Lighting the Candles of Justice



This newsletter comes in the midst of the worst economy in nearly a century. We hope its inspiring stories of justice offer two lessons: Extraordinary courage and commitment can lead to an extraordinary Los Angeles for all of us; and, Bet Tzedek only thrives because of the remarkable support it enjoys from our community. As these stories demonstrate, Bet Tzedek has seen a large increase in the demand for its services over the last six months. Government cutbacks, foreclosures and layoffs can have a devastating impact on the low-income families and seniors Bet Tzedek serves. We help our clients through these unprecedented times with our proven mix of direct service, education, and advocacy, and we greatly leverage our professional staff thanks to our network of more than 1,000 volunteers. With your help, Bet Tzedek will meet the growing needs of our clients and continue to make Los Angeles an extraordinary city. In this season of giving, please consider the gift of justice. Donate Now >> In This Issue: Bet Tzedek Earns Unemployment Benefits for Salesman Assistance for Victims of Fraud Touching History, Touching Lives Southern California Edison... Creating a New Path for Pro Bono Bet Tzedek Presents at International Pro Bono Forum Saving Harry's House Ending the Exploitation of Car Wash Workers Housing Team's Collaboration Means Safer Housing Patty Galtress... Honoring Her Mother Bet Tzedek's Family Conservator Training Day	Donate Now >> Upcoming Events: 35th Anniversary Dinner Gala Thurs. February 5 / 6:30pm New Ways to Give to Bet Tzedek 1. If you’re a Ralph’s Rewards member, register your card to earn money for Bet Tzedek. Our organization number is 91160 and a percentage of each Ralph’s purchase will be donated to Bet Tzedek. 2. Use the GoodSearch.com search engine and select Bet Tzedek. With every web search, a small donation is made to Bet Tzedek. Helping Bet Tzedek So Others Can Be Helped Bet Tzedek exists to help others. Occasionally, the organization itself needs strategic assistance with a particular issue. David Rugendorf, a Partner in Immigration Law at Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP, offered tremendous help to Bet Tzedek by assisting the organization and in particular, Volker Schmidt, Holocaust Services Attorney. After four years of volunteering with Bet Tzedek, Volker needed his green card to officially join the staff and serve Holocaust survivors nationally. David expertly navigated the highly complex immigration process with Bet Tzedek and Volker so that he could obtain permanent resident status, which ensured that Volker could be focused on his service to survivors. A significant part of David’s motivation for volunteering was to honor the memory of his mother, who devoted much of her professional career to helping Holocaust survivors in Chicago. David said, “In my own way, I am trying to carry on her legacy and continue her efforts. Bet Tzedek is a fabulous organization and it was an honor to help." Bet Tzedek's The Justice Socity - A New Group for a New Generation More than 80 people gathered on December 9th at The X Bar in Century City to help launch Bet Tzedek’s The Justice Society. *The Justice Society* is a network of dedicated professionals committed to transforming our community by supporting Bet Tzedek – The House of Justice. Holly Fujie, Bet Tzedek board member and California State Bar President, welcomed the crowd and introduced Los Angeles City Councilmember Jack Weiss, who spoke about the importance of being involved in organizations like Bet Tzedek and being a part of the efforts to create positive change in Los Angeles. Jeff Sklar, Bet Tzedek board member and chairperson of The Justice Society, closed the evening with remarks about The Justice Society and encouraged attendees to become members of this remarkable new group. For more information, please contact Amy Peckner at (323) 549-5860 or apeckner@bettzedek.org.
