization.

NJP's Jason Quackenbush provides a local example of how our judicial system is intended to work.

Equal access to justice is a pillar of our justice system and a core American value. In fact, it has been fundamental to our self-understanding since even before we were a nation.

In Walla Walla, staff attorneys Tyler Graber and Sandy Garcia provide free civil legal assistance to eligible clients on matters such as divorce and family-law issues, landlord/tenant issues, Social Security appeals and debt collection.

A mass eviction from a Tacoma apartment complex is causing city leaders to take a hard look at tenant protections that have lagged behind Seattle's. 

The new law will reduce the number of 16- and 17-year-olds who have been charged with a handful of violent offenses from entering the adult criminal-justice system. It also extends juvenile jurisdiction to age 25, up from age 21, for those convicted of certain crimes.

Civil rights lawyer Joaquin Avila, who fought discrimination in classrooms, workplaces and voting booths as a leader of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, has died. He was 69.

The only woman tractor driver at a Wenatchee orchard was sexually harassed and forced into a lower-paying job, according to a lawsuit.

Hundreds of homeless veterans in King County have housing vouchers they haven’t been able to use. The Attorney General’s office alleges some landlords are discriminating against them.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has effectively shuttered an Obama-era office dedicated to making legal aid accessible to all citizens, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The review could make King County the first jurisdiction in the nation to approach juvenile crime through a public-health lens.

We all can help to stop sexual harassment of immigrant workers. We have the power to demand changes to practices that endanger the immigrant workforce.

Sexual harassment among farmworkers in the Yakima Valley is prevalent, but there are groups making efforts to educuate and help women feel safe while reporting these incidents.

The state is bolstering civil legal aid programs for domestic violence survivors including several new VOCA-funded positions at NJP.

The youths, who were charged with crimes as adults, have spent at least 23 hours a day locked in windowless stalls without adequate, constitutionally required educational services, the lawsuit says.

Some parents at the school with the highest concentration of Native kids are frustrated with the school district. They say a shortage of classroom space in the brand-new facility for Licton Springs K-8 threatens their kids’ ability to learn. Northwest Justice Project has indicated that it will file a federal civil rights complaint if the school board fails to correct the situation.

The Department of Justice had sued the apartment owner and manager, alleging violations of the federal Fair Housing Act at three Edmonds rental properties.

On June 30, funding for civil legal aid statewide was increased by $5.15 million. This will allow NJP to expand its services and offer legal aid to more people such as Elizabeth Rose, whom NJP advocates helped avoid eviction from her home in Mt. Vernon. 

Washington law prevents domestic violence abusers from possessing guns. But advocates for victims say the courts aren’t doing enough to enforce the law.

NJP attorneys and other advocates argue the H-2A program doesn’t do enough to protect H-2A workers and call for more regulatory oversight.

Far too often, veterans do not know their rights and don’t get the help they need. Low-income veterans and other military personnel received inadequate or no professional legal help for 88 percent of their civil legal problems in 2017, according to a recent report by the Legal Services Corporation. 

Decrease in federal funding could hinder low-income Washingtonians in pursuit of justice

College graduations are emotional occasions, but it would be hard to match the level of enthusiasm and joy that pervaded the gymnasium at the Washington Corrections Center for Women this month when 19 inmates received diplomas.

More than a decade after Yvette Harris’s 1997 Mitsubishi was repossessed, she is still paying off her car loan.

Discrimination and hostile work environment are prevalent in Yakima County. Especially in companies where the predominant workforce is an immigrant and is not reported for fear of reprisals, says attorney Blanca Rodriguez of the Northwest Justice Project.

The King County Housing Authority will hold a lottery to create a new waiting list for Section 8 vouchers.

While the debate about King County’s new proposed youth jail and courthouse continues, the county announced Friday that it is continuing to make strides in reducing the number of youths who are incarcerated. It also announced modest progress in reducing racial disparities.

The most commonly charged crime in Washington shouldn't be a crime at all, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union argues in a new report. Taxpayers spend more than $40 million a year to prosecute cases of third-degree driving with a suspended license, the organization found.

OLYMPIA – An effort to get homeless people off the streets and into shelters seems headed for revisions after critics said it would criminalize homelessness in Washington and put extra burdens on police.

Neighbors in a low-income, mostly Latino mobile-home park are fighting Kittitas County’s surprise plan to evict them. Now the state is investigating. NJP attorney David Morales is representing the homeowners association.

Nearly 40,000 Washington students were homeless during the 2015-16 school year, an increase of about 12 percent from the year before. In 21 school districts, the number of homeless students doubled in the two-year span.

>Link to article.

The need for civil legal aid among low-income people in Washington is growing according to a 2015 study. People representing themselves in court can face multiple obstacles, including not knowing legal procedures, having unreasonable expectations about how the case will end, and not fully understanding their legal issues, Riquelme said. 

Attorney Sam Adams helped a veteran in Kitsap County with his benefits overpayment. NJP's Veterans Project provides legal services for vets on a wide range of civil legal issues. 

NJP Attorney Sam Adams assisted a Kitsap County veteran with a benefits overpayment debt. The VA had not explained to him all of his responsibilities in getting that debt repaid and Ms. Adams was able to negotiate the repayment terms and find the veteran other benefits he qualified for. 

NJP attorney Scott Crain helped tenants in two Renton apartment complexes gain more time to find new Section 8 housing.

Renton renters pleaded with the City Council on Monday for help after landlords at two apartment complexes said they will no longer accept Section 8 housing vouchers. NJP attorney Scott Crain Scott is representing some of the residents and said landlords are not required by law to disclose their reasons for opting out of the Section 8 program. But a majority of the affected renters at the Renton Woods and Gramercy apartment complexes are black women, and the landlords’ decision to end their participation in the Section 8 program may have had a “discriminatory effect”.

The few tenants who still remain in a decrepit, downtown apartment building that the city has declared “preliminarily… unfit for human occupancy” are having a hard time finding other housing they can afford.

A 46-year-old Auburn man with a lengthy history of domestic-violence convictions is accused of fatally shooting his estranged girlfriend after she refused to reconcile with him. He had recently been released from jail after an earlier domestic-violence incident involving her.

Clark County will pay $250,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees after a federal judge found earlier this month that the county was liable for seizing homeless people’s belongings.

Two legal battles dealing with Madison Park — the micro housing and commons building for homeless people — are to be heard in Walla Walla County Superior Court on Monday. Northwest Justice Project, representing the Walla Walla Alliance for the Homeless, the group that wants to build Madison Park, has filed an appeal seeking removal of restricitons placed on the Madison Park project.

