Legal Aid Steps Up and Shares Resources

Gregg Lombardi - Executive Director

Pictures and stories of the horrible tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma yesterday bring back vivid memories of the May 2011 tornado that ravaged Joplin, Missouri.

The talented staff in Legal Aid’s Joplin office have learned a lot in the last two years about the recovery process from a tornado and what a legal aid program can do to get a community back on its feet. I have talked with Janice Franklin, the Managing Attorney of the Joplin Office, and we have reached out to Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma to make sure that they get the benefit of everything that we have learned in the last two years.

Resources we are offering include: our comprehensive disaster-relief manual; tips as to legal issues that are most likely to appear immediately after a disaster (rental price gouging being one of them); lists of likely funders for disaster relief work and sample grant applications; suggestions on how to help their staff deal with their own emotional trauma from the storm; and ideas on how to staff up after the storm.

Helping people in need is what we do best and we will make sure that the people of Moore get all the help that we can give them. Many thanks to Janice and her staff for sharing their knowledge.

Kansas City Mayor Praises Legal Aid's Response to the Joplin Tornado

Gregg Lombardi - Executive Director

I was at the KCMBA’s Liberty and Justice Gala last Saturday, which was a marvelous event.

Kansas City Mayor Sly James was at the event and gave a great speech talking about the excellent work that Legal Aid’s attorneys do and particularly highlighting our response to the Joplin tornado.

You can read the Mayor’s speech on Legal Aid’s website here.

Let's show Joplin our true colors.

Gregg Lombardi - Executive Director

There is nothing like a crisis to bring out people's true colors.

With the Joplin tornado the response of most Missourians has been inspiringly positive. If you've been to Joplin any time since May 22, you've seen hundreds of volunteers doing whatever they can to help the city and the families that were decimated by the tornado back on their feet.

A shining star in this effort has been Missouri Bar President John Johnston, who spent more than a week in Joplin, leading the charge of volunteers from the Missouri Bar that helped make sure that tornado survivors had the legal tools they needed to make FEMA and insurance claims and to deal with trust and estate issues, guardianships and all the other legal obstacles that stood between them and recovery. Similarly, Legal Aid's Shelly Wakeman led a platoon of Volunteer Attorney Project volunteers, working in close coordination with the Bar that made sure that low-income survivors had all of their legal needs taken care of.

While there are countless examples of the good that's been done in Joplin, there is a small number of vultures who have done their best to get rich as a result of the city's misfortune. The biggest offenders are landlords who had the good fortune of having the tornado miss their property. Shortly after the tornado struck, many of these vultures started evicting tenants and charging double the rent, taking advantage of the extreme shortage of housing in Joplin.

This practice is not only reprehensible, it's illegal. Under Missouri's Merchandising Practices Act, raising retail and rental prices exorbitantly as a result of a natural disaster is illegal price gouging. The Missouri Attorney General's office has already received more than 50 complaints of price gouging in Joplin and the experience of the staff in our Joplin office has confirmed that the practice is widespread.

Legal Aid is working to team up with the Missouri Attorney General's office to stop illegal price gouging in Joplin. If you're an attorney who is offended by the scum who want to take advantage of the plight of the Joplin tornado victims, do something about it. Give me a call or e-mail me to sign up for Legal Aid's anti-price gouging efforts in Joplin. The plan is to organize volunteer attorneys to bring legal actions under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act against landlords in Joplin who have charged substantial rent increases to make a quick profit off of the disaster. My direct dial number is (816)474-1413 x224. My e-mail address is glombardi@lawmo.org

Let's show the Joplin community our true colors.

Post Tornado Volunteers

Gregg Lombardi - Executive Director

We have had many calls from volunteer lawyers wanting to help with the legal issues for low-income people that will follow in the wake of the Joplin tornado. Right now, Shelly Wakeman is talking with disaster relief experts from other states and we will be updating and circulating a disaster relief manual hopefully by early next week.

We hope to hold a training for volunteer attorneys to help out some time next week. Volunteers will either answer questions by phone from their own offices or go to Joplin, where we hope to be able to set up an information booth at the FEMA site.

If you want to volunteer, please call Latricia Scott Adams our VAP director at (816)474-6750. Thanks.