One night can dramatically change a parent and child’s life when violence infiltrates a home and a family. When it happened to “Arnette Bravely,” she made the tough choice to call upon law enforcement and the courts to help secure safety for herself and her family. She knew she and her children would face a lot of uncertainty, but she persisted and spoke out against her abuser.
When their son died, “Myra Smith” and “Gus Turner” wanted to recover his belongings from his apartment. Unfortunately, the landlord was not in a position to allow removal of their late son’s personal property until after the statutory 60-day waiting period, or until there was an order from a probate court for the personal representative of the estate to remove it.
Christina McEuen was still adjusting to life as a widowed mother of three when she signed a lease on a small home in the Mandarin neighborhood of Jacksonville in 2016. Almost immediately after moving in, McEuen found the house had leaks everywhere, including the roof, pipes, and water heater. When an outlet caught fire, she discovered the fire extinguisher didn’t work. The handyman sent to correct the problems essentially applied useless Band-Aids to gaping wounds. “This house was a nightmare,” said McEuen, who had been a server at St. Mary’s Seafood and More until she gave birth to a baby with a compromised immune system and other special needs, including severe autism. Early in her pregnancy, her husband had died in a trucking accident, so she was alone in caring for her little Mikey and his older brothers, William and Jeffrey.
One of the most common complaints the I-TEAM receives involves tenants upset with their landlord about maintenance problems that are not being corrected. In many cases, we learn that tenants are often not following the correct legal steps to hold their landlord accountable. So we want to ask: do you know your rights as a tenant? What can you do if your a/c is not working? Has your landlord dragged their feet to fix maintenance problems in your apartment? Do you have pests or mold? Jacksonville Area Legal Aid attorney Mary DeVries, who specializes in Florida tenant rights, joined us on The Morning Show to walk us through what your landlord is required to do under the law and how to hold him or her responsible if they don’t do it.
Poverty passed on over three generations affects just 1 in 100 White Americans, compared with 1 in 5 Blacks Americans. That’s the finding of a paper from a team of researchers who examined racial disparities in income mobility and concluded there’s a “stark racial gap” in the persistence of poverty across multiple generations in the U.S. By the third generation, Black Americans are 41% more likely to be in poverty than Whites Americans.
In 2010, Troy Bragg, a post-9/11 veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, discovered he was the biological father of a daughter and immediately filed a petition for paternity on his own. His petition was granted, and he and his daughter’s mother reached a mutually agreeable parenting plan and time-share agreement. The judge’s order provided Bragg with majority time-share, which was successful for 10 years. But in August 2019, the girl’s mother began to take from Bragg’s time with their daughter and tried to alienate her from Bragg.
A combined effort between legal aid agencies and a volunteer lawyer to help clients facing reverse mortgage foreclosures may be providing a blueprint to help reverse financial constraints faced by legal aid offices. Palm City attorney Paul Regensdorf has worked with Coast to Coast Legal Services of South Florida and Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, among others, in a joint effort that, using state law on fee awards, can generate fees for both the volunteer lawyer and the legal aid offices.
After raising nearly $1.5 million in its first four years, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s largest fundraiser, Freed to Run, is closing in
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a steady impact on the finances of families across the First Coast, and despite vaccinations making it possible for more businesses to reopen, the number of landlords filing for court-ordered evictions remains high. "There have been a consistent level of filings," said Suzanne Garrow, an attorney with the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid office who works with renters facing eviction.
After raising nearly $1.5 million in its first four years, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s largest fundraiser, Freed to Run, will be closing in on its $2.25 million goal under the leadership of four newly appointed event co-chairs: Dr. Raoul Sanchez, president of Carithers Pediatric Group; Deno Hicks, managing partner of Converge Public Strategies for Northeast Florida; and attorneys Thomas E. Bishop and John S. Mills of Bishop & Mills.
