Pedro Vasquez
After five years at his maintenance job, Pedro Vasquez noticed something strange. At tax time, he got two W2 forms from his company. One reported actual pay from his full-time job, but the other reported part-time work that Pedro had never done. Confused, he went to his manager to ask about the forms. His manager told him, “I‘ll take care of it.”
A few months later, Pedro got a letter from the IRS saying he owed them nearly $5000 in taxes for unreported income. But Pedro had paid his taxes. Again, he went to his boss, who deflected his questions. Then, Pedro got another letter from the IRS, this one more threatening.
Confused and worried, Pedro called legal aid. His lawyer found that Pedro had been issued two checks for over a year; however, he only saw one of them. A second set of checks, with a different address and forged signatures, had been cashed by someone else in Pedro’s name.
Pedro and his attorney were able to present overwhelming evidence in court, including forged checks, affidavits and proof of hours worked by Pedro. The judge ruled in Pedro’s favor, clearing his IRS record. Pedro no longer faces the threat of any action against him and has actually received his overdue tax refunds.
Rose Doyle
The stress of being involuntarily removed from her home led to a heart condition for 74 year-old Rose Doyle, sending her to a nearby hospital. Hospital staff wanted to operate, but Mrs. Doyle told them her primary care doctor had previously advised her that surgery could further jeopardize her health.
The hospital filed a petition for a permanent guardian to be able to make a decision about the surgery, accompanied by a psychiatrist’s medical certificate stating that Mrs. Doyle suffered from mental illness. The certificate did not contain any diagnosis or documentation of mental illness. Mrs. Doyle was sent to a nursing home, even though she expressed a strong desire to return home. She remained in the nursing home against her will and without access to her personal belongings for three months.
With the help of her legal aid attorney, things turned around. Mrs. Doyle filed an objection to the guardianship petition and a motion for an independent competency evaluation. A psychiatrist evaluated Mrs. Doyle and found her to be competent. Her primary care doctor of twelve years also supplied a letter stating that she was quite capable of making informed medical decisions.
On the basis of this evidence, the hospital dismissed the underlying guardianship petition. Mrs. Doyle was able to live independently with the help of home care services.
Hong Nguyen
After fleeing an abusive marriage, Hong Nguyen settled her four children into an apartment while she worked full time as a manicurist. She was able to support her family with the help of a Section 8 housing subsidy.
Things changed when new upstairs tenants caused serious property damage. Water and even refuse leaked into Hong’s apartment from above. One room was irreparably flooded and family possessions were ruined.
When the landlord was contacted his assistant accused Hong and her children of living on taxpayer’s money and being lazy. Meantime heating costs soared as the ceilings and windows cracked. Hong withheld rent. She soon received an eviction notice.
Hong contacted her local legal aid office. She was advised to call the local Board of Health, who found 30 code violations. Knowing an eviction would cost Hong her Section 8 subsidy; her legal aid attorney documented the conditions and went with Hong to court. Her landlord agreed to a settlement and Hong has now moved her children to a clean apartment.
Lou & Janice Gray
Lou and Janice Gray were living in a rented apartment with their three children when Lou’s mother offered to loan them money for a down payment on a house. Lou had been suffering from dizzy spells and seizures and found it difficult to continue at his job.
When they found a house, all the banks they approached refused to give them a mortgage because of their poor credit and low income. Their real estate agent finally referred them to a mortgage broker who was willing to take on their mortgage. Janice was making $15,000 per year at her job while Lou received about $15,600 per year in Social Security benefits. Lou’s poor credit made him ineligible to be on the loan, so the broker added their daughter, Tammy, who made $9,000 per year working part-time and attending college, to the loan as a co-signer. The Grays were told they would receive a two-year adjustable mortgage at 9 percent interest and put down a deposit of $10,500.
By this time, they had been forced to move into two hotel rooms because another tenant was moving into their apartment. Then, when they went to sign some papers before the closing, they were told their loan would have an interest rate of 11.5 percent. The broker said they could refinance in six months, but if they backed out they would lose their deposit. Living in a hotel and feeling they had no other choice, they signed the necessary paperwork. At the closing, the Grays were asked to sign many documents they had never seen before without a thorough explanation of their contents.
The Grays tried to keep up with the loan payments, but they gradually fell behind and had to borrow money. When they tried to refinance their house with a different mortgage company six months later, they were denied. Lou tried to go back to work driving trucks, but it was too much of a strain on his health. Two years from the date of the closing, their mortgage rate rose from 11 percent to 14 percent. The mortgage company kept calling to find out when the next payment would be made. Eventually the company began foreclosure proceedings.
With nowhere else to turn, Janice called social services agencies and other organizations in her area for help and finally got in touch with Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) in Lawrence. An NLS attorney discovered that the mortgage broker had inflated Janice and Tammy’s incomes by four times on the mortgage papers so they would qualify for a higher cost home loan – one that they could never have afforded.
The mortgage company initially blamed the broker and refused to take responsibility, but the attorney managed to get the company to forgive half of the late payment fees the Grays owed, as well as renegotiate their mortgage to a 7 percent fixed interest rate. The Grays are now able to afford their mortgage and are no longer in danger of losing their home.