NJP attorneys David Morales and Blanca Rodriguez participated in a forum intended to start discussions about sexual harassment in the agricultural workforce. Rodriguez said she sees three important factors for addressing sexual harassment or violence toward farm workers: litigation, education of workers so they know when to report inappropriate behavior, and an increase in services to keep victims safe and support their recovery.

NJP attorney Chelsea Hicks represents one of two sisters involved in lawsuits against Green Tree Loan Servicing for failing to honor home loan modifications. NJP Board member Omar Vicente Barraza’s office is representing the other sister.  

Studies from Washington state, Baltimore, and New York all confirm that LGBTQ people face many of the same struggles as others living in poverty. However, the combination of being both poor and LGBTQ creates a unique set of challenges, limiting their ability to escape poverty. 

The King County Sheriff’s Office disbanded its Domestic Violence Investigations Unit in 2009 due to budget cuts, but since the unit was re-formed in 2015, prosecutors have so far this year noticed a spike in the number of felony cases being referred for charges.

For the past two years, Spokane Public Schools has been overhauling how it handles student discipline.
 
The goal is to suspend and expel fewer students, and focus on communication with students and better training for staff.
 
All Washington schools are moving in the same direction under a new state law that limits long-term suspension and expulsion to certain serious behavior, including possession of weapons, gang activity, sexual offenses and the use of drugs or alcohol.

For the first time in nearly 40 years, federal regulators are preparing to significantly strengthen the rules that govern debt collection in an effort to clamp down on collectors who hound consumers for debts they may not even owe.

YAKIMA, Wash. — In yet another blow to Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center in a lawsuit over its charity care practices, a judge has ruled the hospital violated the state Consumer Protection Act by failing to provide adequate financial help to low-income patients.
 
Additional Info:

Judge Rules Yakima-Area Hospitals Violated Washington's Consumer Protection Act [Read in Spanish] by Columbia Legal Services

OLYMPIA — The state Supreme Court weighed in on a Wenatchee class action case Thursday, saying a national mortgage service company wrongfully locked a woman out of her home when she defaulted on her mortgage. The decision allows the multi-million-dollar class action case to go forward in federal court, with Wenatchee plaintiff Laura Zamora Jordan and some 3,600 other Washington home buyers seeking damages after being similarly treated by Nationstar Mortgage LLC.
 
Wenatchee attorney Clay Gatens, who represents Jordan and the class plaintiffs, said the service company’s action violated state foreclosure law, taking possession of the home without court process. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision upholds that claim, but strikes down a related complaint that Nationstar attempted to bypass state laws that require a court-appointed receiver.

Officials celebrated the opening of a new respite center downstairs in the King County Juvenile Detention
Center on Thursday, June 30, the second phase in a new model for keeping youth out of the criminal justice system while addressing domestic violence cases involving their families.

The Family Intervention and Restorative Services pilot program started at the beginning of the year, with the goal of reducing the largest segment of offenders in juvenile detention, which are those accused of domestic violence against a guardian or sibling.

From farm fields in Texas to the halls of power in Olympia, Estela Ortega is honored for a lifetime of work championing the poor.

The law allows people who have been convicted of certain crimes to petition a judge for a certificate that shows they have completed their sentence and have been law abiding citizens.

Through a 4-4 tie, the U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled on United States v. Texas. The High Court’s failure to fall one way or another in the case leaves in place a lower court decision that blocks immigration protections known as DAPA and the expansion of DACA, from being implemented.

A class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that Northwest Hospital & Medical Center fails to properly screen patients eligible for charity care under state law, instead sending their debt to collection agencies.

For years, conservative policymakers have urged those in need to get work. But for those without driver’s licenses—who are by and large people of color—that’s not such an easy task.

For far too long, we have been content to suspend or expel many minority students for perceived offenses that did not result in discipline for white students engaged in the same behavior.

Many states are beginning to look at a growing body of research that shows that having a parent behind bars can have a destabilizing effect on an estimated 1.7 million children like Jamaill. The separation can have costly emotional and social consequences, such as trauma and trouble in schools, homelessness, and bigger welfare and foster care rolls.

Millions of Americans live with the possibility that, at any moment, their wages or the cash in their bank accounts could be seized over an old debt. It’s an easily ignored part of America’s financial system, in part due to a common attitude that people who don’t pay their debts deserve what’s coming to them.

A Shared Sentence: The Casey Foundation recently reported on the more than 100,000 Washington children who have had an incarcerated parent. These children suffer long-term effects due to their parents’ incarceration that are as damaging as child abuse or domestic violence. Children with parents in prison move more frequently than their peers and are at greater risk of ending up homeless; 75% of them receive foster care, Medicaid, food stamps or welfare services; and they face much higher childhood poverty rates, even after their parents are released. NJP’s RISE Project works to preserve a child’s relationship with a parent during incarceration, reducing children’s mental health issues and anxiety, and provides vital legal assistance to support family reunification upon release.

Local officials take a moment to celebrate ongoing efforts to help former inmates make it on the outside.

Seattle Children’s Hospital’s recent Justice for All article in its Spring 2016 Connection magazine features the Washington Medical Legal Partnership and highlights the critical role NJP attorneys play in helping families get the care they need for their children by working with families, doctors and social workers to find legal solutions to health care barriers.  

The “plain language” initiative could have a big impact in Cowlitz County, where nearly 60 percent of family law cases in the last seven months were handled “pro se,” meaning at least one party represented themselves without a lawyer. Laurie Garber, family lawyer with the Northwest Justice Project, said low- to middle-income families who can’t afford lawyers often get caught in a tangle of legalese and paperwork.

Tara Simmons spent time in prison is now as second year law student at Seattle University. She wants to help former criminals like herself get help to get back into society.

1 in 4 Americans have criminal records! NJP’s Eric Dunn interviewed on recent HUD Guidance to Landlords: Blanket rejection of tenants with criminal records may be discriminatory.
 
See also NPR National Story: Denying Housing Over Criminal Record May Be Discrimination, Feds Say 

Northwest Justice Project helps a disabled man in Dayton keep his small business going.

Snohomish County Legal Services and volunteer attorneys help individuals who cannot afford an attorney with housing and other issues. >Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A flood of poor defendants representing themselves — often ineffectively — in dire cases involving eviction, foreclosure, child custody and involuntary commitment has led to a push in legislatures to expand rights to free lawyers in certain civil proceedings.

Everyone has a right to a free lawyer in criminal cases if they can’t afford one. But the same right isn’t guaranteed in civil cases.

Spokane-based bar president says helping poor get legal services is priority.

