Winter 2003

pine conePine Tree Case Summariespine cone

T he following are summaries of some of the cases Pine Tree Native American Unit attorneys have handled over the last six months.  You can call attorneys Judith Plano or Mike Guare or paralegal Danny Mills at 1-800-879-7463.

Housing:

Two clients called Pine Tree because they were being evicted from Native housing. Judith Plano worked with each Housing Authority to have the evictions dropped.  The clients were able to remain in their homes.

Another client, who was disabled, was being evicted from her trailer because the new owner of the park wished to get rid of the old trailer she lived in and replace it with a new trailer with higher rent.  Judith Plano was able to negotiate a six-month stay of the eviction process to allow the client to find other housing and also protect the client, who was ill, from having to move during the winter months.

Another client had rented an off reservation apartment.  The apartment was in terrible shape.  There was no water in the kitchen sink, so dishes had to be washed in the bathtub.  The floor had rotted around the toilet and the ceiling in the bathroom was falling in.  There was no exit in case of fire and there was mold.  The client came to Pine Tree and Judith Plano advised him not to pay rent to the landlord.  Instead, Pine Tree would keep the rent in a separate account for him.  Judith advised the client that if he were sued for non-payment of rent, Judith would argue that the apartment did not meet the required warranty of habitability as a defense.  The client did not take this advice, but nevertheless fell behind in his rent.

Judith did not hear back from the client and she closed the case.  The next week the client called back.  He and two other tenants had been to court for non-payment and had brought up the question of the warranty of habitability.  The judge significantly reduced the rent until the deficiencies were cured.  The Order was to be sent to all defendants but, by mistake was only sent to the first-named defendant.  The other two defendants, including the client, did not know they had a deadline in which to notify the court that they would accept the reduced rent.  The client came to see Judith the day of the deadline, after court had closed, with a copy of the order.  Judith made a Motion to Alter or Amend the Judgment giving her client two more days to notify the court.  The court granted the request, the client notified the court that he would accept the conditions, and the client was not evicted.

Family Law:

Judith recently completed a trial in Tribal Court involving custody and visitation.  The judge was able to hear the mother's concerns regarding the father's stability and ordered limited visitation.

In another family law case, the parent with custody was moving out of state with the child.  Pine Tree filed a motion on behalf of the non-custodial parent, seeking custody of the child due to substantial change of circumstances.  Any time a custodial parent moves a long distance away, the court considers that a substantial change of circumstances and the court will reopen the case upon the request of the other party.