Impact Litigation
Newly established in 2009, Public Counsel's Impact Litigation Project (ILP) builds on Public Counsel's longstanding economic justice and civil rights community practice. The ILP brings suit in federal and state courts to challenge systemic and recurring discrimination and civil and economic rights violations that affect low income persons and persons of color. Read MoreContact Information
Public Counsel is not currently accepting intakes directly from clients for impact litigation.
- LA County Takes Major Step to Combat Section 8 Discrimination in the Antelope Valley A Public Counsel lawsuit last year exposed a frightening fact: For years, black and Latino families who are part of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program in the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale faced harassment from officials. Now Los Angeles County has approved a breakthrough agreement that that will combat discrimination and help heal the divisions in the community.
- LA Times Exposes How California Is Failing Its Farm Workers Public Counsel is working to protect farm workers from heat-related illness. The Los Angeles Times profiles the impact of California's failure to protect some of its hardest-working residents from soaring temperatures and harsh conditions.
- Antelope Valley Fair Housing Update: U.S. Launches Probe of L.A. Sheriff Over Racial Allegations U.S. officials are investigating possible fair housing violations in the Antelope Valley, Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez told reporters. The huge announcement comes two months after Public Counsel and other groups filed a federal lawsuit against the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale.
- 'We Are Public Counsel': Snapshots from the 2011 Pro Bono Awards Public Counsel celebrates the attorneys and professionals who helped us provide free legal help valued at $88 million last year and change thousands of lives. "Our honorees are talented attorneys and professionals and they are making our city and nation a better place to live," said President and CEO Hernan Vera.
- 'A Better Life for Families': Public Counsel and Antelope Valley Residents Fight for Fair Housing Antelope Valley residents went to court on Tuesday, June 7, to stop racial discrimination against 3,600 black and Latino families in Lancaster and Palmdale, two cities north of Los Angeles.
- Judge Approves Landmark Settlement to Protect Education Rights Superior Court Judge William F. Highberger approved the landmark settlement in Reed v. State of California, et al., a class action suit filed by Public Counsel, the ACLU, and Morrison & Foerster, LLP to address the devastating impact of massive and disproportionate teacher layoffs in schools in economically challenged communities and in communities of color.
- City of Palmdale Agrees to Resolve Lawsuit and Promote Fair Housing for Section 8 Participants Public Counsel announces an agreement between the City of Palmdale and residents, The Community Action League and the California State Conference of the NAACP that will prevent discrimination in its community. The agreement was approved by the Palmdale City Council on Feb. 1 and settles a lawsuit filed in June 2011 on behalf of families who are part of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and faced harassment and intimidation in Antelope Valley cities for many years. The action comes a week after Los Angeles County Supervisors voted on Tuesday, Jan. 24, to institute new protocols for Section 8 program investigators and Sheriff’s Department personnel.
- Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Action Is an Important Step Toward Justice for Antelope Valley Residents The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has voted to halt enhanced inspections of Antelope Valley families participating in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program after residents alleged racial discrimination by the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale. In a statement, attorneys for residents called it "an important step toward justice in the Antelope Valley."
- Federal Lawsuit Aims to End Antelope Valley 'War' on African American and Latino Residents Antelope Valley residents are going to court on Tuesday, June 7, to stop racial discrimination against people seeking a better life for their families in Lancaster and Palmdale. The lawsuit challenges the two cities' policies and practices that have targeted more than 3,600 black and Latino families using federal housing subsidies in the historically white area.
- Court Denies Request to Delay Implementation of Historic Settlement Protecting Students at 45 LAUSD Schools Students at 45 schools in Los Angeles will be protected from the impact of teacher layoffs after the Court of Appeal denied a request by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) to stop the implementation of a groundbreaking settlement agreement.
- Educationally-Related Mental Health Services Restored A federal court in Los Angeles today approved a stipulated injunction which will temporarily restore educationally-related mental health services to California and Los Angeles County students who require the services to stay in school.