U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Native American girls have the highest rates of incarceration of any ethnic group. They are nearly five times more likely than white girls to be confined to a juvenile detention facility...

WENATCHEE — In July 2014, about 50 workers lived at the King Blossom Natural orchard near Brewster, none aware of the wildfire bearing down on them.

“The owner sent a boy to wake us up,” said Alejandro Valdovinos Murillo in Spanish following the fire. “It was windy and there was so much smoke. There was no time to take anything.” They escaped, but the fire decimated the camp. They were never told to evacuate by authorities.

Patrick Pleas, an attorney with the Northwest Justice Project, believes they were left out of the loop because many of the workers didn’t speak English.

NJP-Tacoma’s Jennifer Ammons cited in News Tribune article:  “We see clients who have units where there is no heat, there’s maybe no running water, no hot water, there’s a hole in the roof and the landlord isn’t going to fix it until they move out.” 

In Washington between 1997 and 2014, there were 989 deaths as a result of domestic violence. It is unlikely that one policy will end domestic violence, but there is one service that is proven to have a positive impact on the lives of survivors and their families – civil legal aid.vIn Washington between 1997 and 2014, there were 989 deaths as a result of domestic violence. It is unlikely that one policy will end domestic violence, but there is one service that is proven to have a positive impact on the lives of survivors and their families – civil legal aid.

According to the Washington Department of Licensing, 380,000 drivers have suspended licenses. Many of them are low-income and lost their license because they failed to pay traffic tickets. They often have unpaid tickets from several jurisdictions and they’re likely to drive even without a license. Now state lawmakers and the attorney general are looking for ways to help these drivers get their licenses back and pay off their fines.
 
See also AGO Press Release 1/28/16 - AG: Reform traffic fine collection for more equitable outcomes 

OLYMPIA -- Washington Supreme Court Justices will learn about the severity of unmet civil legal problems for low-income Washington residents and hear from people who have experienced these problems in a special presentation February 10 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Temple of Justice in Olympia. The event is open to the public and will be televised live on TVW, and available for viewing as a TVW webcast at http://www.tvw.org/watch/?eventID=2016021167. 

YAKIMA, Wash. - One of the largest apple producers in the United States will pay $272,000 to 20 claimants as part of a settlement resolving sexual harassment and retaliation claims pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today. Evans Fruit has also agreed to take steps to ensure that the workers do not suffer any retaliation as a result of their participation in the lawsuits or settlement.

NJP Veterans Project attorney Leo Flor assisted a disabled veteran, who had received an overpayment notice from the VA and subsequently notice to cut all of his benefits until the debt was paid, appeal the denial and overpayment. Flor was successful in getting the debt dismissed and obtain maximum benefits for his client.

You get pulled over for a faulty tail light, and the officer discovers you are driving with a suspended driver's license...read more

Oakland, Calif. — ACROSS the country, some 400,000 women, mostly immigrants, work in agriculture, toiling in fields, nurseries and packing plants. Such work is backbreaking and low-paying. But for many of these women, it is also a nightmare of sexual violence.

U.S. District Court Judge James Robart entered a mandatory preliminary injunction compelling the Health Care Authority to “take all actions within their power” to ensure 5 medically fragile children receive private duty nursing care in their own homes.
 
The 48 page ruling was entered in a case challenging the Medicaid reimbursement rates as being set so low they made it impossible for the children to live safely at home.  Scott Crain, of NJP's Medical Legal Partnership argued that HCA is violating the requirements of Medicaid's Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment mandate  and the Americans with Disabilities Act mandate that care be provided in the most integrated settings possible.
 
On any given day dozens of disabled children with complex health care needs languish in high cost institutions, group homes or hospitals, or are at high risk of hospitalization even though in-home, community based care is less expensive and more beneficial to the long-term well-being of the children.  Skilled nursing care allows these children to come home or avoid hospitalization, avoids the emotional toll for the families, and also makes it possible for some parent to work instead of having to stay home to monitor their children's health.
 
See additional coverage:

• Federal judge: State must get ‘vent kids’ home by Levi Pulkkinen, The Seattle PI January 8, 2016
• Disabled Children Sue Health Care Authority Seeking Skilled Nursing Services by Northwest Justice Project, 10/02/2015

• Why dozens of ‘vent kids’ stuck in Washington hospitals can’t go home by Levi Pulkkinen, The Seattle PI, 10/14/2015

• Suit filed over inadequate state heath care for sick children by Mark Miller, Komo News, 10/12/2015

• Northwest Justice Project lawsuit addresses state’s lack of in-home nurses for children by Adam Lynn, The News Tribune 10/11/2015 

MOUNT VERNON — Free legal help for low-income renters in Skagit County facing eviction or other problems with their housing is being offered through a new program.

The Housing Justice Project, which started in November, was developed by the Skagit Volunteer Lawyer Program, a partnership of the Skagit County Bar Association and Community Action of Skagit County.

José Anzaldo is a bright, cheerful third-grader in Salinas, Calif. He loves school, he's a whiz at math, and, like lots of little boys his age, he wants to be a firefighter when he grows up. He also entered the country illegally, and his parents are migrant farmworkers who harvest lettuce.

Superior Court Judge Susan Hahn said in a ruling this month that the actions of Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center constituted a breach of contract between the hospital and the patients in question, The Yakima Herald reported. She also granted a motion requiring the hospital to turn over certain information long sought by the plaintiffs to bolster their class-action lawsuit.

Under a lawsuit settlement, all Washington children covered by Medicaid will be eligible for lead-poisoning testing if their parents request it — or if they live in old buildings, are recent immigrants or face other exposure risks.

Sending kids who habitually miss school to court under the state’s 20-year truancy law hasn’t helped them stay in school. But a school-court-community effort in Spokane County is having impressive success.

Attorney Leslie Owen greeted her client with good news last week: A fine for driving with a suspended license had been dropped in Grant County, wiping out $1,500 of what Teresa Nisbet owed. The two celebrated the latest step out of a hole Nisbet had dug with credit cards, payday loans, drug use and bad luck. Nisbet recalls how she felt at the bottom of that hole: “I can’t see the light. I have no hope.”
 

Fall behind on your student loans these days and you could end up getting more than hectoring phone calls and threatening letters. Some lenders are taking more people to court, attorneys say.

Equal justice under law. That is the lofty motto inscribed over the marble columns of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. It is not a goal, or an ideal. It is a promise. The words come straight from the Constitution. We put our hands over our hearts and pledge allegiance to a land with justice for all.

