Bowen students and alums assist families over the holiday

by Mark P. Yablon

Pritchard-Consumer Clinic Photo

In a Christmastime health and safety dispute with the owner of Alexander Apartments, Little Rock code enforcement and fire officials tried to evict nearly 250 tenants from the Alexander Apartments in two different courts without proper notice or an opportunity for tenants to object. In fact, when the tenants did try to express their concerns by seeking a temporary restraining order to block their eviction, the city filed court papers and presented oral arguments the week before Christmas that the tenants did not have standing to fight their own imminent eviction because “they lack injury [if any at all] fairly traceable to the conduct of the City.”

The city’s attempt to dump coal in the tenants’ stockings at the seven-acre complex failed thanks to UALR Bowen Law School’s Amy Pritchard, Director of the Consumer Protection Clinic, and a few current and former students who were in court voluntarily representing the interests of tenant Melody Branch, her family, and dozens of other frightened residents. On such short notice and while many agencies and businesses were not fully operating because of the Christmas break, most residents had nowhere to move nor the money they would need to make such an unexpected move.

But multiple attorneys with Bowen relationships stepped in to help the tenants obtain a temporary restraining order to prevent the mass evictions. The Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Pulaski County blocked Little Rock’s efforts to evict hundreds of disenfranchised residents. Pritchard said she hopes this order will give the apartment owner time to complete necessary building repairs so the tenants can live in a safer and healthier environment.

A Bowen student who works in the Consumer Protection Clinic, conducted the direct examination of Branch. Ernhart appeared under a state rule that allows students to practice law under Pritchard’s license. Megan Dauksch, a May 2015 graduate (and former clinic student) and attorney for Legal Aid of Arkansas, appeared on behalf of another tenant. Stacy Fletcher, a 1996 Bowen graduate (and former clinic student) and attorney for Center for Arkansas Legal Services, also assisted the tenants. Pritchard delivered the oral arguments for the clinic’s client and cross-examined the complex owner and city officials.

Bowen’s Consumer Protection Clinic gives upper-level students the opportunity to represent and litigate on behalf of clients under Pritchard’s law license. Students wanting four credit hours in actual litigation and negotiation on debt collection and landlord/tenant matters may contact Pritchard for more information. Four to six students are typically selected to participate in this clinic.

For another news report on the Alexander Apartments controversy, see this story.

 

Mark P. Yablon is a first-year student at UALR Bowen School of Law. He and his two youngest daughters moved to Little Rock so he could study law at a well-respected law school in a capital city near his adopted hometown of McKinney, Texas. In a prior life, Mark was a successful entrepreneur offering financial services and redeveloping commercial real estate in Historic Downtown McKinney.

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