pro bono success stories
Yusuf v. Tjia.
In the first-ever verdict under California’s Trafficking Victims Protection Act, O’Melveny and co-counsel from the Employment Rights Project of Bet Tzedek Legal Services won a stirring victory for an Indonesian woman who was the victim of human trafficking at the hands of a wealthy Southern California family. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded her $768,000, including $500,000 in punitive damages. The plaintiff had been defrauded into being a domestic servant for a couple who confiscated her passport, withheld all pay, forced her to work 16 hours a day/seven days a week and never allowed her to leave the house. They subjected her to verbal abuse, psychological coercion/threats and instructed her to lie and say she was a family member if law enforcement ever visited the home. Yusuf was assisted by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking after fleeing her imprisonment and moving to a shelter. The trial verdict, named one of the year’s ten most important by the L.A. Daily Journal, resulted in a well-publicized message that the full weight of authority under the new statute would be brought to bear in order to achieve justice for the oppressed.
Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group.
O’Melveny and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund resolved long-running litigation against a hospital and several individual physicians who had denied fertility treatment to our client because of her sexual orientation. The historic civil rights lawsuit began when the plaintiff was referred under her insurance plan to doctors who ultimately refused to provide services, arguing their personal religious beliefs entitled them to opt out of California civil rights law and treat a lesbian differently than other patients. In an earlier landmark decision, O’Melveny and Lambda argued successfully to the California Supreme Court that our client was entitled to be treated like other patients with the same health issues and that constitutional protections for religious liberty did not excuse unlawful discrimination. On remand, the case continued to be vigorously litigated until O’Melveny was able to negotiate both a monetary settlement and an agreement that all patients would be treated with equal dignity and respect.
Grameen Foundation.
Inspired by the work of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and its founder, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Foundation was created to accelerate the impact of microfinance on the world’s poorest people. With small loans, financial services, and information and communications technology, Grameen Foundation empowers people, mostly women, to start self-sustaining businesses to pull themselves out of poverty. Based in Washington, D.C., the Foundation’s global network of programs has impacted an estimated 16 million lives in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East. We recently represented the Foundation with its two unsecured financings to microfinance institutions in China, the largest potential microfinance market in the world. We analyzed the Chinese legal system with regard to foreign loans, particularly those to charitable “social entities” in China. We also structured several practical alternatives that may facilitate this complex transaction while still complying with Chinese regulations.
Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center.
Tenderloin Health is the new nonprofit agency resulting from the merger of San Francisco-based Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center (TARC) and Continuum HIV Day Services. Assisting more than 15,000 individuals each year, Tenderloin Health serves those who are living with and at the greatest risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS, who have difficulty obtaining services elsewhere, especially due to substance use, mental illness, sexual orientation, gender identity, race and ethnicity, and/or other social barriers. We represented TARC in the merger to form Tenderloin Health, creating a new entity with a budget of $8.5 million annually and a staff of more than 70.
Hurricane Katrina Victims.
We continue to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina in a variety of matters that still plague the disaster-affected region. We have helped survivors assess their eligibility for various relief and benefit programs, and we are representing a great many residents who are still struggling to find housing and put their lives back together, even these many years later. As part of our disaster-relief initiative, we continue to collaborate closely with the Mississippi Center for Justice. We conduct research and write legal memoranda for the Center relating to various legal issues arising after Katrina, including notice requirements for mobile home evictions, structuring rent escrow accounts for needed repairs, automobile salvage title disclosure requirements, and matters concerning child custody. In addition, we authored a handbook focused on representing those who have been victimized by unscrupulous contractors, a rampant problem throughout the area. We are representing many of the victims of these scams, helping them secure justice and save their homes.
Holocaust Reparations.
O'Melveny continues to play a key role in Bet Tzedek’s Holocaust Survivors Justice Network of free legal clinics for survivors applying for reparations from Germany. As the Los Angeles Daily Journal noted, 25% of the survivors in the US are living below the poverty line, so these reparations programs are very meaningful. In March 2008, the Pro Bono Wire newsletter reported on the German Ghetto Work Payment Pro Bono Clinic Project created by Bet Tzedek, describing it as "the largest coordinated pro bono effort in US history," with nearly 100 law firms and corporate legal departments participating. The project provides services and resources to elderly Holocaust survivors, many of whom are living in extreme poverty. After participating in clinics around the country, and playing a lead role in setting up the New York project, we are helping to launch a related project to assist survivors in obtaining a pension benefit.
Abuelhawa v. United States.
O’Melveny obtained a unanimous victory in the United States Supreme Court in Abuelhawa v. United States. The 9-0 vote is a rare achievement in a federal criminal appeal. The case addressed the question of whether an individual could be held liable for "facilitating" felony drug distribution by using a cell phone to arrange a misdemeanor purchase of drugs for personal use. At trial, Abuelhawa was convicted of the commission of a felony and his conviction was affirmed by the Fourth Circuit. After the Supreme Court granted certiorari, O’Melveny partner Sri Srinivasan argued that "[a] person who purchases a small quantity of drugs for his own personal use commits a misdemeanor, not a felony. The language of [the statute] does not transform that person into a felon if he uses a phone in obtaining his drugs, rather than doing so strictly face to face." In a unanimous opinion, the Court reversed the judgment of the Fourth Circuit and remanded the case for further proceedings.