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Justice can come slowly. In this case it has taken nearly a century. It is the story of treaty rights, Washington state’s belated efforts to correct wrongs and an 81-year-old Yakama man who sought for years to vacate his great-uncle’s 1917 conviction for illegally fishing.

• Photo Essay: Fishing tradition never lets Yakamas down

There's a justice gap in Washington state, according to a study published Thursday. It says that low-income Washington residents face multiple civil legal problems, but few can afford the help they need.

Why dozens of ‘vent kids’ stuck in Washington hospitals can’t go home by Levi Pulkkinen, The Seattle PI, 10/14/2015

Suit filed over inadequate state heath care for sick children by Mark Miller, Komo News, 10/12/2015

Northwest Justice Project lawsuit addresses state’s lack of in-home nurses for children by Adam Lynn, The News Tribune 10/11/2015

Disabled Children Sue Health Care Authority Seeking Skilled Nursing Services by Northwest Justice Project, 10/02/2015

Washington state’s approach to workplace safety illustrates how death rates drop sharply when oversight covers every farm, no matter how small.

After four years of fighting to prevent foreclosure of his farm, Larkin Stentz managed to do what many others have failed to - keep his land.

A Seattle mother of three was thrilled when she got a Section 8 voucher to help pay for housing her family. Then she tried to use it. “It’s just cutthroat out there,” a housing advocate said of the tight market.

The Seattle School Board’s resolution calls for a one-year moratorium on some out-of-school suspensions for elementary students, and a plan to reduce such suspensions for all students.

NJP's efforts to improve disaster response for limited English communities in fire ravaged Central Washington garner national and local media coverage.

Thousands of farm workers living in wildfire country are particularly vulnerable in times of emergency. One problem is that warnings in Spanish don’t reach everyone that needs to hear them.

In maybe a minute, the Tacoma Housing Authority’s list of nearly 10,000 people hoping to receive rental assistance through the agency’s Housing Opportunity Program was trimmed to 1,200 lucky names.

Homeless LGBTQ youth and adult supporters alike know a fix is needed for the high level of LGBTQ youth who are homeless, compared with the population’s size.

Nearly 900 tenants who lived in VHA public housing between April 1, 2004 and April 30, 2011 will benefit from a federal court settlement. Under federal law, Public Housing tenants should not pay more than thirty percent of their monthly income for rent and utilities. VHA must establish, annually review, and adjust its utility allowances so that energy conservative households do not spend more than the allowances for utilities. In the lawsuit, the tenants alleged that VHA failed to annually review and adjust its allowances to keep pace with rising utility rates as required by HUD regulations.
View detailed information about the VHA Class Action at http://www.columbialegal.org/vha-class-settlement

 
Kelso’s Love Overwhelming homeless shelter will remain open after a judge Thursday gave the shelter and the city a few more months to hash things out.

NJP salutes Bill Hobson for his vision and national leadership in the fight against homelessness during his more than 30 year tenure as director of the at the Downtown Emergency Services Center: Housing First!

OAK PARK, Ill. — MILLIONS of Americans lack crucial legal services. Yet enormous numbers of lawyers are unemployed. Why can’t the supply of lawyers match the demand?

The Seattle Office of Civil Rights said it has uncovered evidence of rental-housing discrimination at 13 properties, including large, sleek new developments in Ballard and South Lake Union.

Parte del sueño Americano es finalmente tener casa propia, pero el obtener financiamiento de parte de un banco para comprar una casa puede ser difícil. El banco siempre se querrá asegurar que prestarle dinero será un buen negocio.

Los residuos de la crisis financiera del 2008 continúan produciendo efectos negativos; miles de familias están atrasadas en los pagos del préstamo hipotecario y tienen miedo de perder sus casas.

The first statewide study of laws relating to homelessness concludes that Washington cities have been punishing people for being homeless when it would be cheaper and more constructive to help them instead.

Washington state law gives homeowners exactly twenty days to vacate a house with the clock starting the day of the foreclosure sale, but "Trash Out" companies are removing homeowners' belongings before then. Attorney Chelsea Hicks with the Northwest Justice Project represents Fiscus and other clients in the same situation.

EVERY year the Legislature enacts hundreds of bills. When signed into law by the governor, these acts define legal rights, assign legal responsibilities or regulate behavior. Many do all three. For our democracy to work, these laws must work for everyone, including people like Paul and Mya.
Paul is a 62-year-old disabled Vietnam War veteran. He was homeless and living in a van after being unable to pay his rent when he turned to legal aid for help. An attorney with the nonprofit Northwest Justice Project helped him apply for rental assistance for veterans.

LEBANON, Tenn. — The last time Kenneth Seay lost his job, at an industrial bakery that offered health insurance and Christmas bonuses, it was because he had been thrown in jail for legal issues stemming from a revoked driver’s license. Same with the three jobs before that.

Billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett controls a mobile-home empire that promises low-income borrowers affordable houses. But all too often, it traps those owners in high-interest loans and rapidly depreciating homes.

Twice as many veterans in rural areas will be able to go to a doctor near their home after a policy change made Tuesday by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The change follows a scathing report less than 24 hours earlier on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," which featured a KUOW story.

A three-year pilot program aimed at addressing the twin problems of homelessness and domestic violence is making a difference. The program, known as the Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF), provides domestic violence survivors with stable housing and flexible financial assistance to meet different levels of needs. NJP coordinates with DVHF to help clients with their civil legal needs.

Jessica Tossey is in the living room of her condo, getting herself and young son Blakely ready for their mile-long walk to church, where he goes to preschool. Jessica puts on a bright orange sweatshirt, shoulders a backpack, grabs Blakely’s hand, and heads out the door. Her family doesn’t have a car, so to get anywhere, they bus, get rides or walk.

NJP Foreclosure Prevention Unit save home of 84 year old woman on Marrowstone Island.

Locked out of your home by your own bank. New data uncovered by KING 5 shows that it has happened to possibly thousands of Washington homeowners - in some cases well before their home is in foreclosure. NJP attorney helps homeowner.

For years a state law being misinterpreted locally could have left our veterans without access to the emergency funds they need.

In an important case argued by NJP, on Feb. 3 the Court of Appeals Div. II found that DSHS violated the due process rights of an appellant by accusing her of wrongdoing, and then rejecting her appeal because she missed a time deadline that DSHS never told her about.
 
DSHS sent the appellant a notice telling her how many days she had to appeal. The notice said nothing about a time deadline. After appellant filed her appeal, DSHS told appellant she had filed her appeal two hours late. An administrative law judge later dismissed appellant’s hearing request because appellant missed this deadline that DSHS had not told her about. DSHS Board of Appeals agreed with the administrative law judge. The Court of Appeals reversed DSHS because of the violation of due process.
 