Bet Tzedek Earns Unemployment Benefits for Salesman Bet Tzedek’s Employment Rights Project helps workers who have been mistreated or exploited. Workers like David, a 70-year-old furniture salesman suffering from cancer whose employer went out of business. David was fired shortly before the company’s demise and he was initially denied unemployment benefits. The Employment Rights Project has seen a sharp increase in the number of clients appealing denials of unemployment insurance benefits. The California Employment Development Department ("EDD") had initially denied benefits to David, agreeing with the employer's contentions that David had used his age and illness as an excuse not to do his work. Bet Tzedek Law Clerk Hilda Montes de Oca investigated and learned that David had been wrongfully denied benefits: his work output had been slow because his employer was losing customers and going out of business. In fact, the company’s doors had shut by the time David came to Bet Tzedek. Hilda represented David in his appeal at a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. At the hearing, David’s supervisor attempted to prove that David was terminated for misconduct, and produced a full-color, glossy photo of David napping at work. Hilda did not object. In fact, David testified about the debilitating effects of the ongoing treatments he received for his cancer, and about how his employer agreed to occasional naps as part of a reasonable accommodation of David's increasing disability. After fending off several more attempts by the employer to prove David’s misconduct, Hilda and David presented his story. Hilda also prepared and submitted exhibits of awards David had won from his employer and customer commendations. Upon careful consideration of the hearing record and our slew of exhibits, the Judge found the employer failed to prove misconduct. The Judge reversed the EDD's denial, and awarded full benefits to David. These deserved benefits will allow David to maintain his housing and care for himself while out of work. Donate to the Employment Rights Project >> Assistance for Victims of Fraud While national headlines focus on shocking financial frauds, smaller-scale crimes are being perpetrated against low- and middle-income families right here in Los Angeles. In October, Bet Tzedek staff attorneys Anna Burns and Joey Alarcon presented at a Victims Assistance and Resources Town Hall meeting organized by the FBI and various government agencies. The town hall meeting was held for the hundreds of victims of an investment scam perpetrated by Financial Plus Investments. Many of the victims mortgaged their homes, raided their retirement accounts, or borrowed money in order to raise the funds to invest. The “investments” were fictional and had no return. Because of his crime, the owner of the company is currently in jail and has declared bankruptcy. Many victims of this scam are seniors and most do not speak English. After the presentation, Anna and Joey began to receive many calls from attendees who, as a result of the scam, are now facing foreclosure or being harassed by creditors. To serve their needs, Joey organized a special Debtors’ Rights Clinic in Spanish. Joey has opened numerous cases for victims of this fraud, and he is pursing every legal avenue to recover as many funds as possible for his clients. While Joey has no magic solution for the defrauded investors, his concern and strong dedication are a great help to his clients as they struggle to recover their financial bearing. Donate to the Consumer Fraud Team >> Touching History, Touching Lives For the thousands of Holocaust survivors living in poverty, Bet Tzedek’s Holocaust Survivors Justice Network (HSJN) means a small measure of dignity and desperately-needed assistance in meeting the necessities of life. For the thousands of volunteers who donate their time, HSJN means the opportunity to help a survivor and learn firsthand of the horrors of the Shoah. HSJN joins the generations to achieve justice for the most deserving of recipients. Bet Tzedek founded the Holocaust Survivors Justice Network (HSJN) to fulfill its commitment that no Holocaust survivor live in poverty. HSJN is a unique and unprecedented national effort that partners law firms, corporate law departments and social services agencies to provide vital legal services to survivors. Bet Tzedek benefited greatly from the pro bono leadership and assistance of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP in establishing the Network. For its first project, the Network is assisting thousands of survivors in applying for a German reparations program that offers a one-time, $3,000 payment. Since commencing this project in fall 2007, Bet Tzedek staff and volunteer lawyers have filed more than 900 survivor claims and received 332 approvals for survivors in Los Angeles. Nationally, an additional 1,500 survivors have already received assistance. Before the end of 2009, Bet Tzedek expects that survivors will receive more than $10,000,000 because of HSJN’s work. The remarks