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A number of public interest attorneys filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to halt in-person traffic and eviction trials held in Los Angeles County, claiming COVID-19 prevention protocols are failing after two court interpreters who were infected died in recent weeks.
The suit, brought by Public Counsel,the Inner City Law Center,Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
and Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, accuses the courts of prioritizing the “continuity of nonessential operations over community safety and human life.”
“The court’s facilities are built and administered in a way that makes it impossible to maintain a safe social distance of six feet or more, particularly within crowded and poorly ventilated courtrooms and hallways. Every day, hundreds of Angelenos crowd into the county’s courthouses to enter pleas on traffic tickets or defend against eviction lawsuits,” the suit read. “Public health experts have determined that not only are these cond
City Sues Santa Monica Landlords for allegedly fraudulent behaviors during pandemic
Feb. 05, 2021 at 6:00 am
Allegedly fraudulent and malicious conduct has prompted the City of Santa Monica to file a lawsuit against local landlords who are accused of violating the City’s Tenant Harassment Ordinance and eviction moratorium.
The complaint filed last week states Youseph and Hanokh Golshirazian, and SoCal Investment Company, LLC, have allegedly attempted to drive rent-controlled tenants out of their homes since they first purchased their 30-unit residential property located at 153 San Vicente Boulevard in 2017.
SoCal Investment Company did not return a request for interview as of Thursday. However, twenty-three of its thirty units at the San Vicente property were vacant as of last week, according to Santa Monica Rent Control Board records, and the City alleges the defendants have used fraud, intimidation and other unlawful behavior in an attempt to evict five of the last-remaining
Medical Legal Community Partnership- Los Angeles Improves Well-Being of Vulnerable Patients During the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond
By Anna Gorman, Director of Community Partnerships and Programs at the L.A. County Department of Health Services
Published February 4, 2021
Judy Balch had come to the Wilmington Health Center for a medical appointment when she told a social worker that she was worried about being evicted from her apartment. The social worker referred her to Melody Osuna, an attorney assigned to help patients with legal issues.
Osuna, who works for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, helped Balch complete and submit the necessary documents to fight the eviction in court. “Had we not done this, she would have defaulted on her eviction case and lost her housing,” Osuna said.
Millions of Americans unable to pay their rent during the pandemic face a snowballing financial burden that threatens to deplete their savings, ruin their credit and drive them from their homes.
A patchwork of government action is protecting many of the most financially strapped tenants for now. But it could take these renters especially low-income ones years to recover, even as the rest of the economy begins to rebound.
“Even if they say we can pay [missed rent] back in two or three years that’s money we don’t have,” said Kelly Wise, a 32-year-old resident of L.A. s Westlake neighborhood. After losing jobs selling merchandise at concerts and cutting fabric for Hollywood sets, she is more than $10,000 behind on rent.
An executive order signed by President Biden last week changed federal funding rules in a way that could potentially lift thousands of homeless Angelenos off the streets as the coronavirus continues to rage.
Local elected officials hope a shift in how the Federal Emergency Management Agency reimburses municipalities will breathe new life into an effort to rent hotel rooms for homeless people who are vulnerable to the virus and struggle to isolate.
“This is a huge opportunity. This is like manna from heaven,” said Councilman Mike Bonin, who on Tuesday introduced a motion asking the city to explore options for renting more hotel rooms. He thinks the city should be thinking of renting thousands or tens of thousands of rooms.