Civil Justice

Newsletter of the Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP) S u m m e r 2 0 1 0

Achieving Big Outcomes for

Low-Income Clients
Helping the Working eligible under the law. If there is a termination, the burden of
proof with respect to denial of benefits is on the employer. But the
hearing officer has to decide who is more credible,” said Thaler.
Poor Survive Job Loss Thaler and other lawyers at Georgia Legal Services help their
The loss of employment in working poor families can create clients to be on the winning side of the credibility test.
critical hardships, especially for vulnerable members, the children.
From the food on their tables to the clothes on their backs,
children in poverty have less and the most to lose – their futures,
their hopes, and their dreams.
Georgia Legal Services has had success around the state in
changing the outcomes for low-income families and individuals
in need of unemployment benefits to survive. “I have noticed that
more and more employers are contesting employees’ eligibility
for unemployment benefits,” said Cole Thaler, Staff Attorney of
Georgia Legal Services. “The stakes are especially high for our
clients, as much as thousands of dollars in potential benefits in
each appeal.”
Thaler cites a case in which he represented a security officer in
an office building who was fired after three years of work when Over 500,000 children in Georgia live in poverty, reports the Census Bureau
her employer claimed she failed to escort a terminated employee
off the premises. The employer also said the guard had been seen
reading a newspaper on the job. Due to a torrential downpour, “For our clients, having legal representation
the employee was four minutes late for her in-person appeal at unemployment benefits hearings is
hearing, and her appeal was dismissed. Thaler was able get a new much more than nickels and dimes. It can
hearing in which he proved that his client had acted reasonably
mean the difference between keeping their
with respect to the former employee, who had left the building
voluntarily. He also showed that the rule against reading on the
homes and homelessness.”
– Cole Thaler, Staff Attorney
job was rarely enforced. “We won an entirely favorable decision
from the Department of Labor,” said Thaler.
In This Issue:
“Having legal representation at Department of Labor hearings  Empowering Senior Victims of Financial Crimes pg. 2
is vital for our clients because often neither the client nor the  Reducing Abuse and Violence in Teen Dating pg. 2
employer is familiar with the law. Clients don’t know their rights  Closing on Affordable Homes for Needy Families pg. 3
and employers dispute the benefits even though the client is
 Empowering Senior Victims
of Financial Crimes
Ms. Simons, 65, obtained a credit card in 1997 from Chase Manhattan
Bank, which she used for about a year. Sometime thereafter, she
became a victim of identity theft.
In September 2005, Ms. Simons was sued by Chase for almost $5,000
charged to that eight-year-old credit card. Chase failed to serve her
“Seniors are the fastest growing segment of our society and the most
with the lawsuit for over four years, until October 2009. By then a at-risk for financial crimes.” – Phyllis Holmen, Executive Director
senior citizen, Ms. Simons nonetheless filed her own Answer denying
that she owed any money to Chase and stating that she was a victim of The Georgia Legal Services Office in Savannah is spearheading
mistaken identity. Chase’s attorney filed discovery and motions against a statewide Elder Action Team, bringing together GLSP staff attorneys
Ms. Simons to which she did not know how to respond properly. At from across the state. Senior Staff Attorney Robert Bush said, “We are
that point, Ms. Simons found Georgia Legal Services and we agreed to inviting nationally-recognized experts to address critical problems that
represent her. We entered the litigation on her behalf and were able to seniors are facing and the legal issues associated with those problems.
negotiate a complete dismissal with prejudice. We anticipate using this forum to enhance our effectiveness as attorneys
Georgia Legal Services’ high impact, high quality legal assistance who provide services to seniors, as well as to serve as a springboard to
changes the outcomes for seniors who are vulnerable and need solving recurring problems more efficiently.”
protection. “We empower seniors to protect themselves against
consumer fraud and scams that strip them of their security and dignity,” “The numbers of cases that we’re
said Phyllis Holmen, Executive Director of Georgia Legal Services. handling for senior victims of financial
“In this recession we’re handling more cases involving senior victims of crimes is expected to increase, because
collection cases filed by unscrupulous debt collectors who fail to verify
that the defendant is in fact the person owing the debt,” said Holmen.
seniors have been uniquely hurt by the
Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant funding from the Criminal Justice recession and are prime targets for
Coordinating Council along with grants from the Older Americans Act predators.” – Phyllis Holmen, Execuive Director
support senior abuse prevention work of Georgia Legal Services.