OLYMPIA — As speakers and protesters here celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, some sobering new numbers are out on student homelessness in Washington state.

Just before New Year’s, Kathy Heffernan’s new landlord announced that her rent on a two-bedroom unit at the Linda Manor Apartments in West Seattle would go up on March 1, from $1,000 to $2,300 — a 130 percent increase.

Her English-Spanish language courtroom in Des Moines’ Municipal Court is about to shut down, but Judge Veronica Alicea Galván, who has been appointed to the King County Superior Court bench, foresees a day when bilingual courts are not unusual.

Drive drunk, drive recklessly, and the state can suspend your driver's license. But many police and motor vehicle administrators worry about a recent trend: A large number of suspensions are for reasons that have nothing to do with unsafe driving.
These reasons include unpaid traffic tickets, falling behind on child support, getting caught with drugs, bouncing checks; or minor juvenile offenses like missing school, using false identification to buy alcohol, or shoplifting.

Across the Northwest, some families will spend Christmas in rented mobile homes where the living conditions are marginal at best and dangerous at worst. So who’s inspecting these manufactured homes? It turns out that they fall into a regulatory gray area.

In response to widespread opposition, the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) has shelved its controversial plan to raise rents for thousands of its tenants.

Whatcom County will have its first Native American Superior Court judge in 2015.

The trouble with being poor goes far beyond having no money, Rex Hohlbein learned the other day.
Example: Even if something is paid in advance, sometimes they still kick you out and threaten to call police — just because you fit the poverty profile.

LOS ANGELES — Lorenza and German Artiga raised six children in a rent-controlled bungalow here, their only home since they moved from El Salvador 29 years ago. So they were stunned this past summer when their landlord served them with eviction papers, claiming that their 12-year-old granddaughter Carolyn, whose mother was killed in a car crash in 2007, was an illegal occupant.

The Foreclosure Prevention and Housing Outreach Coalition will show the film “American Winter” on Thursday at The Seasons, 101 N. Naches Ave.

Patients can now sort out their social security benefits and get their blood pressure checked — all in one visit to the doctor’s office. The Cowlitz Family Health Center is offering legal services to any local, low-income families every Thursday at its Longview clinic, 1057 12th Ave. The service, provided by the Northwest Justice Project, is just another way for the health center to serve its patients, said Julie Nye, a nurse and quality administrator at the Family Health Center.

Seattle home prices have rebounded dramatically in the past 18 months, with more than a 9.5 percent increase in median home sales prices from 2012 to 2013, nearly bringing median prices to pre-recession heights seen in 2007. Zillow reports that 92.5 percent of Seattle-metro area homes are in positive equity positions, putting the Seattle-metro area among the top five areas in the nation.
This should be good news, but what about those who have not benefitted from the upward market?

A for-profit education company that owns six Everest College campuses in Washington is under investigation for predatory lending practices.

Bureau Seeks More than $500 Million In Relief For Borrowers of Corinthian’s Private Student Loans
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued for-profit college chain Corinthian Colleges, Inc. for its illegal predatory lending scheme. The Bureau alleges that Corinthian lured tens of thousands of students to take out private loans to cover expensive tuition costs by advertising bogus job prospects and career services. Corinthian then used illegal debt collection tactics to strong-arm students into paying back those loans while still in school. To protect current and past students of the Corinthian schools, the Bureau is seeking to halt these practices and is requesting the court to grant relief to the students who collectively have taken out more than $500 million in private student loans.

WASHINGTON – Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Antonin Scalia, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will join more than 100 leaders of the legal community, government, and the private sector September 14-16 at a wide-ranging legal aid conference in Washington to mark the 40th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation.

The Legal Services Corporation announced today Northwest Justice Project’s 24-month $211,120 Pro Bono Innovation grant to systematically increase and improve pro bono legal services to low income clients.

NJP wins major victory for LEP communities and Workers Compensation claimants: The Department of Justice and Department of Labor have found that Washington Labor & Industries’ policies, practices, and procedures are inconsistent with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and its regulations, and L&I grant obligations.  DOJ/DOL issued a lengthy decision in response to a complaint NJP filed on behalf of eight limited English proficient workers claiming denial of language access by the Department of Labor and Industries - Insurance Services Division.

A new study finds that the emergency extensions of unemployment benefits during the recession went a long way toward preventing mortgage defaults, even more than government programs meant to prevent foreclosures by focusing only on reducing monthly payments.

When Sal Mendoza Jr. reads the inscription on the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington D.C., he sees more than words in “Equal Justice Under Law.” It’s because of that phrase that a migrant kid from Prosser took the oath Friday as a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Washington, he explained.

The court will monitor foster care reform until the state meets all the requirements from the '98 Braam v. Washington suit.

Legal Information Site Offers Access to Referrals, Information and Self-help via Text Message

 
WashingtonLawHelp.org, the free, statewide resource for those facing civil legal issues, launched a new text messaging campaign, aimed at helping low-income individuals in Washington get their driver’s license reinstated by texting DRIVE to 877877.
 
This new SMS campaign will guide residents to legal information and local referral services through the use of text message. This will allow cell phone users to receive referral information without the need for a data plan, and will allow cell phone users with a data plan to access legal information directly from their phone.
 
“For people on a fixed income, unpaid traffic fines can snowball into a suspended license making it difficult to get or maintain a job. The goal of this text campaign is to help these individuals get on a path toward reinstatement and ultimately employment,” said Danielle Rebar, Website Manager at the Northwest Justice Project. 
 
WashingtonLawHelp.org is part of the national LawHelp.org network of nonprofit legal information portals that empower individuals to help themselves. WashingtonLawHelp.org is Washington’s online source of free legal aid referrals, know-your-rights information and a variety of self-help tools.  The site is maintained by the Northwest Justice Project, in conjunction with Pro Bono Net, a nonprofit leader in increasing access to justice for low-income people.
 
WashingtonLawHelp.org was launched in 2004 and now serves more than 800,000 visitors a year providing hundreds of free legal information publications, self-help packets, videos and court forms for use in Washington State.  Visit www.washingtonlawhelp.org for more information.
 
The Northwest Justice Project is Washington’s publicly funded legal aid program.  Each year NJP provides critical civil legal assistance and representation to thousands of low-income people in cases affecting basic human needs such as family safety and security, housing preservation, protection of income, access to health care, education and other basic needs. For more information, visit www.nwjustice.org.
 
