Legal System Fair for Everyone

Cover Article
Volunteer Lawyers Project Helps Make the
Legal System Fair for Everyone
By Ginny Conlan Whitman
O
ver 30 years ago, the Legal Aid Society of Greater
Cincinnati (Legal Aid) and the Cincinnati Bar Association joined forces to create the Volunteer Lawyers for
the Poor Foundation (VLPF), typically known as the Volunteer
Lawyers Project (VLP). The VLP’s mission is to support attorneys who wish to provide pro bono services, and to help Legal
Aid serve more clients. The VLP and Legal Aid have forged a
strong partnership. Legal Aid screens all of the clients served by
VLP attorneys, and Legal Aid attorneys provide training and
back-up support to the volunteers. Legal Aid also provides staff
and administrative support to the VLP.
Today, Legal Aid and
the VLP provide legal
services to low income
individuals in seven
counties in southwest
Ohio. VLP attorneys
have provided legal services to thousands of clients in the past
30 years, and have donated millions of dollars’ worth of their
time.
2013 and 2014 have been especially exciting years for the
VLP. The VLP has established new relationships with law firms
and leading corporations in the area. Individual attorneys have
achieved great results in important cases. The dynamic energy
behind all of these efforts has resulted in more and better legal
service to the individuals in our community who need it the
most. Here are a few of our stories.
clients referred by the VLP; pro bono work has always been a
part of the firm’s culture. Therefore, it seemed natural that in
celebration of its 25th anniversary, MRJ committed to taking 25
referrals from the VLP in 2014. Steve Brewer accepted the task
of coordinating the work and distributing cases to the attorneys.
By the time this story went to press, MRJ was way ahead
of its target 25 cases, and had achieved some great successes,
including the following:
Client M.S. had gotten into a fight in a bar in 2005 and was
convicted of assault. Nine years later he was having trouble
getting a job. Attorney
Brandon Woodard made
two trips to court to help
him get his criminal
record expunged. The
judge had turned M.S.
down once, but Brandon
was willing to help him
try again. After a successful result, M.S. happily reported that he
had three job offers and was going to be able to get on with his
life.
Client K.V. was sued by a local hospital in a collection action
for a very large unpaid medical bill related to surgery performed
at the hospital. Brian Pokrywka met with K.V., investigated the
facts and determined that K.V. actually had health insurance to
cover the surgical procedure. Brian also spoke with the health
insurance carrier and learned that the claim was denied because
the hospital did not submit the claim to the carrier in time, in
violation of their agreement. Since negotiations went nowhere
with either the carrier or the hospital, Brian filed an Answer
and Counterclaim against the hospital, alleging that the hospital
breached its contract with the health insurance company by
failing to submit the claim within six months of the date the
bill was incurred. Further, Brian alleged that K.V. was a third
party beneficiary of the contract between the insurance carrier
Therefore, it seemed natural that in celebration
of its 25th anniversary, MRJ committed to
taking 25 referrals from the VLP in 2014.
Montgomery Rennie & Jonson continues its
strong Pro Bono efforts
James Montgomery, Doug Rennie and George Jonson came
together 25 years ago to launch the law firm Montgomery Rennie & Jonson (MRJ). Over the course of many years, attorneys
from the firm have devoted much time and energy helping
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September 2014 CBA REPORT 19
Cover Article
and the hospital. Further negotiations
resulted in the hospital writing off the
outstanding balance of the unpaid hospital bill and dismissing the action against
K.V. Brian’s concern for K.V. resulted in
the legal system protecting a vulnerable
person who needed his help.
General Electric Aviation’s Pro
Bono work honored
Attorneys from GE Aviation have
been long time volunteers with the
VLP. Their focus has been participation
in the VLP’s Wills and Advance Planning Clinics, and providing assistance
to students having difficulties with the
education system. In 2014, GE Aviation
attorneys made an even deeper commitment to their education work. They
agreed to accept referrals from the Child
HeLP Project, which is a very successful
partnership between
the Legal Aid Society
of Greater Cincinnati
and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Child
HeLP serves children
who are seen in the
hospital’s primary
pediatric care clinics.
Most of the children and their families
live in poverty, and Child HeLP is designed to provide legal assistance to help
them remove barriers to the children’s
good health.