of some of the volunteer attorneys involved in this project say everything about this project’s importance and meaning: From San Diego: “I will never forget my time with Irene yesterday. My thanks to you for allowing me to preserve her thoughts and experiences for the generations to come.” From Washington, D.C.: “[The Bet Tzedek staff] have tirelessly and expertly created a tremendous network of clinics serving the most deserving group of clients imaginable.” From Miami: “the attorneys are very grateful to have the opportunity to work on the project and the survivors are extremely appreciative. Just last week, we had 3 clinics that were attended by more than 100 survivors!” Donate to the Holocaust Survivors Justice Network >> Southern California Edison... Creating a New Path for Pro Bono Bet Tzedek congratulates Southern California Edison and Janet Combs, recipients of the 2008 California Lawyer “Angel Award”, for their contribution as some of the state’s top pro bono lawyers. With training and support from Bet Tzedek, SCE leads a growing roster of prestigious law firms and corporations in representing low-wage workers. For families mired in poverty, recovered wages are a welcome holiday gift and SCE a real “Angel”. In the spring of 2008, Janet Combs read an L.A. Times article covering Bet Tzedek’s advocacy on behalf of beleaguered car wash workers. Outraged and determined to make a difference, Janet called Bet Tzedek Pro Bono Director Elissa Barrett to ask how SCE could help. With strong support from SCE’s corporate leadership, Bet Tzedek trained more than a third of SCE’s legal department – attorneys and paralegals with a wide variety of experience in litigation and transactional law as well as diverse language capacity. “SCE was a godsend. There is so much talent in their legal team and such a strong culture of service, we knew the project would be a success,” said Barrett. In their most recent victory, SCE attorney Bill Walsh and SCE paralegal Teresa Cordova recovered more than $4,000 in unpaid wages for a construction worker who labored for over five months without pay. The contractor denied the worker was an employee but Walsh and Cordova proved that he had been hired along with other documented workers, then supervised and paid in cash by the contractor. After oral argument and presentation of evidence by SCE, the Labor Commissioner found for the client and awarded $4,200 in unpaid wages. “With the economic crisis deepening month by month, Bet Tzedek is seeing greater and greater need for our services. Without pro bono help from SCE, we would have had to turn dozens of additional clients away this year,” said Bet Tzedek’s Employment Rights Project Director Kevin Kish. “We cannot thank them enough.” Other firms and corporations have followed SCE’s lead, including Latham & Watkins, Howrey, Caldwell-Leslie and Mayer Brown. Support Bet Tzedek's Pro Bono Program >> Bet Tzedek Presents at International Pro Bono Forum At this year’s Public Interest Law Institute’s European Pro Bono Forum, Bet Tzedek’s Holocaust Survivors Justice Network was one of the featured partnerships. At this year’s event, held in Budapest in early November, more than 170 participants from 22 different countries attended to discuss long-lasting partnerships between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and law firms. Bet Tzedek Pro Bono Director Elissa Barrett and Holocaust Services attorney Lisa Hoffman presented a special breakfast panel to U.S. and European-based firms and NGOs interested in the Network model for pro bono delivery. The panel and a subsequent luncheon hosted at PILI’s main Budapest headquarters highlighted Weil Gotshal’s substantial leadership role in administrative proceedings and litigation on behalf of Bet Tzedek clients applying to the Hungarian government for loss of life and forced labor claims filed in 2006. “With the Hungarian compensation claims in particular, it will be necessary for us to expand our pro bono effort in Europe. For instance, it is extremely challenging to obtain the necessary supporting documents from Hungary and other relevant Central and Eastern European countries. We need all the help we can get,” said Hoffman. Progress on Hungarian reparations advanced significantly after Hoffman’s 2007 PILI attendance. “By adding another Bet Tzedek staff member and extending the visit, we were able to accomplish so much more this year,” said Hoffman. “The response from local firms was quite encouraging,” reflected Barrett after establishing new ties with UK-based firm Allen & Overy as well as Budapest-based firm K&P’s managing partner Kornelia Nagy-Koppany (www.knplaw.com). “With our traditional allies at firms like Weil, Skadden, Latham DLA Piper, Mayer Brown and these new relationships, we look forward to what the future will bring.” In addition to presenting at PILI, the Bet Tzedek/Weil Gotshal team met extensively with the U.S. State Department, the Hungarian Office of Compensation and a wide-range of Jewish community-based organizations about The Justice Network and