Something Fishy About Legal Aid

If your going to use the services of legal aid you'd
better check them out first. Scams come in all shapes
and sizes so why not with your local legal aid. Read on
and see what's so fishy about some legal aids.

One of California's largest law firms has filed a civil case seeking to put an allegedly fake legal-aid operation out of business in Northern California.

Legal experts said the lawsuit tries to address a growing problem statewide.

The suit, filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court last week, alleges that the Legal Center for Legal Aid has swindled Northern California residents who were seeking assistance with evictions.

San Francisco-based Morrison & Foerster asserts the center employed false advertising in a "brazen . . . scam" to deceive four people, including an elderly blind man, a double amputee and a plaintiff with a severe head injury, according to court documents.

The center provided either no or faulty assistance to the plaintiffs and continues to use false advertising and other illegal tactics, according to the suit, filed in Martinez.

Morrison & Foerster attorneys, led by Angela Padilla of the firm's San Francisco office, are seeking an injunction barring the center, and its principal, Richard Gugg, from engaging in fraudulent activities.

The center advertises in a number of California Yellow Page directories and its Yellow Page entry "was placed alongside and sometimes directly above and below those of legitimate legal aid services, enhancing its apparent credibility and deceiving those who were hurried or confused in their need for legal help," Padilla said in a written statement.




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