As part of the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid staff attorney Katy DeBriere meets weekly with residents seeking assistance at the Sulzbacher Center.
JALA has found that connecting with the community is one of the most powerful ways to get proximate to the systemic problems that affect many in our region.
This past November, DeBriere met Alicia, a single mom with a young daughter who had experienced years of difficulty finding an apartment. Alicia and her daughter were homeless and living at Sulzbacher.
For years, Alicia had tried to find an apartment, applying again and again, only to be denied because of a 5-year-old eviction judgment on her record.
DeBriere decided to look into the old judgment, wondering what could be done to remove it from Alicia’s past.
She examined the case history, and working with another JALA attorney, realized the judgment should never have been entered in the first place. The underlying eviction had been dismissed, but because the judgment paperwork was tracking on its way to the judge assigned to the case, the judgment had been entered after the case was dismissed.
After confirming the mistake, the JALA lawyers conferred with the landlord’s attorney, and within a week they were able to secure an order setting aside the final judgment – removing the burden as if it had never happened.
JALA will continue to follow Alicia to make sure the credit reporting agencies accurately update their records, so she can find a safe place that she and her daughter can call home.
The hours of time spent by the staff at JALA will prove far less expensive than the cost of providing homeless services to Alicia and her daughter.