Pro Bono Net is a national non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to justice for the disadvantaged. Through innovative technology solutions and expertise in building and mobilizing justice networks, Pro Bono Net transforms the way legal help reaches the underserved. Our comprehensive programs, including www.probono.net, www.lawhelp.org and www.lawhelpinteractive.org, enable legal advocates to make a stronger impact, increase volunteer participation, and empower the public with resources and self-help tools to improve their lives. For more information, please visit www.probono.net.

Where you work, the air you breathe, the state of your housing, what you eat, your levels of stress and your vulnerability to crime, injury and discrimination all affect your health.

Pat, an army veteran who made her way to Evergreen Middle School Thursday, July 10, found a haircut, a referral to a dentist, a backpack full of toiletries, information on housing resources and free legal advice.

The Tulalip Tribes are now one of just three Native American tribes in the country to take advantage of a federal program designed to better combat domestic violence on tribal lands.

A group of disabled and elderly tenants being priced out of a Seattle apartment building are striking back.

King County Executive Dow Constantine named 11 highly-regarded leaders in indigent defense and the protection of the rights of the accused to serve on the County’s first-ever Public Defense Advisory Board.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Sal Mendoza Jr. to become the first Latino federal judge in Eastern Washington on Tuesday morning with a vote of 92- 4. He is expected to be based in either Yakima or Richland.

Over the past decade, towns and counties across the United States have been locking up a growing number of people for failing to pay their debts. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Brennan Center for Justice documented the practice in 2010, and Human Rights Watch released the results of its own investigation earlier this year.
Critics have decried the return of the debtors prison, the reviled institution of Charles Dickens' day. Now, a short documentary, "To Prison for Poverty," sheds light on a particularly contentious aspect of the story.

OLYMPIA – With people who inspired her standing at her side and some she hoped to inspire sitting in the audience, Mary Yu was sworn in Tuesday to a state Supreme Court seat she’s almost sure to hold for the next two years despite being on the ballot this fall.

User fees are a fact of life in America — those inscrutable “administrative” charges tacked on to everything from checking luggage to buying theater tickets to applying for college. For people with the ability to pay, they are an irritation. But such fees are increasingly being levied on people caught up in the criminal justice system, who are overwhelmingly among the poorest members of society.

Billy Frank Jr., the charismatic leader in the successful battle over fish, was praised by President Obama: “Thanks to his courage and determined effort, our resources are better protected, and more tribes are able to enjoy the rights preserved for them more than a century ago.”

Nisqually tribal elder Billy Frank Jr. was a tireless advocate for dignity and respect for all living creatures. He is a true figure of Northwest history.

King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu was appointed to the Washington state Supreme Court on Thursday, becoming the first openly gay justice, as well as the first Asian American, to serve on the state’s high court.

For someone with a family wage job or better, a traffic ticket is not much more than an irritant: Pay it and get on with life. For someone unemployed or living hand-to-mouth, that same ticket often becomes an insurmountable barrier, leading to more legal troubles, escalating fines and even jail time.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed a Wenatchee attorney as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
Stanley Allen Bastian, 56, will fill a judgeship vacant since June 7, 2012, when Judge Edward Shea assumed senior status, a news release from Ninth Circuit said. One vacancy remains to be filled on the court.

Collections agencies were bothering Olympia resident Jerry Baker, 68, at all hours at the start of the year because of about $2,000 he owed the state in unpaid fines for traffic violations.

The March 22 Oso mudslide was an unspeakable tragedy. As workers continue to search for still-missing loved ones, those who survived find themselves confronting a host of financial and legal uncertainties.

The shock is wearing off in Darrington and Oso.Nearly a month after the devastating mudslide destroyed a neighborhood and wiped out the highway between the two towns, people are trying to find a "new normal" in a place where nothing will be the same again.

For Rodi O’Loane, knowing that 200 attorneys across the state have offered free legal help to people affected by the deadly Oso mudslide is especially meaningful.

Practice has increased since Great Recession, and everyone is paying the price.

Ever since Cindy Hasz opened her geriatric care management business in San Diego 13 years ago, she has been fighting a losing battle for clients unable to get Medicare coverage for physical therapy because they “plateaued” and were not getting better.

Charles Carman says his goal was to provide cheap accommodations for low-income people who could grow their own food and maybe even develop an agricultural co-op on his 20-acre property. But when Whatcom County Planning and Development Services inspectors visited the site in the summer of 2013, they found numerous health and safety code violations. They also discovered that an RV, mobile homes and other dwellings on the property had never received the required county permits but were being rented to tenants.

Immigration authorities must grant bond hearings to immigrants at the Northwest Detention Center who are picked up by immigration authorities months and sometimes years after resolving their criminal cases in state court and returning to their communities.
Click here to read the order.

Debt collection practices continue to be a major source of consumer complaints for state and national agencies, and consumer protection advocates are calling for reform. And the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, has been working on revamping rules regarding debt collection.

Too many poor people in the U.S. lack access to lawyers when they confront major life challenges, including eviction, deportation, custody battles and domestic violence, according to a new report by advocates at Columbia Law School's Human Rights Clinic.

The Legislature passes 3 bills to help foster children and other at-risk kids.

Lawmakers at both the state and federal level are searching for ways to help homeless students, and a program at a Tacoma school has served as a model for some of the legislation.

The Northwest Justice Project (NJP) provides civil legal services to income-eligible folks in Washington State, and you’ve heard me go on about them before: This is a group of genuinely decent attorneys who honestly believe that folks who need help ought to be able to get it — whether they can afford it or not.

He was a thrill-seeker in cowboy boots who piloted planes, scuba-dived in exotic seas and sought to appease a lifelong obsession with speed through vintage sports cars and high-revving motorbikes.
But within the courtroom, Tom Chambers exuded an almost ministerial humility as a champion for the underdog — a personal quality borne from his humble upbringing in small-town Eastern Washington.

More stories:

• tomchambers.com
• Wapato’s Tom Chambers championed the underdog
• Foster Care, Public Defense Among Justice Chambers' Legacies
• Retired state Supreme Court Justice Chambers dies at 70

Barb Otte has a soft spot for senior citizens. So when elderly people comes to the executive director of the Benton-Franklin Legal Aid Society, grab their own chests and say their hearts no longer can take the harassing phone calls from collectors, Otte doesn't hesitate to take them on as clients.

Yao Fou Hinh Chao almost lost his Seattle home to a mortgage scam. “I lived here 35 years,” he said, “and the last one was a nightmare year for me.”

El sueño de Salvador Castro, fue siempre comprar su propia casa. Pero antes de dar tan importante paso, prefirió informarse sobre el proceso de compra.

