Foreclosure Crisis + Legal Aid Cuts = @#$%! (Mother Jones)

[Solly Mack]

By Kat Aaron



"Marilyn Hopper learned the hard way what happens to people who can't afford a lawyer.

Back in 2009, Hopper, a pleasant, diminutive 57-year-old from Detroit, was sued by a company called Midland Funding over a $1,700 credit card debt, which grew to $2,400 with fees and interest. She missed the initial court hearing at Michigan's 36th District Court and in her absence, the judge gave the company permission to take $700 a month from her paycheck.

That got her attention fast. When she showed up in court this past November to contest the judgment, she explained that the hearing notice had been delivered to her old address—a home she'd lost to foreclosure. Over the objections of Midland's pink-suited young attorney, Hopper convinced the judge to reduce the garnishment from her paycheck to $200 a month, but the company's past withdrawals had left her nearly destitute. "I was subjected to undue hardship because they were taking such a large chunk," she told me. When I asked whether she'd considered hiring a lawyer, Hopper sighed. "Most of them want $4,000 up front, and who has $4,000 lying around?"

Traditionally, people with little money could turn to Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the federally mandated nonprofit that supports free legal-aid programs in hundreds of communities. But over the past few years, a perfect storm of conservative attacks, shrinking budgets, and recessionary demand for legal services has left those who can least afford it fending for themselves against the financial behemoths."