Written by Justin Karter
Legal Services is making tough choices in the face of large cuts to their funding (as discussed in last week’s post). In a time when an increasing percentage of the population is in need of civil legal aid, the availability of these services is shrinking. In response, Neighborhood Legal Services Association (NLSA) has put out a call to the Pittsburgh community to help drum up resources outside of its traditional sources of funding. Recently, Pittsburgh attorney John C. Evans answered this call when he made use of a rarely used legal doctrine to donate $62,759.67 of residual funds from a class action lawsuit to NLSA.
“Might should never make right. Neighborhood Legal Services Association makes certain that the law is for all people and that no one is excluded from our system of justice. At a time when grants are falling, we must help NLSA with its mission,” said Evans, a partner at Specter Specter Evans & Manogue, P.C.
The $62,759.67 comes from the unclaimed residual funds resulting from a flat glass price fixing anti-trust class action settlement. It is not uncommon to have unclaimed funds from class action suits, and eventually, the Court is alerted and asked to issue an order dispersing the funds pursuant to the cy pres doctrine. The term cy pres is derived from the Norman French term “cy pres comme possible,” which means “as near as possible.” This doctrine, though rarely used, allows the Court to dispose of unclaimed funds to the “next best use”.
Evans applied to United States District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose for the unclaimed settlement funds to be directed to NLSA since the organization has an impressive track-record representing consumers and others who have nowhere else to turn for legal help.
NLSA attorneys help low-income individuals and victims of domestic violence seek economic justice in a wide range of consumer protection areas, including mortgages, student and payday loans, credit cards, debt collection, auto fraud, energy, and telecommunications, among other areas.
The funds presented by Evans come from a Federal case but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently promulgated new rules that encourage the use of unused funds in State cases to help provide legal services to low-income Pennsylvanians. The rules require that 50% of residual funds be designated to Pennsylvania’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (PA IOLTA), a non-profit program that provides funding for civil legal aid. The remaining 50% either go to the PA IOLTA Board or to other charitable organizations such as NLSA that promotes the interests of the lawsuit’s objectives.
“The continued donation of cy pres awards could have a significant impact on the lives of domestic violence victims, the elderly, families, and other NLSA clients,” said Christine Kirby, NLSA Development Attorney.
This award comes at a time when NLSA needs it the most; there have been many budget cuts, but an increase in demand for legal assistance. Unfortunately, the cost of hiring an attorney is now beyond the means of all but a small segment of our local population. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 50% of all the 518,366 households situated within Allegheny County survive on income totaling less than $50,000 per year. Further, of these 260,154 households, 27.1% of them subsist on income less than $25,000 per year. These statistics show that the population of poor and near poor continues to grow and now represents 1 in 2 households within our community.
In a letter to area attorneys Carol McCarthy, president of NLSA’s Board of Directors, recently wrote, “The poor and near poor are those amongst us live day to day; month to month. They are those amongst us who worry about whether they will have enough food to eat, whether they will have adequate shelter, whether they will be able to get the medical care they need. Yet in today’s society where access to the courts and government services is crucial for this segment of the population, our elected officials have cut funding to the agencies that serve the needs of the poor and near poor.”
Neighborhood Legal Services Association is one such agency whose mission is to serve the needs of the poor and the near poor. Over the past four decades, NLSA has provided legal assistance to more than one million individuals and families with no other place to turn. NLSA provides quality legal representation to individuals facing eviction and foreclosure, denied public benefits, reclaiming unpaid wages, and protecting themselves from domestic violence, among other issues.
NLSA was established in 1966 as a non-profit, public interest law firm to provide civil legal assistance to poor and vulnerable residents of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, and Lawrence Counties. NLSA is the major provider of free civil legal services in the area, and helps more than 20,000 individuals and families each year.
Specter Specter Evans & Manogue, P.C. represents people who have been injured by dangerous drugs and people who have defrauded as a result of consumer fraud or illegal pricing practices.
For more information about cy pres and directing an award to NLSA contact Christine Kirby at kirbyc@nlsa.us or Lynn Ramsey at ramseyL@nlsa.us.
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