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).当Vicky greathhouse试图入睡时，雨点落在了她的脸上. 她感到细雨打在她的手臂上. She recalled 雨y nights more than 10 years ago when she and her four children were homeless—exposed to the wind, 雨, 还有太阳——但她不再住在街上了. 她家主卧室的天花板漏水了.
自2009年以来，格雷特豪斯一直住在华盛顿特区东南部.C.，联排别墅通过D.C. 房屋委员会房屋选择券计划. 曾经洁白的墙壁现在变成了灰蒙蒙的. 楼梯很窄，厨房很昏暗，但她不是一个挑剔的女人. At 42, she was surviving on her monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) check of less than $700, 她唯一的目标就是给她的孩子们一个安全的家. 然而，搬进来不久，房子就开始分崩离析.
“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。. 她给房东打了几周无人接听的电话, Greathouse finally got word that someone would be out to fix the problems in the house. 修理工没有来.
到2010年夏天，greathhouse已经到了崩溃的边缘. 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.
Greathouse decided to file a pro se case against her landlord in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia’s housing conditions court. While the judge ordered injunctive relief, what Greathouse received was a lawsuit instead of repairs. Her landlord had moved to evict Greathouse, stating that she owed more than $10,500 in back rent.
“我不欠她这个. 我担心我必须付钱……和我的孩子们在街上，”格雷特豪斯说. 她最初试图继续为自己辩护, but during a hearing the judge ordered a continuance of the landlord’s case against Greathouse and advised her to obtain an attorney through the D.C. 靠谱的滚球平台事务所公益项目的宣传 & 正义的诊所.
学习窍门
作为本区最大的法律服务提供者之一，律政司.C. 靠谱的滚球平台事务所公益项目宣传 & 正义的诊所 has provided thousands of individuals and families with much needed legal representation in cases involving housing, 家庭法, 公共利益, 消费者问题. 这家诊所成立于1992年，是公益项目(公益性服务 Program)的合作伙伴, 其他法律服务提供者, 以及该地区许多最大的靠谱的滚球平台事务所和政府机构. 去年，该诊所接待了300多例患者.
格雷特豪斯的案件也被提交给了詹纳 & 阻断LLP通过诊所. Michael B. DeSanctis, a partner at the firm, volunteered to work on the case with associate Melissa A. 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, which would determine how much rent Greathouse had to pay each month throughout the litigation process, 只有一个星期了吗. 她已经向法院登记处交了900美元.
在快速回顾了事实之后, 对考克斯来说，格雷特豪斯拖欠房租的案子似乎很荒谬. “拖欠租金不可能等于10美元,500,考克斯说。, 最多加一个, 格雷特豪斯的债务总额约为550美元. 根据住房选择券计划, the government had been sending rent money to the landlord since Greathouse moved in.
With support provided by the 公益性服务 Program—including volunteer mentor Marc Borbely, 她是社区法律服务项目的专职靠谱的滚球平台——詹纳 & Block团队学会了如何处理这类案件, including how much relief they should seek and what they should consider a victory. “马克真的很了不起. D.C. 靠谱的滚球平台事务所公益项目将我们配对在一起，”德桑蒂斯说. “Neither of us [DeSanctis or Cox] had ever done the particular kind of proceeding that this started out as. 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 & Block’s Cox began interviewing family members and preparing Greathouse for her testimony, Keianna迪克森, 公司的项目助理, 去格雷豪斯家拍照作为庭审证据. 迪克森被她所看到的震惊了. 甚至在进门之前，她就注意到前门关不上. 门框坏了，在门把手附近留下了一个大洞. 每次风一吹，门就会突然打开. “太可怕了，”格雷特豪斯说. “任何人都可以进我家.” To keep it closed, she and her kids had to prop the top of a sledgehammer against the door.
楼上浴室的水管出了问题，水顺着墙壁滴了下来, 渗进地毯. 房东仍然拒绝修理任何东西. 遵守卫生部和DCHA的授权, Greathouse and her children had to pull up all the carpet by hand at their own cost. “(他们)说地毯必须搬走. 我们无法忍受那种气味，因为我们生病了,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.
“你可以看到地板上的钉子和订书钉. 有很多霉变和气味的问题. 他们还遇到了蛆的问题……还有地毯上的苍蝇，”迪克森回忆道.
赌注很高，考克斯感到了压力. “客户真的需要一个声音. 她需要有人来讲述她的故事，”她说. “这些案子会让你夜不能寐. 这些人都有真正的问题，需要真正的解决方案.”
格雷特豪斯面临着从她的补贴住房中被赶出去的危险. 一个四口之家的有限收入在700美元以下, 如果她被迫离开，要找到一个新家将是极其困难的. “Really, all she wanted to do when she came to us was to be able to lock her door,考克斯说. “When you sit down and you read the complaint and you see the story, it’s just stark.”
发出自己的声音
在听证会当天, Cox aimed to get a 40 percent reduction of the rent Greathouse had to pay into the court registry each month until the end of the court proceedings and an order demanding that the landlord fix the conditions of the home.
Cox and DeSanctis were told that a 40 percent abatement was an aggressive stance for this type of case. Greathouse was ready to testify about her deplorable living conditions, but she never had to. 在听证会之前，她的靠谱的滚球平台与房东达成了协议. “I think, at that point, the landlord realized her requests for back rent were unreasonable. We were able to lay out the case and explain why she shouldn’t be getting any money from our client,考克斯说.
结果是greathhouse的巨大胜利. 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. The repair of the doorframe was the only point of contention argued at this particular hearing, 房东说她没钱修. 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.
In January 2012 all parties were expected to meet for a scheduling conference to determine the trial date for the eviction hearing and housing conditions cases. The landlord failed to appear, and the case against Greathouse was dismissed without prejudice. The judge then set a court date for March for the proof of damages hearing and to litigate over the housing conditions. 房东又一次缺席了听证会.
“我们能够提供(greathhouse的)证词, 她能够谈论照片和她的房子的条件,考克斯说. 在这一点上, the judge ordered the landlord to make the home repairs that Greathouse needed and pay $226 in damages, 并以偏见驳回了驱逐案. 无法克服和不合理的拖欠租金的威胁永远消失了.
“我感觉很好，也很自豪我上了法庭. 我不得不反击并寻求帮助，”greathhouse说. “有些靠谱的滚球平台，他们只是去法庭，你没有机会说话. 她给了我发言的机会.截至7月, Greathouse has had most of her home repaired and was only waiting on new carpet and to have her garbage disposal fixed.
“We always feel a sense of triumph when our volunteers are as incensed as we are about the conditions in which many of our clients find themselves living,马克·赫尔佐格说, D .副主任.C. 靠谱的滚球平台协会公益项目. “Michael and Melissa channeled their outrage to achieve an incredible victory for their client. 维姬和她的孩子们现在可以住在体面安全的房子里了, 哪一项是基本人权, 但是，生活在贫困中的人们却常常忽略了这一点.”
DeSanctis reiterates the importance of having local lawyers take part in these types of cases. “对我来说, it’s sort of the highest calling of a lawyer to have an individual client who needs help in a very real and immediate way that’s right here in our community . . . . 在华盛顿，为弱势群体提供的法律服务严重短缺.C. 如果靠谱的滚球平台不站出来，很多人将得不到公正. 如果他们真的挺身而出，我们就很容易提供帮助，”德桑蒂斯说.
考克斯同意, 说, “We all want to live in a society where people’s access to justice does not depend on their income or wealth, 这是我们可以尽我们所能做出积极贡献的一个小方法.”
作者:泰国披乐
摘自《华盛顿靠谱的滚球平台》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).
