公益效应:对一个人来说.C. 家庭，家终于甜蜜了

There it was again: the smell of leaking gas. 每天，拉佐一家都会注意到一种独特的气味弥漫在他们位于华盛顿特区的家中.C.、公寓. 经常向物业经理和房东投诉，但没有任何结果. 甚至在一位城市检查员下令修理炉子的煤气泄漏后，什么也没发生.

To be safe, the Lazos propped open their windows, but then winter came. 天气非常寒冷. While gas wafted outside, cold air came inside. 他们五个都是妈妈, 父亲, 两个女儿, and a son—huddled in one of their beds, 裹在一层层的衣服里, 睡觉时尽量保持温暖.

Less than a year after moving into the apartment, the Lazos began encountering problems with the unit. 浴室里的水管会漏水，水会从天花板上漏下来. The power outlets in the bathroom were useless. 随着时间的推移，尽管和房东谈了很多次，情况还是变得更糟了. The air conditioning stopped running. 淋浴间没有热水. 老鼠和蟑螂从墙上的大洞里爬进食物里. In any given week, the family caught at least six rats in traps.

For Juan and Ana Lazo, perhaps the last straw was the bedbugs. 冷是一回事. 看到他们7岁的女儿胳膊和腿上被臭虫咬得发痒的伤痕，完全是另一种感觉. 拉佐一家尝试了各种方法，从购买杀虫剂到扔掉一些家具. 问题依然存在.

Fed up with no response from the landlord, 拉佐一家不再付房租了, 希望它能带来一些改变. 它没有. They then visited the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), a community-based organization that provides immigration, 住房, and citizenship services to the Latino community. carrecen的代表告诉拉佐一家他们作为租户的权利，并把他们指给了D.C. 哥伦比亚特区高等法院澳博app事务所公益项目的房东房客资源中心.

代表未被代表人

业主及租客资源中心于2004年1月在阿诺德的协助下成立 & Porter LLP, as a pilot project of the D.C. 澳博app协会公益项目. 位于D.C. 高等法院, 该中心为在哥伦比亚特区有住房纠纷的无代表房东和租户提供免费的法律信息. 在它开业的时候，每年在高等法院提交的案件超过4万起. 99%的租客和86%的房东没有代表, increasing their chances of losing despite the merits of a case.

十年后, 房东和租客资源中心每个工作日开放，帮助社区成员解决他们的房东和租客问题. 该中心由来自该地区15家顶级澳博app事务所的志愿者组成，他们为超过5家澳博app事务所提供帮助,每年1000人. Volunteers provide a range of services, including drafting pro se pleadings, 提供信息材料，解释房东-租客法律和法庭程序, and providing referrals to legal and nonlegal services organizations.

Ana stopped by the resource center in December 2010. After speaking with the attorney volunteers, they referred her to the D.C. 澳博app协会公益项目’s 宣传 and 正义的诊所 for full representation. 在接受和筛选之后，公益项目把她安排到了威廉姆斯那里 & Connolly LLP).

维护他们的权利

威廉姆斯 & 康诺利的同事伊丽莎白·亨内克和杰西卡·帕尔最初被指派负责拉佐的案子. When Henneke moved, associate 格雷格 Hillson joined the team. Days after bringing a case against the landlord, 房东转过身来，起诉拉佐一家不付房租，要把他们赶出去. 根据法庭文件, 拉佐一家声称，“住房条件免除了[家庭]从2010年12月开始支付租金的义务，并有权退还[他们]从2008年5月至2010年11月支付的租金。.”

There were now two parallel cases happening. “Here they are trying to vindicate their rights. Then they get sued to get kicked out of their apartment,希尔森说.

The case felt especially personal to Hillson. “这件事深深触动了我，因为我是由一个几乎拿不到最低工资的单身母亲抚养长大的, 在我成长的过程中，我的家人偶尔也住在佛罗里达州类似的环境中 . . . I remember what a toll it took on her,” Hillson added.

Hillson and Pahl devoted many hours to helping the Lazo family. 当他们参观公寓并见到胡安和安娜的三个孩子时，他们亲眼看到了住房条件. The oldest daughter is 14, their son is 13, and the youngest girl is 7. Seeing the kids “brought home how important this case was,希尔森说.

威廉姆斯的支持 & 康诺利是关键，希尔森说. As with all pro bono cases taken on by the firm, Hillson and Pahl had a partner assigned to the case to act as an advisor, 提供提示和指导.

“律所在澳博app助理支持和翻译支持方面投入了所有资源. 他们允许我们聘请专家……,希尔森说, who worked with a Spanish interpreter to speak with the Lazos. “They said any client of the firm is just as important, whether it’s a landlord–tenant client or a big corporation. We treat them equally in terms of how passionate we are in . . . 为他们辩护.”

带着这种激情，团队建立了自己的案例，在接下来的一年里记录了每一个问题. 有明确的胜利. 拉佐一家在住房条件法院起诉房东的案件中，法官命令房东对公寓进行维修. 在工作期间，拉佐一家搬进了大楼内的另一个单元，住了五个星期.

“当你和房东吵架的时候，在这里生活很艰难，”胡安通过翻译说. 但公寓里很安静, safe neighborhood close to a really good school, so they chose to stay and fight for it.

“我非常紧张，因为我们已经做出了不和解的决定, but to go not only to a trial but to a jury trial. 有巨大的压力，因为尽管你试图缓和客户的期望，让他知道在陪审团审判中任何事情都可能发生, 你显然是想帮他赢,希尔森说.

9月6日, 2012, 房东起诉拉佐一家拖欠房租一案的判决下来了. 拉佐兄弟赢了.

“When the jury announced its verdict, 我试着保持镇静, 但我内心却在欢呼,帕尔说. “In the nearly two years that I worked on the case, 我和这家人走得很近，看到他们的权利得到了维护，我感到如释重负. 我认为这对他们来说意义重大，他们知道如果房东不改善他们的生活条件, 法院系统会.”

The jury awarded the Lazos more than $22,拖欠租金五千元, 超过6美元,700 was returned to them from the Court Registry, a court-monitored account set aside for tenants to make rental payments.

Hillson recalled how the family’s faces lit up when they heard the news.

“It was a lot of happiness for the family,” Juan said. The landlord tried to appeal the decision, but he lost in October 2013. 所有上诉都已用尽.

”威廉姆斯 & Connolly did a superb job handling the Lazos’ cases. 杰西卡, 伊丽莎白, 格雷格, and the entire legal team truly changed the Lazos’ lives, giving the family access to the safe and decent 住房 they deserve,莉娅·迈尔斯说, D.C. 澳博app协会公益项目. “这是一个很好的例子，说明了无偿法律服务对低收入的民主党人的重要性.C. 居民, 从拉佐一家在我们的房东租户资源中心获得的简短服务和法律信息，到我们公司在法庭上为这家人提供的熟练代理服务.”

安娜说，自从裁决以来，房东更容易接受更改要求. With the help of lawyers, they brought a change to the building, she noted.

“当我听到这个案件时，我很高兴能用我在法学院学到的知识来代表这些和我妈妈和我有类似问题的人。,希尔森说. “你有某些房东，他们以某种方式行事，我感受到了这种影响. 对我来说，这是一个为经历过类似事情的人伸张正义的机会.”

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作者:泰国披乐
From 华盛顿澳博app, September 2014
到达泰国披乐酒店 (电子邮件保护).