the Hungarian compensation effort. The Bet Tzedek team also made important contacts with law firms and NGOs in Moscow, an essential step for groundbreaking work on behalf of Jewish survivors of the Siege of Leningrad. Saving Harry's House A small firm with a large appetite for pro bono, Caldwell Leslie is no stranger to groundbreaking civil rights litigation and arguments before the Ninth Circuit. When they turned their attention to legal services, nothing less than the highest standard of excellence would do. “We think of Bet Tzedek as a partner in the development of our pro bono program. Their attorneys are so incredibly organized and supportive, they make doing pro bono easy,” said Andy Esbenshade, Caldwell’s pro bono coordinator. In 2008, Caldwell laid strong foundations for that partnership, tackling elder abuse, sweatshop conditions and housing litigation with 20% of attorneys firm-wide involved in cases with Bet Tzedek. When Caldwell attorneys Michael Roth and Laurie Martindale met Bet Tzedek client Harry Easton, they felt immediately connected to this elderly man who had lost his home, his good credit and his sense of safety after being defrauded. “This was everything you could hope for in a pro bono case: a sympathetic client, expert training and support from Bet Tzedek, and an injustice crying out to be corrected,” said Roth. “When we called Harry the day before Thanksgiving to let him know he was getting his house back plus $100,000 in restitution to help clear his credit, he cried,” reflected Martindale. “Our attorneys are having similar experiences in their other Bet Tzedek cases,” confirmed Esbenshade. With five cases filed before the Labor Commissioner, Caldwell attorney Adam Livingston and his clients await justice after their sweatshop employer violated minimum wage and overtime laws. And as the holidays approach, Caldwell attorneys Eric Pettit and Arwen Johnson steadily build the case for their client, a young mother whose family lost everything in an apartment fire and who has struggled to escape homelessness ever since. Ending the Exploitation of Car Wash Workers Bet Tzedek’s advocates work to help individuals and to reform entire industries. Occasionally, a single case helps in both efforts. For two car wash workers, their individual victories are positive steps toward better working conditions for thousands of other exploited employees. One of Bet Tzedek’s Summer Clerks, Julian Treves from Southwestern Law School, conducted Labor Commissioner hearings for the two car wash workers in July. In August, the hearing officer awarded our clients the full amount of wages and penalties Bet Tzedek requested. For one worker, the victory means $3,921.80, and for the other, it means $9,140.32. This is a great result for our clients, of course, but these cases have significance beyond just the recovery of owed wages. Both clients worked for Nary's Car Wash, which was one of the first targets of an on-going car wash worker organizing campaign, and which was profiled in a Los Angeles Times article this spring. After several protests in front of the car wash last summer, the employer simply fired most of the workers. He then sold the car wash to a relative, who continues to operate it under a new name. A private attorney brought suit in superior court on behalf of workers with larger claims, and Bet Tzedek agreed to represent those workers with smaller claims in cases before the Labor Commissioner. Showing how Bet Tzedek’s wide-ranging practice weaves together to benefit our clients, Julian relied upon the "successorship" provision of the car wash worker law that Bet Tzedek helped to move through the California Legislature in 2007. Under this provision, Bet Tzedek brought the workers’ claims against the new owner, even though our clients had worked for the old owner. Julian prepared a hearing brief explaining how the new owner - as a family member of the old owner operating the same facility - is liable for the wages the previous owner failed to pay. After reading Julian's brief at the hearing, the attorney for the new owner made a settlement offer that our clients accepted. To our knowledge, these were the first legal decisions to be won on behalf of clients who participated in the organizing effort, and they demonstrate to other workers that Bet Tzedek is committed to justice for all exploited laborers. The cases also send an important message to employers that they cannot escape justice by firing employees and shutting down, as this car wash owner did. Donate to the Employment Rights Project >> Housing Team's Collaboration Means Safer Housing Among Bet Tzedek’s many victories that have helped maintain safe and affordable housing for low-income clients in 2008, Bet Tzedek’s housing attorneys Michelle Kezirian and Peter Ramirez proudly remember the case of Susan, Chae and Tak Ha. James Kawahito The Has rented an unpermitted unit in the Rampart district. There were numerous violations of basic health and safety code standards, and the owner harassed them whenever they requested repairs. Tak