Chief Justice Ronald M. George Supports Programs to Help People Who Can't Afford a Lawyer
By Dhyana Levey
Daily Journal Staff Writer

PITTSBURG - The people fighting foreclosures before Contra Costa County Superior Court Commissioner Lowell E. Richards nervously stumble through their statements, bring up superfluous facts, forget their paperwork and often can't answer his questions.

They aren't amateur attorneys or even attorneys at all.

Cash-strapped litigants struggling with the nation's mortgage crisis have been pouring into the commissioner's Pittsburg courtroom without legal representation to fight unlawful detainers and other foreclosure-related lawsuits.

Often struggling with complicated legal documents and missing deadlines, the growing numbers of such people have been holding up the court process for judges and opposing attorneys. The problem has become so common that California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George is encouraging state and county programs to help self-represented litigants survive the ordeal.

While people have long represented themselves, the ongoing financial crisis and the escalated rate of foreclosures is making the situation much worse, Richards said.

Antioch resident Jalal Harb recently defended himself in Richards' courtroom against an unlawful detainer accusing him of illegally staying on the property after Bank of America foreclosed on his home. The bank had ordered Harb, who had lost his job about seven months ago, to leave his property because he wasn't paying his mortgage.

Watching Harb struggle, Richards told him, "I'm sorry, I can't give you legal advice. I understand you are representing yourself, but you are held to the same standard."

The judge did give Harb a future date to return to court and told him to see if he could get any of his questions answered by Martinez attorney John DuBois, who was representing Bank of America.

Over the past six months, Richards said, he's seen the rate of foreclosure cases in his courtroom jump from about five a week to as many as 15, with about 70 percent of people involved in such cases showing up without attorneys.

George reported a roughly 35 percent rise in self-represented civil defendants statewide over the past year.

Foreclosure matters, especially those alleging fraud, can get complex and require the skills of a legal expert, Richards said. Unfortunately, by the time people get into court to fight a foreclosure, they've usually exhausted their funds and can't hire a lawyer.

Litigants in civil cases, on the other hand, such as family, probate and small landlord-tenant disputes, more commonly represent themselves.

"It makes you wonder how they held out at long as they did," Richards said of those fighting foreclosures. "All these people need lawyers. An unrepresented defendant is really on the short end of the stick."

Attorneys complained the growing numbers of unprepared people trying to represent themselves have dragged down the court process.

"I can tell you as a lawyer, it makes our job more expensive," said Gary L. Barr, a partner with Encino's Alpert, Barr & Grant who represents banks and lenders all over California.

Barr said pro pers representing themselves take up everyone's time with their questions, improper filings and requests for extensions, creating additional expenses for the people who actually do have lawyers.

DuBois said self-represented litigants often spend hours pulling documents off the Internet that they wrongly believe can save their homes.

"The fact is, there aren't a lot of defenses that can be raised successfully even if there is an attorney," DuBois said.

Antioch resident Mayra Rodriguez, who appeared in Richards' court with her family, found herself fighting just such a losing battle as she tried to win an extension on the unlawful detainer litigation brought against her by the bank Downey Savings.

"I'm seeking legal counsel," she told Richards. "I will not be able to represent myself properly."

Rodriguez had offered about 20 pages of information she found on the Internet about landowners' troubles with banks but didn't file the proper answer to the unlawful detainer litigation.

The pending issue in the Pittsburg courtroom was who had legal possession of the property Rodriguez was fighting to keep, Richards said.

After much discussion, Rodriguez told the commissioner she was renting out the property to a tenant and wasn't living in it herself.

"So this was no longer an unlawful detainer case," said Richards, who granted possession to the bank. "Turns out a lawyer could have told them this is not the place to fight."

Since August, Richards has volunteered at workshops throughout Contra Costa County to teach people about the court process and what they can expect if they face foreclosure. The county had been one of the fastest-growing in the Bay Area and now suffers the brunt of region's foreclosures.

Even before the housing crisis, California was struggling to help people who couldn't afford representation, George said, and will likely be plagued by the problem for years to come.

"I think it's going to be the most severe problem the court system has in the next decade," he said. "Unfortunately, we can only do so much."

Just last year, the Judicial Council adopted a rule advising all of the state's counties to set up self-help centers in or near courthouses staffed with lawyers and other personnel to assist people with their court paperwork.

The centers primarily focus on family law, but they're expanding to help with other civil cases, said Bonnie Hough, a managing attorney with the Administrative Office of the Courts who works with the state's self-help centers.

She said more people over the last year have come in to seek help with foreclosure litigation, but center staff members aren't always equipped to help people with such complicated matters.

"There are cases where people need representation," Hough said.

The state is also encouraging attorneys to take more pro bono cases and telling self-represented litigants to hire attorneys to handle at least a portion of the work.

As a rare silver lining to the recession, more attorneys are available for pro bono work after getting laid off from struggling law firms, Hough said. However, lawyers who specialize in foreclosure litigation have seen their businesses boom.

With layoffs and foreclosures mounting, Richards will probably see many more sad scenes in his courtroom, such as a recent one where Brentwood resident Aleshia Fuller was fighting to save her house.

Confined to a wheelchair, Fuller filed her paperwork in the Pittsburg courthouse as a pro per and appeared before Richards without an attorney. She said she had one, but he was in a deposition elsewhere.

Fuller struggled to dig up paperwork proving she had made payments on her home, which had been foreclosed on by mortgage lender Aurora Loan Services. After she was injured in a car accident and fell behind on her mortgage payments, she went to a business advertising itself as a foreclosure specialist to try to lower her payments.

Everything appeared to be going fine, Fuller said, but then she was summoned to court with an unlawful detainer notice from the bank. The commissioner ordered both Fuller to return to court next week with more documents showing she had made her payments.

"It's been stressful, for one thing," the 45-year-old woman said. "It's the first time I've ever been here."

dhyana_levey@dailyjournal.com