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Southeast Louisiana Legal Services 2017 Annual Report

Impact Advocacy Stories

Taking a Stand for Stalking Victims

A district denied relief to a self-represented victim who had
filed for protection under Louisiana’s Dating Violence Act.
Even though the victim had a $1,700 hospital bill, the court
held there was insufficient evidence that a battery had
occurred. The court then assessed this low-income victim
with over $2,000 in court costs despite a state statute
providing that dating violence petitions can be filed without
cost and that costs are to be assessed against the plaintiff
only if the suit filed was frivolous.

Though it had not handled the original case, SLLS filed an appeal on the grounds that the suit was not
frivolous. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal agreed that the statute specifically exempted the victim from
costs unless her case was actually found to be frivolous. The appeals court reversed the assessment of
costs. Since the victim’s suit was not frivolous, she was given statutory protections. This result helped set a
precedent to combat the problem of stalking or domestic violence victims not seeking legal protection for
fear of high court fees being imposed on them.

Preventing Housing Discrimination Against Disabled Clients

A disabled tenant had lived in Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) with the
same landlord for seven years. The PSH program provided her with a case
worker to help address any problems with her tenancy. When the tenant’s health
began to worsen, her landlord filed an eviction against her for alleged damage to
the apartment. The landlord made no attempt to resolve any issues with the
tenant and her case manager, even though the lease and the Fair Housing Act
required he do so.

SLLS represented the tenant at the eviction hearing. We argued that significant
damage to the apartment was not proven and that the proper remedy, which had
not been pursued, would be to charge the tenant a damage fee per the lease.
We also argued that any problems with the tenant could have been worked out
through a reasonable accommodation by making all non-emergency contacts through the client’s PSH case
manager. The trial court agreed with SLLS and found that a reasonable accommodation of the tenant’s
disability was required. When the landlord filed an appeal, SLLS represented the tenant in the Louisiana 4
th
Court of Appeal. The appellate court ruled in our favor, establishing the first reported reasonable
accommodation case for a tenant living with disabilities in Louisiana in almost a decade.

2017 Annual Report