Reducing Abuse and

Violence in Teen Dating
“Abuse and violence in teen dating is an unspoken epidemic, and it’s
going on right in front of our faces,” said Tomieka Daniel, Supervising
Attorney of Georgia Legal Services. Daniel is raising awareness of the
problem by conducting community education programs in rural schools
in Central Georgia, to help change outcomes for young people.
One in three adolescent girls in the U.S. becomes a victim of physical abuse
With support from the superintendant of the Hancock County school from a dating partner reports the National Council on Crime and Delinquency
district, Daniel’s one-day campaign grew into a week-long event for
with a grant from the United States Department of Justice, Office on
more than 1,000 middle school and high school students. “I tried to
Violence Against Women.
engage the students in fun and supportive activities that would help
them to open up,”said Daniel. “During the assembly, one middle school
Guest speakers from the domestic violence shelter, Circle of Love, and student was visibly shaken by the
the Bibb County District Attorney’s Office, along with Daniel, talked to
presentation and reached out for help and
students about how to stay safe, how to protect themselves from sexual
assault and dating violence, and how to obtain legal protection. legal protection, which she received. She
“We are confident that we will prevent these young people from had been involved in a two-year abusive
becoming our next domestic violence clients,” said Phyllis Holmen, relationship with an ex-boyfriend.”
Executive Director of Georgia Legal Services. The project is supported
– Tomieka Daniel, Supervising Attorney

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 Closing on Affordable Homes
for Needy Families
Mr. Carlton Dixon, a resident of Dawson, Georgia, and an employee of
Golden Peanut Company, recently purchased the first affordable home
built for low-income families by the James L. Barnes Community
Development Corporation (CDC) – a client organization that Georgia
Legal Services has represented for years.

“We overcame many obstacles along the way and talked with several
mortgage companies to achieve this outcome for the Dixon family,”
said Homero Leon, Specialist Attorney of Georgia Legal Services.

In a time when affordable housing development is virtually non-

existent, especially in poor, rural towns, Georgia Legal Services is
making dreams of home ownership come true through its community
economic development project that provides transactional legal
assistance to grassroots organizations.
With legal assistance from Georgia Legal Services, the James L. Barnes
CDC will construct five affordable homes for low-income families.
The Georgia Community Loan Fund provided a loan for installation of
the water and sewer pipes for the five lots. With the first home now
built and sold, a second family has already qualified to buy the second
home under construction.
“We were challenged by building a new home in a neighborhood
with very old and dilapidated houses, but this neighborhood, like
many others in Dawson, needed revitalizing through affordable
housing construction. The outcomes for families that qualify as
first-time home buyers are priceless,” said Leon.
Elaine and Carlton Dixon, pictured with their son, are the happy
home owners of the first house built by the James L. Barnes CDC in
Dawson, Georgia.
With the help of a mortgage company that accepted a closing offer at
the last minute, Leon was able to put together a closing packet for Mr.
Dixon in less than 48 hours before the deadline.
“We closed on Mr. Dixon’s new home
within minutes of the deadline. When all
of the negotiations were done, Mr. Dixon
had the house keys in his hands and a
huge smile on his face.”
– Homero Leon, Specialist Attorney

“Where there is injustice, we should correct it. Where there is poverty, we should eliminate
it. Where there is corruption, we should stamp it out. Where there is violence, we should
punish it. Where there is neglect, we should provide care. When there is war, we should
restore peace. And wherever corrections are achieved, we should add them permanently to
our storehouse of treasures.”
– U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren

✂
“And Justice for All” 2010 State Bar Campaign for the Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP)

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More than three million low-income Georgians in 154 counties outside metro-Atlanta are eligible for legal services
provided by the Georgia Legal Services Program. Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Providing Access To Justice And Opportunities Out Of Poverty

The mission of the Georgia Legal Services Program® is to provide access to

justice and opportunities out of poverty for Georgians with low-incomes.

Georgia Legal Services Program®

Atlanta Central Office • 104 Marietta Street • Suite 250 • Atlanta, GA 30303 • (404) 206-5175 • (800) 498-9469
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Civil Justice
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Georgia Legal Services Program®
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President, Board of Directors
Waycross Office
506 Isabella Street James W. Boswell, III
Waycross, Georgia 31501-3638 Executive Director
(912) 285-6181, (800) 498-9508 Phyllis J. Holmen
Farmworker Rights Division of Director of Program Operations/
Georgia Legal Services Program Associate Director
Central Office
Thomas J. Anthony
104 Marietta Street, N.W.
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Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Specialist
(404) 206-5175 (800) 537-7496 Susan Wells
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