ASHLEIGH STARNES | January 18, 2018
AVLF’s impact is created by more than just volunteer attorneys: a network of people work behind-the-scenes to win a case.
Volunteer accountants Davida Jones, Michelle Davis, and attorney Jeff Nix pose with Ms. Cochran after her hearing.
At Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, volunteer and staff attorneys provide swift and comprehensive support for our neighbors who otherwise could not afford it. We fight hard for our clients.
Because of their unwavering dedication and impressive efficiency, AVLF’s staff and partners recently secured justice for a family whose landlord had left them in appalling, untenable living conditions – and then tried to evict them. Here’s how we did it.
anything but safe and stable
In late October 2017, community activist Stacey Hopkins reached out to one of our staff attorneys, Erik Provitt, with news of a family who needed legal assistance – and quickly.
The Cochrans are a family of four: a grandmother, her daughter, and the daughter’s two young children – a school-aged son and infant baby girl. They were living in an 18-unit building in Atlanta’s English Avenue neighborhood, owned by an inexcusably negligent landlord who had, before attempting to evict the Cochran family, allowed the apartment to fall into complete disrepair. The conditions were abysmal and in clear violation of housing codes.
Erik immediately met with Robin and Alfreda Cochran.
The apartment had no gas, due to a leak. And no water, either – the main water pipe had been stolen. There were no locks on the front or back door. Mold flourished on the walls – enough to labor one’s breath after only a few minutes inside. There was no electricity in the bedroom, only an extension cord that snaked along the wall, feebly taped. An open area in the front of the building was backed up with leaking sewage.
For this family, home was anything but safe and stable.
answering the call
On November 1, Jeff Nix, a partner at Taylor English Duma, enthusiastically agreed to represent Robin and Alfreda in their pursuit of justice.
In court on November 7, the landlord, who was unrepresented, saw that Ms. Cochran had an attorney standing with her and chose not to pursue any further action, continuing the case to a later date.
Mr. Nix had time to mount an offensive.
Ms. Cochran didn’t have to face the court alone: flanked by two attorneys, two damages experts, a mold expert, two witnesses from the apartment building, and an officer with the Atlanta Police Department’s Code Enforcement Section, Ms. Cochran walked into the courtroom with an army.
While the landlord’s abusive neglect was blatant, AVLF’s team of defenders started gathering concrete evidence for their claims. By November 14, Cole Thaler, director of our Safe and Stable Homes Project, asked PwC to help us quantify damages at the apartment.
PwC’s Forensic Services Director Michelle Davis and Manager Davida Jones jumped on the case. Within days, they went to the apartment to assess the damages, collecting as much information as possible.
Ms. Cochran compiled an exhaustive list of everything she had to throw away for Michelle and Davida due to the decrepit conditions. AVLF also ordered a comprehensive mold test from Air Allergen & Mold Testing, who conducts tests for AVLF at a reduced rate, provides a detailed report for our records, and offers an expert witness to testify in court.
JOIS Invest LLC vs. Robin and Alfreda Cochran
On December 19, it was time to go to court – and we were ready.
Weeks before, the Cochran family were facing imminent eviction and had no one to defend them. Their home was uninhabitable. The conditions were nothing short of inhumane, and they couldn’t afford help.
But on December 19, Ms. Cochran didn’t have to face the court alone: flanked by two attorneys, two damages experts, a mold expert, two witnesses from the apartment building, and an officer with the Atlanta Police Department’s Code Enforcement Section, Ms. Cochran walked into the courtroom with an army.
The trial lasted four hours.
On January 5, 2018, in an eight-page decision, Hon. Linda Borsky ruled in favor of the Cochrans, denying the Plaintiff’s request for past due rent and possession of the home.
She awarded the Cochrans more than $3,000 in actual damages and $15,000 in punitive damages.
No family should have to make a home of such horrific conditions, no matter their income. But when it happens, AVLF has a network of passionate, devoted, and determined volunteers and allies to make sure that our neighbors have access to the justice they deserve.
Judge Borsky cited “willful misconduct, malice, fraud, wantonness, oppression, entire want of care, and conscious indifference for the consequences of its actions.” She went on to say that the Plaintiff was “well aware of the Defendants’ financial vulnerability and that they were in no position to extricate themselves from the deplorable conditions that the Plaintiff subjected them to.”
No family should have to make a home of such horrific conditions, no matter their income. No one should have to withstand such deliberate neglect.
But when it happens, AVLF has a network of passionate, devoted, and determined volunteers and allies to make sure that our neighbors have access to the justice they deserve. In January, these dedicated individuals in our community were able to balance the scales of justice for the Cochran family—and for this, we couldn’t be prouder.
Want more stories of volunteer inspiration? Read all of our successes to learn about how AVLF’s volunteers change lives.
Ashleigh Starnes
Development Assistant
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