Three weeks after its launch, Washington’s online insurance marketplace continues to set a strong pace for enrollment.

A bill stuck in the Legislature could make a difference for young people when they are most alone and in need.

Facing a foreclosure date is bad but having items removed from your home before that fateful day is worse. Now a Pierce County man is suing his bank with the help of the Northwest Justice Project, saying it hired a contractor who stole items from his home months before he was supposed to move out.

Federal and state offices join King County in two-year collaboration to improve coordination
Four of every ten veterans say they have little or no knowledge of the benefits they have earned, or how to access them. King County Executive Dow Constantine today said his 2014/2015 County budget will call for support of a King County Veterans Service Network – to embark on the first-ever comprehensive mapping of the labyrinth of federal, state and local services for veterans.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced a new “Military and Veterans Legal Resource Guide” to help veterans, military personnel and their families understand their legal rights and protections.

Washington State doesn't provide or require legal representation for juveniles. But it should.

More than 33 million workers qualify to have their student loans forgiven because they work in schools, hospitals or city halls, but too few take advantage of the options because the programs are overly complicated and often confusing, the government's consumer advocate said Wednesday.

Virla Spencer is so effective in her work because she’s lived the struggle. Herself an ex-offender, Virla Spencer now helps convicts get their driver's licenses back.

The Urban Indian Legal Clinic provides advice and referrals for a range of legal issues to Native Americans. In Seattle, with one of the highest populations of so-called “urban Indians” in the U.S., the clinic provides a needed service for an often overlooked community, organizers say.

In the coming months, my colleagues and I will share stories with Wenatchee World readers about how low-income residents of North Central Washington are achieving justice in our communities.

Yakima officials and a downtown landlord have reached a deal that will likely avoid eviction of the roughly 200 tenants due to unsafe building conditions.

A 10-year battle to get special door-to-door service for a Steilacoom woman with a disability is now in U.S. Federal Court.

Washington’s judicial system abolished court fees for poor people in 2010, but county courts sought ways around the rule. Now in a unanimous decision, the Washington State Supreme Court has reaffirmed that if someone qualifies as indigent, courts need to give them access for free.

The Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) announced that a security breach occurred on its public website potentially involving social security numbers for more than 160,000 persons incarcerated in 2011 and 2012; and names and driver’s licenses of up to a one million people. Call the Administrative Office of the Courts Hotline to check if your Social Security Number or Driver License Number may have been accessed: 1 (800) 448-5584 Monday through Saturday between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. PDT

A federal judge in California has ordered immigration courts in three states to provide legal representation for immigrants with mental disabilities who are in detention and facing deportation, if they cannot represent themselves. The decision is the first time a court has required the government to provide legal assistance for any group of people before the nation’s immigration courts.

On April 17, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced proposed legislation to reform our immigration system. Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) is encouraged that our political leaders recognize some of the serious flaws with our immigration system and the urgent need for reform.

Landlords can’t automatically refuse to rent to Section 8 voucher holders under an ordinance adopted by the City Council.

In December 2010, the Washington Supreme Court adopted General Rule (GR) 34 to create a uniform process and provided mandatory forms. The rule should have provided uniformity in the courts for litigants to request and receive fee waivers. It would provide all citizens access to justice—regardless of their inability to pay a filing fee, ex parte fee, court surcharges, etc. Unfortunately, during the past two years, the adoption of GR 34 has not resulted in the uniformity many of us hoped and expected.

"Most Americans don’t realize that you can have your home taken away, your children taken away and you can be a victim of domestic violence but you have no constitutional right to a lawyer to protect you."
JAMES J. SANDMAN, president of the Legal Services Corporation.

The state Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against a major player in the foreclosure industry, Quality Loan Service, saying it could not act merely as an agent for lenders.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for low-income disabled children are back in the news, in part because of a recent New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof. Unfortunately, the program is being subject to some sharp criticism that is based on misunderstanding of key issues related to SSI for poor children with disabilities.  Discussion and debates concerning this program should be rooted in facts and data, not impressions, misimpressions, and anecdotes.  Here, we present basic facts about the program and try to clear up some significant misunderstandings.

Millions of Americans face eviction every year. But legal aid to the poor, steadily starved since the Reagan years, has been decimated during the recession. The result? In many housing courts around the country, 90 percent of landlords are represented by attorneys and 90 percent of tenants are not. This imbalance of power is as unfair as the solution is clear.

There are hungry people out there, actually; they’re just largely invisible to the rest of us, or they look so much like us that it’s hard to tell. The Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program, better known as SNAP and even better known as food stamps, currently has around 46 million participants, a record high. That’s one in eight Americans — 10 people in your subway car, one or two on every line at Walmart.

King County and the nation will experience larger societal costs if more insurance claimants are denied the Social Security Disability Insurance benefits they have earned, writes guest columnist Alex K.F. Doolittle.

Now autistic children enrolled in the government-subsidized Medicaid program in Washington will have access to ABA therapy.

The ranks of America's poor edged up last year to a high of 49.7 million, based on a new census measure that takes into account medical costs and work-related expenses.

Attorneys in Clark County have offered free legal advice on civil issues for decades. But since the economic recession hit four years ago, the calls to Clark County's Volunteer Lawyers Program have doubled, officials say.

Children with autism spectrum disorders insured by the state’s Apple Health program,  including those on Medicaid, will be covered for Applied Behavior Analysis  (ABA) therapy under a lawsuit settlement approved by U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Jones.
See also: Health Care Authority Approves ABA Therapy for Medicaid Children Diagnosed with Autism

Legal aid offices across the country are being decimated by funding cuts. Host Dick Gordon speaks to a man making do with increased pressures and less money. John Whitfield runs a legal aid service in Virginia - and he says he's having to turn people away.

We live in a litigious society, where having a lawyer on your side can sometimes be of critical importance. But those legal bills sure can add up quick.So what happens when lower income people need legal help or advice? Where do they turn for help with foreclosure, difficulties with benefits, or help expunging the record of a minor trying to get a job? Listen to the radio broadcast.

The nation's largest electronic mortgage-tracking system, MERS, cannot foreclose on a homeowner in Washington state, the state's highest court ruled Thursday.

NWIRP has released an advisory to help community members understand President Obama's recent announcement that his administration will be granting deferred action to some undocumented youth who came to the United States when they were children. For up-to-date information, visit  www.nwirp.org/dream or call 1-855-31-DREAM (1-855-313-7326).

The Northwest Justice Project (NJP) is charged with creating a series of instructive videos for WashingtonLawHelp.org through the federal Communities Connect Network Project (part of the Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunity Program) which aims to increase access to technology and improve legal literacy for unrepresented Washingtonians.

