Illegal Aid
March 14th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Imagine you need a lawyer, but can’t afford the high fees. You crack the phone book and find a group calling itself “National Legal Aid Services.” offering low-cost representation. Sounds good, right? Maybe not.
National Legal Aid Services is apparently a group out of Colorado that’s posing as a nonprofit, but allegedly scams poor folks out of their money.
This according to a recent lawsuit filed by Rio Grande Legal Aid (the real legal aid folks in Texas) in state court against several allegedly fake “legal aid” outfits. Thirteen plaintiffs allege they were scammed out of their money by 12 defendants, including an entity called National Legal Aid Services. The group deceptively incorporated the “legal aid” into its name and marketed itself as such, according to the complaint.
One of the plaintiffs is Juanita Sarabia. According to the filings, in June 2007, the San Antonio woman wanted to gain legal access to her grandchildren. Her daughter was missing, and Sarabia wanted to visit her grandchildren, who lived with their father. Unable to afford an attorney, Sarabia tried to contact legal aid, which provides legal representation to the poor. She called directory assistance and was given a phone number for “legal aid.” She called, and asked if she had reached legal aid in San Antonio and was told she had.
The person on the other end of the line told Sarabia they could help get her a lawyer for the fee of $450. (Legitimate legal aid agencies don’t charge for their services.) Sarabia said she didn’t have the money, but the person on the phone insisted and warned her that other lawyers cost thousands of dollars. Sarabia agreed. It took her two months to scrounge up the money. She wired them the money in late September. In return she received a set of documents that, she was told, needed to be notarized and taken to the courthouse. Sarabia asked for an attorney’s help, but was told “we only do paperwork.”
She took the documents to a notary, who told Sarabia she had been scammed. The documents were slapped-together boiler plate that was of little use in Texas. She hasn’t been able to contact the so-called Legal Aid group since and never got her money back.
Sarabia’s experience isn’t contained to Texas. Similar scams have popped up recently in Ohio, California and Maine. But Rio Grand Legal Aid also has joined with Colorado Legal Services to file a federal lawsuit in Colorado federal court against a similar set of defendants, alleging false advertising, trademark infringement, and racketeering. National Legal Aid Services’ Web site has been taken down.