In collaboration with Child HeLP,
GE Aviation attorneys represent parents
who want their children evaluated for an
Individual Education Plan (IEP). Many
children lag in school or have disciplinary problems because of unmet physical,
emotional or mental problems. An IEP
can help the child stay on track and be
successful in school. GE Aviation attorneys advocate for children referred
to them by Child Help to be evaluated
and then assist the families through the
process. The attorneys also advocate to
ensure the schools fulfill the requirements of the IEP.
Based on this and other pro bono
work done by GE Aviation attorneys, the
Volunteer Lawyers for the Poor Foundation nominated GE Aviation for the
prestigious Presidential Award given
yearly by the Ohio Legal Assistance
Foundation (OLAF) to an attorney or
firm that has made outstanding efforts
in improving access to justice through
pro bono and volunteer service. GE won
the award, which was accepted by GE
Aviation General Counsel Mike McAlevey and members of the GE Aviation
pro bono team at the Annual Meeting of
the Ohio State Bar Association on April
30, 2014.
Procter & Gamble legal team
joins together to help families
and kids
After much careful planning, Procter
& Gamble (P&G) launched two major pro
bono projects in 2013 that involve P&G
attorneys, paralegals and administrative
assistants. The projects are co-managed
by P&G, the VLP and Legal Aid attorneys Virginia Tallent and Elizabeth Tull.
P&G’s focus is on alleviating poor rental
ment was riddled with black mold. She
negotiated with the landlord to allow the
family to break the lease and move, and
also negotiated a return of the family’s
security deposit so that they had money
to help them obtain a better and safer
apartment. Without Kathy’s intervention,
the family would likely still be living in
the mold infested apartment.
Children in poverty face unique challenges, and overstressed schools systems
do not always identify the best ways to
help them succeed. Schools sometimes
propose expulsion as a preferred course
of action when behavioral issues arise,
but the impact of expulsion on a child
can be devastating. This is another area
in which P&G attorneys and staff have
made a great impact. Together, they
have prevented permanent expulsion for
almost all of their clients through the use
of creative solutions that
address the needs of the
children, the schools
and the families.
An example of this
work is the representation provided by Sarah
Topy to a 6th grade boy
proposed for expulsion
for hitting the acting principal. The boy
was an extremely good student, but had
clear anger management issues. Sarah
brought all of the right people together,
including the boy and his parents, the
boy’s counselor and the school administrators. Together, they worked out a plan
that avoided expulsion and allowed the
boy to keep up with his school work during a 15 day suspension.
When she began work at BakerHostetler, she
found a group of attorneys very interested in
developing a meaningful pro bono program.
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housing conditions, and advocating for
children proposed for expulsion from
public schools. Both projects provide essential services to Legal Aid clients.
Poor rental housing conditions
plague our neighborhoods. Often the
tenants have no power to effect change,
and complaints to the landlord or Board
of Health often land them in eviction
court. When living in poverty there is
often no money to move. Plus, moving
may put that person further away from
public transportation which can affect
his ability to get or retain a job. Moving also may have a terrible impact on
school-aged children. Every time a child
moves into a new school, he/she has to
acclimate to a new system, and often falls
further and further behind. This is especially true of a child with special needs.
Helping to keep families in safe and
affordable housing is one of Legal Aid’s
chief priorities, and P&G’s assistance in
this regard has been invaluable.
Sometimes, however, families do
need to move. P&G attorney Kathy
Carter represented a family whose apart-
Taft Stettinius & Hollister
attorneys help family regain
money for home repairs
In late 2013, Taft Stettinius and Hollister partner Mel Shotten contacted VLP
to offer to engage in more pro bono work.
VLP quickly identified a homeowner,
Mr. B., who needed help straightening
out a dispute with a contractor who had
done repairs on the man’s home. Mr. B.
had purchased a home through HUD,
and part of the money he borrowed was
designated for repairs. A dispute arose
about the quality and cost of the work
being done, and Mr. B refused to pay
the contractor any more money. The
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contractor filed a mechanic’s lien against
the property, and claimed he was due
thousands of dollars in addition to what
he already had been paid. The bank
would not release any more of Mr. B.’s
money to complete the repairs until the
dispute was resolved. Mel turned to a
young associate, Donnell Bell, to litigate
the matter. Donnell filed a declaratory
judgment action and tried the case to the
court. Throughout the trial, Taft partner
and VLPF Board member Earl Messer
provided supervision and assistance.
After a full trial on the merits, the court
ruled in Mr. B.’s favor, dismissed the contractor’s claims for damages and ordered
the lien removed.
