California Judicial Council Sued for Illegal Scheme to Fund Courts through Late Fees; San Mateo Court Stops Collecting Millions in Outstanding Debts and Waits for Governor and Legislature to Act.

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, Litigation, News
Posted: May 25, 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 25, 2022 MEDIA CONTACT: Carmen King, 615-630-9159, press@aclunc.org ***PRESS RELEASE***  California Judicial Council Sued for Illegal Scheme to Fund Courts through Late Fees; San Mateo Court Stops Collecting Millions in Outstanding Debts and Waits for Governor and Legislature to Act. OAKLAND – Today, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil …

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KQED reports on civil assessments

| By BayLegal
Categories: Homepage, Litigation, News
This morning’s KQED Morning Report includes coverage of civil assessments and the advocates who are pushing the Governor to propose their abolition in his May budget revise. As we reported in January, BayLegal has joined ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area Legal Aid, …

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BayLegal Joins Lawsuit to Stop Exorbitant Late Fees Used to Fund Court Systems in San Mateo County

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Announcements, Attorneys, Homepage, Litigation, News
Today, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area Legal Aid, and Fenwick & West LLP filed a lawsuit challenging San Mateo County Superior Court’s unlawful practice of automatically imposing a $300 charge every time an individual misses a payment or court deadline in their traffic …

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SFMTA Changes Debt Towing Policies in Response to Lawsuit, Promising New Protections for Vehicularly Housed San Franciscans (re-posted from LCCRSF)

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, eNewsletter Story, Homepage, Litigation, News
Car being towed
SFMTA Changes Debt Towing Policies in Response to Lawsuit, Promising New Protections for Vehicularly Housed San Franciscans Posted: October 6, 2021 by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area Shared by BayLegal: October 7, 2021 Media updates: Bay Area CBS affiliate KPIX covered the story October 6, 2021. LCCRSF’s Zal Shroff will …

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CA DMV Reports Lifting 554,997 Improperly Imposed Driver’s License Suspensions

| By BayLegal
Categories: eNewsletter Story, Homepage, Litigation, News
The CA DMV reported to the CA Court of Appeals that it has lifted 554,997 improperly imposed driver’s license suspensions. This action comes as the result of Hernandez v CA Department of Motor Vehicles, a statewide lawsuit on behalf of several plaintiffs filed by Bay Area Legal Aid, Western Center on Law & Poverty, The ACLU …

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Former BayLegal Attorneys Rebekah Evenson and Cristina Vazquez Receive 2021 CLAY Awards

| By Lia Dun
Categories: Attorneys, eNewsletter Story, Homepage, Litigation, News, Other
gold laurel
In March, Rebekah Evenson, Alameda County Superior Court Judge and former BayLegal Director of Litigation, and Cristina Vazquez, California Division of Labor Standards Attorney and former BayLegal Supervising Attorney, received two of the Daily Journal’s 2021 California Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) awards for their work on the case Anderson v. City of San Jose. …

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Settlement Increases Access to Health Care for Hundreds of Thousands of Californians

| By Lia Dun
Categories: eNewsletter Story, Homepage, Litigation, News, Other
stethoscope on top of health insurance forms
A recent settlement of a lawsuit brought by four individuals and a non-profit organization against the Department of Health Care Services will dramatically cut the time people wait to be approved for Medi-Cal health insurance coverage. Under the settlement in the case Rivera et al. v. Lightbourne et al., Alameda County Superior Ct. No. RG14740911, …

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LCCR-SF and Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP Obtain a Class Preliminary Injunction Against Bad Boy Bail Bonds That Prevents Collection of Bail Bond Premium Payments

| By Lia Dun
Categories: Announcements, Attorneys, Homepage, Litigation, News, Other
Gavel with scales in the background
Building off of the work of BayLegal’s senior consumer protection attorney Juliana Fredman, LCCR-SF and Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP obtained a class preliminary injunction against Bad Boy Bail Bonds to prevent it from collecting bail bond premium payments. The injunction provides relief to Californians who cosigned bail bonds only to find out that …

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CalMatters Highlights BayLegal’s Work to End Unfair Traffic Court Practices

| By Lia Dun
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, Litigation, News, Other
Person driving car
CalMatters highlighted BayLegal’s work to end traffic court practices that disproportionately affect low-income individuals and Black and Latinx drivers. The latter groups are more likely to be pulled over due to racial profiling. The article describes the work BayLegal did with Western Center and other partner organizations in Hernandez v. CA DMV. In this case, …

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BayLegal Files Suit to Force the US Department of Education to Remove Barriers to Predatory Student Loan Debt Relief

| By BayLegal
Categories: Homepage, Litigation, News
On January 4, 2021, Bay Area Legal Aid, represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  The lawsuit seeks to force the Department to disclose information related to the misconduct of the now defunct Corinthian Colleges, Inc.  This information is critical …

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Bay Area Legal Aid Reaches Settlement to Protect Survivors of Domestic Violence

| By Lia Dun
Categories: Attorneys, Client Story, eNewsletter Story, Homepage, Litigation, News
This fall, Bay Area Legal Aid reached a final settlement in a lawsuit filed in 2019 to compel the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to fulfill its legal and ethical responsibilities to survivors of domestic violence. The lawsuit was filed in response to SFPD’s long-term failure to comply with California Family Code § 6228, a …

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Civil Rights and Legal Aid Groups Demand End to City’s Unconstitutional Towing Practices

| By BayLegal
Categories: Homepage, Litigation, News
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Neighborhood in San Francisco with the Bay Bridge int the background
For Immediate Release News from LCCR – SF Bay Area and Bay Area Legal Aid: Groups issue letter to City Attorney over violation of low-income people’s 4th Amendment rights Contact: Taylor Brady, TBrady@baylegal.org, (510) 250-5234; Matt Kovac, mkovac@lccr.com, (415) 510-9601 SAN FRANCISCO – One day after a federal court ordered the City of San Francisco to return an impounded …

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