Ha, their toddler son, injured his head on the jagged end of a metal pipe that stuck out of the wall. When the Has complained to the landlord, he responded by filing an eviction notice! Peter, an experienced eviction defense attorney, partnered with volunteer attorneys from Hunton and Williams in a successful effort to defend the Has. Peter then spoke with his colleague, Sydney M. Irmas Housing Conditions Project Director Michelle Kezirian, about the Has and the conditions in which they lived. Michelle then worked closely with pro bono attorney James Kawahito to file an affirmative lawsuit against the landlord. Thanks to this remarkable collaboration among Bet Tzedek staff and private firm volunteers, the Has received a confidential cash settlement, with money for Tak invested in an annuity intended to pay for his college education when he turns 18. Support Bet Tzedek's Housing Work >> Patty Galtress... Honoring Her Mother Bet Tzedek’s advocacy prevented a nursing home from exploiting a daughter’s grief to illegally collect more than $1,100. Because of Bet Tzedek’s help, Patty Galtress now can afford to honor her mother properly with a headstone. In December 2007, Patty Galtress’ mother entered a nursing home following emergency surgery. Two weeks later, Patty’s mom died. Shortly thereafter, the nursing home contacted Patty and told her that she owed it money for her mother’s stay at the facility. Patty was the agent under her mother’s power of attorney for health care, and had signed as “Resident’s Representative” on her mother’s admission agreement. Patty explained that she did not have the money to pay her mother’s bill. The nursing home offered to accept monthly payments. Grieving over her mother’s death and unaware of her legal rights, Patty signed a promissory note agreeing to pay the nursing home $1,154 at the rate of $50 per month. The law prohibits a nursing home from requiring a family member or friend to become financially liable for a resident’s nursing home expenses. Nonetheless, nursing homes often illegally attempt to collect payment from persons other than the resident. The nursing homes often use the fact that a relative is an agent under a resident’s power of attorney for health care or is listed as a representative on the resident’s admission agreement as “evidence” that the individual is financially responsible for the resident’s bill. Patty contacted Bet Tzedek in May 2008 after having paid $250 to the nursing home, and was referred to attorney Jody Spiegel, Director of Bet Tzedek’s Nursing Home Advocacy Project. After weeks of negotiations with nursing home management and its lawyer, Spiegel was able to secure a cancellation of the promissory note and a refund of the $250 paid by Patty to the nursing home. In a letter to Bet Tzedek, Patty wrote: “I would like to let you know how grateful I am for your organization and specifically Jody Spiegel…. It is really nice to know that there are people willing and able to help in such a professional and willing manner.” Donate to the Nursing Home Advocacy Project >> Bet Tzedek's Family Conservator Training Day In a year of remarkable growth and success for Bet Tzedek’s Family Caregiver Project, July 26th stands out. More than 100 family members learn at Bet Tzedek's Conservator Training Day “You and your colleagues are all saints for what you have done and continue to do for the community. You were very helpful to me last year when I was applying for conservatorship over my aunt’s affairs, and I continue to be very grateful for your help.” This email represents the depth of gratitude felt by family members who find answers with Bet Tzedek’s Family Caregiver Project. Every year, thousands of Angelenos struggle because a family member lacks capacity or the ability to care for themselves. Bet Tzedek’s Family Caregiver Project has been creating new ways to reach all of Los Angeles’ different communities. The July 26th Training Day was another great step forward. The Training Day included several presentations by experts in the field, exhibitions by nonprofits and government agencies, and opportunities to network with other family caregivers. As an example of the growing need for information and resources, half of the attendees were already caring for a loved one, while the other half were considering such care. The participants were also split among those caring for an elder and those caring for a younger, developmentally disabled family member. Funded by the California Bar Foundation and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Superior Court and the Professional Fiduciary Association of California, the Family Conservator Training Day was so successful that Bet Tzedek plans to repeat this program in 2009 with the goal of reaching even more families. “We hope to share the message that no family is alone,” said Janet Morris, Family Caregiver Project Director. “With the help of our partners, we can ensure that Los Angeles families receive the support and guidance they need.” Client’s names changed to protect privacy.