Nancy Brewer is the
quintessential volunteer
Nancy Brewer worked for more than
10 years as a Legal Aid attorney in West
Virginia, North Carolina and Michigan,
and called the VLP soon after she moved
to Cincinnati in 2009. Since December
2010, Nancy has provided pro bono legal
services to more than 30 individuals
and families. Nancy takes difficult cases
and gets terrific results through her hard
work and commitment to solving her
clients’ problems. She has helped victims
of domestic violence obtain a divorce
and secure custody and support, helped
individuals wrongly denied wages and
unemployment compensation benefits,
and has waded into tricky consumer
issues to assist clients who were taken
advantage of by unethical sales practices.
In one memorable case, VLP asked
Nancy to help a man obtain his last
paycheck, as well as overtime pay. Nancy
called the VLP back a few days later;
she wanted to also help her client obtain
unemployment compensation benefits.
It seemed that her client had been fired
for asking for his pay. A few months
later, Nancy reported that her client had
been paid all of the money he was owed,
and also had established eligibility for
unemployment. Nancy’s efforts assured
that the family had enough money for
food and rent, and that the employer did
not get away with cheating him out of the
pay he had earned.
www.CincyBar.org Frost Brown Todd attorneys
fight against consumer fraud
Ryan Lett and Matt Wagner are associates at Frost Brown Todd (FBT). FBT
has a long history of supporting the VLP,
both through financial contributions and
pro bono legal work. In late 2012, D.R.
called Legal Aid looking for help with a
car repair issue. The man had purchased
the car specifically to transport his minor
child, and so had sought out a safe and
reliable car with a full warranty. Many
mechanical problems ensued; D.R. had
a warranty, but the dealership refused to
honor it or repair his car without significant additional payments.
Frost Brown Todd agreed to handle
the case pro bono and assigned it to Ryan
and Matt. After investigating the facts,
the attorneys filed claims against the
dealer and finance company alleging
fraud, breach of contract, breach of express and implied warranty and multiple
violations of the Ohio Consumer Practices Act. After a full trial on the merits,
D.R. prevailed and was awarded all
damages claimed. In addition, the Court
ruled he was entitled, under the statute,
to treble damages and attorneys’ fees.
Ryan and Matt have been trying to help
D.R. collect on the judgment, and though
they have not yet succeeded, they are
determined to help D.R. get the money
awarded to him. There is no doubt there
would have been a much different result
without the representation the attorneys
provided.
Keating Muething & Klekamp
attorneys help client settle
collection suit
Mr. P. is a 72-year-old man who
called Legal Aid looking for help with a
collection suit. A hearing aid he had purchased at his doctor’s recommendation
did not work as it should. The company
could not remedy the problem and
eventually he returned the hearing aid.
Believing he would receive an appropriate credit, he made no further payments
on the account.
Four years later he received notice
of a summons; he had been sued for
$2,600.00, hundreds of dollars more than
the hearing aid itself had cost. Keating
Muething & Klekamp partner Brian
Muething worked with associate Caitlin
Murphy to defend the suit. They denied
liability on Mr. P.’s behalf and asserted
claims against other potentially responsible parties. Ultimately all of these claims
were settled on favorable terms, Mr. P.
achieving a just result. BakerHostetler launches new
Pro Bono effort
BakerHostetler attorney Carrie
Dettmer Slye formerly worked at Legal
Aid and understands well how much low
income individuals need legal assistance.
When she began work at BakerHostetler,
she found a group of attorneys very interested in developing a meaningful pro
bono program. Under the leadership of
Carrie and partner Ted Martin, BakerHostetler formed a partnership with
Legal Aid’s Child HeLP Project. Poor and
unsanitary housing conditions can have
a significant adverse impact on a child’s
health, and doctors at Children Hospital
Medical Center often refer families living
in poor conditions to the Child HeLP
Project. BakerHostetler attorneys now
provide legal assistance to these families, and help them improve their lives
through advocacy for better conditions.
We thank all of these firms and
attorneys for accepting referrals and
helping vulnerable children and families in our community.
You can help by joining them. These
stories are just a few examples of the
many ways in which pro bono legal assistance can make such an enormous
difference in the lives of our neighbors.
For more information about how you can
join these attorneys and help to make
sure that our legal system works for
everyone, please visit the VLP website at
www.vlpcincinnati.org, or call VLP Managing Attorney Ginny Conlan Whitman
at 513-362-2839.
Whitman is the managing attorney of the Volunteer
Lawyers Project where she has served for seven years.
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