While President Obama and Gov. Romney battle for the hearts and minds of the middle class this election season, there's a huge swath of Americans that are largely ignored. It's the poor, and their ranks are growing.

Millions have been forced to rethink the way they live and spend in the fallout from the longest-running economic downturn since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Into the maelstrom of debate over whether Medicaid should cover more people comes a new study by Harvard researchers who found that when states expanded their Medicaid programs and gave more poor people health insurance, fewer people died.

Amid a funding crunch, more than 60 million people now qualify for civil legal aid, advocates say.

Ask people about the things that make America a “country of laws,” and one answer you will likely get is that everyone is entitled to be represented by a lawyer of his or her choice. But that promise has little meaning to more and more families at or near the poverty level.

At a White House forum April 17 on the state of civil legal assistance, co-hosted by LSC, President Obama said that making civil legal assistance available to low-income Americans is “central to our notion of equal justice under the law,” and pledged to be a “fierce defender and advocate” for legal services.

Washington, DC – Northwest Justice Project (NJP) Executive Director César Torres is one of six legal services program directors selected to participate in a White House forum examining the state of civil legal assistance for low-income Americans. The forum, cohosted by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), will take place on Tuesday, April 17.

In civil court, fewer people are getting lawyers to help them navigate the system.

New initiative gives the cash-strapped middle class more access to legal help.

Videos: Special presentations to the Washington State Supreme Court on Juvenile Justice and Racial Disproportionality

Young people who had run-ins with law enforcement got a chance Wednesday to tell their stories to the state Supreme Court in Olympia.

SPOKANE-- NJP's Spokane office helped more than 30 people who lived in the Shogun Plaza reach a settlement with the building's owner.

Northwest Justice Project provides free civil legal services to people who are low-income and to seniors.

Should a child be granted the right to an attorney when his parents are accused of abuse or neglect?

Guest columnists Richard McDermott, presiding judge of the King County Superior Court, and Barbara Madsen, chief justice of the Washington Supreme Court, voice concern that at a time of increasing legal needs for low-income residents, legal aid resources are facing cuts.

After a year of negotiations, states, federal regulators and five of the biggest lenders have reached a $25 billion settlement to change foreclosure practices. The goal of the settlement is to impose new restrictions on banks and to fund loan modifications for homeowners. Backers hope the agreement will also help stabilize the housing market.

The Great Recession of 2011 has dramatically increased the demand for civil justice for the most vulnerable people in our community. The number of people seeking assistance with cases involving family safety, shelter preservation, predatory lending and access to basic services has grown to unprecedented levels. At the same time, legal aid resources have steadily decreased.

It could take six to nine months for homeowners to find out if they are eligible for the relief, and officials aren't ready to say how many Washington homeowners might benefit.

With the nation mired in the Great Recession, the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to virtually zero in hopes of spurring economic growth. While generally regarded as a sensible and effective strategy, the tactic has had the unintended consequence of crippling hundreds of non-profit organizations that offer legal services for the needy.

Justice Steven C. Gonzalez was sworn in as the newest state Supreme Court justice Monday, a historic move that diversifies the court’s makeup. Gonzalez also adds a strong voice for improving the public’s access to the costly justice system.

Steven Gonzalez was sworn in Monday as the newest member of the Washington state Supreme Court.

Read the latest newsletter from the EJC featuring an interview with NJP attorney Lili Sotelo of the Foreclosure Prevention Unit.

The Foreclosure Fairness Act is supposed to help financially troubled homeowners. But new statistics from the state show that the program is only helping a small number of people keep their homes.

A Wenatchee veteran and longtime musician was two days away from having the county foreclose on his house before some community members stepped forward to help him with back taxes.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sues a series of Northwest employers for letting foremen harass and assault immigrant workers. Civil rights attorneys say abused farm and janitorial workers are just starting to come forward.

The new state law that helps homeowners facing foreclosure isn't working like it should.  The Foreclosure Fairness Act is supposed to get homeowners into mediation to stop foreclosures, but there have been some long delays for homeowners.

A innovative program has been providing legal help for struggling families to deal with health-related disparities. It seems to have worked fine, but now funding has come to an end.

The Foreclosure Fairness Act allows struggling homeowners to meet with their lender and go through mediation in hopes of working things out.

The goal of a new state law is aimed at forcing lenders and loan servicers to ditch the document shell games, and deceptive loan modification practices.

WSBA Bar News article written by Eric Dunn of the Northwest Justice Project and Merf Ehman of Columbia Legal Services.

SEATTLE - A King County woman is taking her payday loan company to court, claiming she was, at one point, charged 1,052 percent interest and that the company is violating new restrictions on payday loan companies put into place in Washington just last year.

Washington's new computer system for processing Medicaid payments is failing to pay so many valid claims that several doctors and clinics have stopped taking new Medicaid patients until they get paid for the ones they've already treated. Others say they soon may need to do the same, or even stop treating Medicaid patients altogether.

Banks that collect fees from servicing delinquent loans and foreclosures don't always act in the best interest of the mortgage investor or the homeowners, who are better served by a loan modification. Guest columnist and NJP Attorney Rory O'Sullivan urges regulators and investors to solve this dilemma.

The U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington issues Temporary Restraining Order in class action challenging constitutionality of inadequate Disability Lifeline notice and procedure.   Recent DSHS change in procedure had resulted in termination of benefits for many disabled persons who had previously been on GAU.  This case appears likely to succeed on the merits and could result in the reinstatement of benefits for disabled individuals who were wrongly terminated or terminated with inadequate notice or attention to proper procedure.   Read the ruling in its entirety here:  http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/washington/wawdce/2:2010cv01366/169941/56/

A short video produced by CVTV about the services that Northwest Justice Project provides to low-income individuals.

County Veterans Citizen Levy Oversight Board members allocated $12,000 to a legal fellowship associated with AmeriCorps, the national service program. The fellowship with the Northwest Justice Project - a nonprofit, publicly funded legal-aid firm - aims to provide free legal assistance to veterans.

The King County Veterans Citizen Levy Oversight Board has agreed to provide funding to help finance a legal fellowship with the goal of providing important legal services to King County veterans. The AmeriCorps fellowship is with the Northwest Justice Project and will assist veterans in removing the barriers to housing, employment, and self-sufficiency.

The NJP Home Foreclosure Legal Aid Project grant will continue another year!

Legal aid programs turn away one person for every client served.

Many homeowners facing foreclosure can get free legal help from a program launched this week by the Washington State Bar Association.

Comcast Newsmakers spotlights the Northwest Justice Project!