- Daily Journal: Litigators take up the fight for state court funds Public Counsel is part of a major new effort to protect California courts from cuts that hurt the public.
- LA Times: California farmworker protections not going far enough? Six years after California became the first state to adopt rules requiring regular shade, water and rest for outdoor workers, adherence remains sporadic at best. The Los Angeles Times explores a life-or-death issue raised in a Public Counsel lawsuit.
- LA Times: L.A. County looks into alleged racism in Antelope Valley housing-subsidy crackdown The county had been paying half the cost for Section 8 investigators in Lancaster and Palmdale. Supervisors postpone that funding after civil rights groups say the probes are biased against low-income minorities.
- LA Times: Suit accuses Lancaster and Palmdale of racial bias in Section 8 crackdown Elected leaders in Lancaster and Palmdale have waged an "unrelenting war" against low-income blacks and Latinos who receive public assistance in a campaign to drive them out of the historically white Antelope Valley, civil rights lawyers alleged. "The level of hostility in these cities as expressed and enforced by authorities is astonishing," said Catherine Lhamon, a lawyer for Public Counsel, the public-interest law firm representing the plaintiffs.
- Daily Journal: Lawyer-Mayor Targeted in Civil Rights Suit The Daily Journal reports as Public Counsel files a federal lawsuit on behalf of the NAACP and an Antelope Valley community group that alleges discriminatory policies against black and Latino families in Lancaster and Palmdale.
- LA Times: Judge OKs settlement that limits use of seniority in L.A. teacher layoffs In a case that pits the constitutional rights of students against the job protections of teachers, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge approved a groundbreaking settlement Friday that limits the effect of layoffs on the district's most vulnerable students.
- Sacramento Bee: Ruling on teacher layoffs a beacon of equity for kids In response to a lawsuit filed by Public Counsel and others, Judge Highberger enjoined the Los Angeles Unified School District from laying off wildly disproportionate numbers of teachers at three middle schools in low-income neighborhoods.
- OC Register: Disabled Costa Mesa man released from ICE custody A mentally disabled Costa Mesa man who has been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody for five years without a chance to challenge his detention was released Wednesday.
- Two mentally disabled Mexican immigrants released after long detention Two mentally disabled Mexican immigrants who spent years in detention facilities after completing their sentences for assault convictions were released Wednesday by U.S. immigration authorities, officials said.
- Top Women Litigators Public Counsel's Catherine Lhamon is one of the 100 women honored by Daily Journal as the Top Women Litigators in California.
- L.A. Unified barred from budgetary teacher layoffs at three schools Court ruling, in case brought by Public Counsel and others, is meant to help the poor-performing campuses, which have been badly hit by the fiscal crisis.
- L.A. middle school, students struggle under budget cuts Public Counsel attorney Catherine Lhamon quoted in story about a lawsuit the organization has filed with others, alleging that the teacher layoffs constitute a violation of the constitutional rights of inner city students.
- Civil rights group suing LAUSD, state over teacher layoffs A group of civil rights lawyers, including Catherine Lhamon of Public Counsel, sued Los Angeles Unified and the state Wednesday, claiming that a combination of budget cuts and teacher layoffs at three low-performing middle schools violated the legal rights of students to a fair and equal education.
- Families Sue Over Discontinued Autism Therapy Families of autistic children in eastern Los Angeles County filed a class-action lawsuit today against the nonprofit agency that provides them with state-funded services. Laura Faer, an attorney with the Public Counsel, filed the suit on behalf of the families in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
- LAUSD officials OK settlement that could end seniority-based layoffs After months of negotiations, Los Angeles Unified officials unanimously approved a landmark legal settlement Tuesday that could end the district's practice of basing layoff decisions on seniority.
- Civil Rights Star Joins Public Counsel Catherine Lhamon Named New Director of Impact Litigation