Client Stories 

1.) A young mother with a six-month old baby came to our office for help with a custody case. She was essentially on her own, estranged from her family and separated from her boyfriend who was the father of the child. Although the young woman had a difficult past that included charges of underage drinking, she was trying her best to be a good mom. She was attempting to juggle both school and work, and she remained the primary care giver to her son. When her former boyfriend and his parents hired a private attorney in an attempt to get primary custody of the child, Northwestern Legal Services represented this woman in a case that went from mediation to conciliation to a full custody hearing. Despite charges by the opposing counsel that our client was guilty of "loose morals," we were able to demonstrate that our client was sincerely interested in caring for her child, and the judge awarded our client primary custody.

2.) A woman came to one of our branch offices last November regarding the issue of custody for her minor daughter. Our client had been the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her husband for a number of years, and had recently separated from him. During our meeting with the client, it was learned that her husband was addicted to crack cocaine and to feed his addiction he had completely drained over $15,000 from their savings account, and had "maxed out" their home equity line of credit account at $6,000 – all within a period of less than five months. To make matters even more difficult, our client's daughter is a child with special needs having been born with Down's Syndrome. The NWLS staff attorney concluded that the client could benefit from the jurisdiction of the Court brought about by a divorce filing and discussed that option with the client. Given the many years of domestic abuse she had suffered, and her husband's chemical dependency, our client decided she would like to file for divorce also. When this meeting was nearing an end, her husband showed up at the office. He had followed his wife there that day. Fortunately for everyone involved, he left without incident. Our office secretary and the staff attorney then discussed safety concerns with our client and some of the things she needed to do to protect herself and her daughter. When the meeting was over, our staff attorney decided he would follow our client in his car as she returned to her workplace. Fortunately, her husband did not show up at her job.

Since the woman came to us for help, NWLS filed a divorce and a custody action on our client's behalf. Our client has a long way to go to get her life in order, and obviously there is a very real element of risk involved given her husband's crack addiction, but our client has expressed a determination to move ahead with her life separate from her abuser.

3.) Last March, we represented a young truck driver who had been fired from his job because he had an accident in the company truck, rolling it over. The company fired him for breaking the company rule that a driver must maintain control of his vehicle at all times. The company supported the firing by the alleged fact that the State Police supposedly gave this young fellow a ticket for speeding. Given this information, supplied by the company to the local unemployment compensation office, the young truck driver was denied unemployment compensation benefits.

With really nowhere else to turn, and not having money to hire a private attorney to help him with his case, the truck driver called our office for help. We accepted his case, and prepared for the hearing before the unemployment compensation referee in that county. At the hearing we presented evidence that showed that the client had driven over 250,000 miles for the company with no tickets and no other accidents; that he knew the intersection where the accident happened and had traveled it many times. Also, there was no speed limit posted on the ramp the client was on, and that he had he had slowed down to 10-15 miles per hour because of the extremely windy conditions that day, with severe gusts of gale force winds, which were the real cause of the accident. Furthermore, the client did not get a ticket for speeding, as his former employer had alleged, but for making an unsafe turn, to which he entered a plea of "no contest."
Our client, the young truck driver, also took an active part in obtaining evidence for the hearing. He went on the Internet and obtained wind charts for the day of the accident that showed the severity of the weather conditions. He also went and obtained statements from the District Justice and State Policeman that indicated the client pled "no contest" to the charges of making an unsafe turn, even though he thought he was innocent.
On the basis of our help, and his initiative, our client was able to convince the unemployment compensation referee to reverse the original denial, and to award our client UC benefits. The money was an important part in helping this young fellow make ends meet until he was able to find new employment.

4.) A NWLS branch office was approached by a church group who asked for our help. It seems that they wanted to set up a non-profit organization with the idea that they would rehabilitate homes for the poor and the elderly in their community. They came to us because they knew that Northwestern Legal Services has a demonstrated commitment to helping low-income individuals and families. Although we did not actually represent the group as their attorney of record, we helped them refine their ideas, obtain and complete the forms necessary to set up their non-profit corporation, file their Articles of Incorporation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and advertise their non-profit corporation in the required legal publications. Our staff attorney made a personal donation to the organization by reaching into his own pocket and paying the costs of getting the legal notice in the local newspaper. With the help of Northwestern Legal Services, this organization will soon be making living conditions better for a number of our clients, thus helping the community become a better place.

_________________________________________
<<Previous Page     Next Page>>
2002 Report Table of Contents