Lynchburg, VA – 5 May 2018 – Lynchburg’s branch of Virginia Legal Aid Society has been receiving funding from the city of Lynchburg toward its work to represent low-income residents in legal matters for more than two decades, but a lawsuit filed by one of the organization’s clients against the city and several other parties has put that in jeopardy.
At its April 24 work session where City Council debated how to balance the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, council members Mary Jane Dolan, Turner Perrow and Jeff Helgeson voted against providing $11,699 to the organization, citing concerns it had “exceeded its mission.” Since 2008, the city has provided approximately $100,000 to Virginia Legal Aid Society.
Although they were in the minority in the vote, funding an external service provider such as VA Legal Aid Society requires five out of seven council members to vote in support of the funding Tuesday, when the final budget is set to be voted on. The requirement for five votes for granting aid to organizations is in city code.
City Manager Bonnie Svrcek said she cannot recall another time when the annual funding in the budget for Virginia Legal Aid Society was a contentious topic between council members.
These concerns stem from a lawsuit filed by Lynchburg resident Jacquelin Goard in October 2015 against Danville based Crown Auto, Stafford-based Midnight Express Auto Recovery, several Lynchburg Police Department officers and the city for the improper handling of the repossession of Goard’s vehicle. The suit was settled “in a manner that was agreeable to all parties” in the fall of 2017, according to City Attorney Walter Erwin.
According to Goard’s complaint filed in the Lynchburg division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Crown Auto did not properly disclose the terms of her vehicle financing and then repossessed the car in away she andher attorneys from VA Legal Aid Society said was unlawful.
In order to repossess the car, Crown Auto hired Midnight Express Auto Recovery. On June 17, a representative from the company came to Goard’s apartment to repossess the car with a tow truck, and Goard objected, stating she believed she was not subject to repossession because she was in a “grace period” with Crown Auto.
Because she was fiercely objecting, the Midnight Express employee called the Lynchburg Police Department to assist during the incident. According to Goard, she eventually handed over the keys to a representative from Midnight Express after the encouragement from the officers at the scene.
According to Virginia Legal Aid Society’s Lynchburg Managing Attorney Jeremy White, those who are having their belongings repossessed have a right to object for any reason — such as needing the car to travel to work the next day — and the repossession must stop and the matter will be settled in court.
“The law is well established on the right to object,” he said. “There have been multiple sources that give pretty clear guidance on that to law enforcement, including Virginia Municipal League. If there’s an objection, the parties have to go away, and they have to appear in court and hear from a judge.”
Initially, only the five LPD officers who responded to the scene were named in the suit, but according to VLAS Executive Director David Neumeyer, the city later was added after the officers said they only were carrying out what they had been instructed to do during their training.
“The law is settled in Virginia and it has been for a long time about what the police’s proper role is in repo situations,” Neumeyer said. “Unfortunately the city is not giving our officers useful guidance on this.”
In order to handle the lawsuit, the city hired Salem-based law firm Guynn &Waddell for a fee of approximately $60,300. During summary judgment proceedings May 11, 2017, Jennifer Royer, from the firm, argued Goard was engaging in disorderly conduct when she was trying to keep the car from being taken, which is not allowed.
“A debtor absolutely has the right to object to a repossession, and that is something that I don’t think is in dispute between the parties,” she said. “But the debtor does not have the right to violate criminal law in front of a police officer, with impunity, in the course of making that objection.”
She went on to defend the officer’s conduct, saying the officers did not directly assist with the repossession.
“… None of the officers drew a weapon on her,” Royer said. “They didn’t threaten her with any form of violence. They didn’t reach for their handcuffs. They never laid a hand on Ms. Goard. No one told her to stop interfering with the repossession. No one told her to leave her car. No one arrested her or otherwise detained her. They didn’t even raise their voices at her. So based on these facts, the plaintiff can’t show that the officers violated her constitutional rights.”
In interviews last week, Perrow, Helgeson and Dolan said although they support the mission of Virginia Legal Aid Society, they did not think it was appropriate for the city to choose to fund the nonprofit after they had filed the lawsuit against the city and some of its police officers.
“Virginia Legal Aid Society is supposed to help people who don’t understand the court system, work through lesser offenses and help them with the legal process, but to represent a client and to take suit against the city just rubs me the wrong way,” Perrow said. “They should have referred it to somebody else. … They don’t typically work in federal court. It just felt like a witch hunt to me.”
Council member Randy Nelson, who is an attorney, said he supports funding Virginia Legal Aid Society because of the work the organization does to assist those who would not otherwise be able to pay for an attorney.
“I have worked not only with their staff but with dozens and dozens of their clients, and I appreciate what a positive impact having an attorney helps someone deal with a crisis. It might be the biggest crisis of their life, in terms of their life, their property, their home or their credit rating.”
Mayor Joan Foster, Vice Mayor Treney Tweedy and council member Sterling Wilder could not be reached for comment.
Source: The News & Advance
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