Legal Services of Northern California Advocate Feed

These statistics would be printed on the back. The Social Security Administration recently posted data on the decisions issued by its administrative law judges for the fiscal year 2010. The report shows many ALJs disposing of more than 450 cases since September 2009 – a rate of about one and a half cases per day.   Disability allowance rates are all over the map, with some ALJs at higher than 95% and others down around 20%. The report includes total dispositions and total decisions, specifying whether they were unfavorable, fully favorable or partially favorable.

The Civil Rights Division of the DOJ and HHS have jointly released Access to Medical Care for Persons with Mobility Disabilities, a technical assistance document designed to assist medical providers in understanding how the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1974 apply to them.

This has already been widely circulated within the California legal services community, but is undoubtedly of interest to legal services programs elsewhere — Shaping the Future of Justice: Effective Recruitment and Retention of Civil Legal Aid Attorneys in California, a thorough, if disheartening 68-page report from the Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC) on the present state and long-term corrosive effect of grossly underpaying legal services attorneys.

On Friday, August 20, 2010, LAAC is sponsoring a webinar to review and discuss the data in the report. If interersted, register for Why Legal Services Attorneys Leave and Recommendations to Keep Them.

On July 1, HUD issued a guidance on housing discrimination against Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender individuals and families.  While acknowledging that that the federal Fair Housing Act does not specifically include sexual orientation or gender identity as prohibited bases for housing discrimination, an LGBT person’s experience with housing discrimination may still be prohibited by the Act.  The guidance provides illustrative examples and a link to file a housing discrimination complaint on line.

On July 1, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner issued a temporary restraining order [enter case number "80000580" to view] preventing Sacramento County from making draconian reductions in services for patients of the county indigent health system.  These reductions would have resulted in, among other things, a five week wait for a dental appointment for abscesses and intense pain and other urgent dental conditions,  and a 60 to 90 day wait for a referral for persons with serious medical conditions, including cancer and diabetes.  The court found that in approving the reductions, the County acted arbitrarily and in violation of state law, and absent the court’s intervention, thousands of poor people in the county would be unlawfully deprived of necessary medical services to which they are entitled under state law.  Legal Services of Northern California, with staff attorney Stacey Wittorff acting as lead attorney, and co-counsel Western Center on Law and Poverty represent the petitioners.

The temporary order remains in effect pending the outcome of a  preliminary injunction hearing soon to be scheduled.   As Sister Libby Fernandez speaking for petitioner Loaves & Fishes explained to local press, the lawsuit has, at least for now, prevented over 22,000 indigent people in Sacramento County (like the individual petitioners) experiencing life-threatening medical conditions, from further reductions to their medical care, and may well prevent some patients from “dying in the streets”,  a distinct risk to which county primary care physicians attested in declarations in support of the action.   Click here for related Sacramento Bee coverage.

Tenants Together recently released  The 2010 Report:  California Tenants in the Foreclosure Crisis.  Among the report’s key findings:  At least 37 of foreclosed units in California are rentals.  The report also provides local statistics on the impact of the foreclosure crisis for most California counties and lists of the banks and law firms involved in the majority of evictions of tenants from foreclosed properties in California.  According to the report, Sacramento County saw 13,809 foreclosures in 2009, of which 40 percent (5,096) were rentals affecting nearly 14,000 renters.

The Library Congress, as it does with other nominees to the United States Supreme Court, steps up to the plate with a resource page for all things Elena Kagan.

Now that the LSC restriction against recovery of attorney fees has been lifted, it may be time finally to get acquainted with the Laffey Matrix, a “reasonable hourly rate” construct both followed and not followed by federal district courts within the Ninth Circuit. Knowledge is power, people.

David Leonhardt’s New York Times Economic Beat column this week — Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer — masterfully deconstructs what the facts are behind the oft repeated statistic. A worthy read to understand the number does not mean 47% of households pay no federal taxes; only about 10% of households pay no federal taxes; and among those who do federal taxes disparately burden those with lower incomes.