Southern Arizona Legal Aid Inc

IMMIGRATION: A client’s extremely abusive husband gave wrong information to US Immigration which led to a denial of the client’s marriage-based application for a green card.  Immigration reopened the case based on the Violence Against Women Act after being informed by SALA that the client was a victim of domestic violence and the woman is now eligible to become a permanent US resident.

PREVENTING FORECLOSURE & HOMELESSNESS: SALA had helped a client qualify for a Home Affordable Modification Program modified mortgage, but the bank refused to sign the permanent loan modification, saying it needed the former husband’s signature.  The SALA attorney argued that the modification was needed because of the client’s reduced income due to the divorce, and that the divorce decree had awarded the husband’s interest in the property to the client.  The bank would still not listen. SALA filed an adversary case against the bank and was successful in keeping the client in her home.

DOMESTIC RELATIONS: A 75-year-old woman came to SALA seeking help in a divorce and spousal maintenance case.  She had been married for over 50 years and suffered decades of physical and financial abuse.  She was forced to live in an old 5th-wheel trailer and her husband refused to buy food or medicine for her.  She knew he had received a sizable inheritance that had been co-mingled with marital funds, but when she filed for divorce, she had no money to hire an attorney.  A SALA attorney sought a court order ordering the husband to provide the client with funds, which he fought.  SALA then filed a motion for contempt, which was granted.

PROTECTING WORKERS’ RIGHTS: A sixty-one-year-old man, employed by a golf course for twelve-and-a-half years was terminated from his employment because he made a request to utilize a sick day. SALA VLP attorneys sent a demand letter to the client’s former employer, which was rejected. The employer also appealed the client’s award of unemployment benefits, but the SALA-VLP attorneys were able to assist the client and the client’s award of benefits was upheld.

TRIBAL ADVOCACY: SALA Attorneys and Tribal Court Advocates successfully represented a Native American single mother, living on a southern Arizona Reservation, who was in danger of losing custody of her child to its non-Native grandparents.  They were able to get the grandparents’ State court case dismissed and filed a sole custody case in Tribal Court.