press room
PRESS
RELEASES
February 16, 2010. Class Action Lawsuit Resolved: City agrees to provide appropriate utility subsidy to low income tenants. HONOLULU – A class action lawsuit filed against the City and County of Honolulu (“City”) by attorneys for a group of low-income residents at the federally subsidized Westlake Apartments housing project has been provisionally resolved.
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December 23, 2009. Judge Rules State Law Violated by Cutting Pacific Islanders' Medical Benefits. HONOLULU – December 24, 2009 - Medically needy immigrants from the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia living in Hawai`i scored an important victory yesterday when Circuit Court Judge Gary W.B. Chang ruled that the Department of Human Services (DHS) illegally cut the immigrants' access to state-funded medical benefits. The ruling yesterday followed on the heels of a temporary restraining order issued by the federal court in September that temporarily halted the implementation of those rules. Yesterday’s ruling confirms the immigrants’ contention that the state violated their rights. -- Click Here for More --
August 12, 2008. Resolution
in Landmark Lawsuit
Will Benefit Thousands of Hawaii Children. Honolulu
– U.S. District Court Chief Judge Helen Gillmor today
approved a settlement agreement in a case brought by a statewide class
of homeless children and their parents against the Hawaii Department of
Education and Board of Education. The settlement requires the State to
provide homeless children with equal access to public education and
remove barriers to their educational success. --Click
Here For More --June 12, 2008. City Sued for Dodging Federal Regulations While Overcharging Low-Income Housing Tenants: Federal Class Action Suit Filed on Behalf of Tenants at Westlake Apartments Claims City Falsified Reports for More than a Decade. Honolulu - Seeking to end over a decade of rent overcharges, attorneys for a group of low-income residents at the federally subsidized Westlake Apartments housing project filed a class action lawsuit today against the City and County of Honolulu (“City”). The lawsuit charges City officials with failing for over a decade to adjust federally mandated “utility allowances” while deceptively certifying to the federal government each year that the utility allowances had been properly calculated. -- Click Here For More --
February 14, 2008.Federal Judge Rules That the State of Hawaii Department of Education Must Fulfill Its Obligation to Homeless Children. Honolulu - U.S. District Court Chief Judge Helen Gillmor has ordered the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) to change its enrollment procedures to ensure equal access for homeless children. -- Click Here For More --
November 6, 2007. Court Asked to Halt Enforcement of Laws and Policies That Illegally Deny Homeless Children Equal Access to Education. Honolulu - In advancing their class action lawsuit, Lawyers for Equal Justice (LEJ) and the ACLU of Hawaii (ACLU) today are filing a motion for preliminary injunction in federal court seeking an order that would immediately halt State officials (State) from enforcing laws and policies that block access by homeless children to public education in violation of federal law. -- Click Here For More --
October 2, 2007. Homeless Children Denied Equal Access to Education - Civil Rights Groups Charge State With Failure in Federal Class Action Lawsuit. Honolulu – Calling the State of Hawaii's treatment of homeless children a travesty, civil rights groups and attorneys filed a class action lawsuit today challenging the State's failure to provide homeless children with equal access to public education. The lawsuit – which names three homeless parents and their children – charges State officials ("State") with ignoring their legal obligations to provide homeless children with equal access to a free and appropriate public education in violation of the McKinney-Vento Act ("Act"). The lawsuit also charges State officials with violating constitutional requirements to provide equal access to public education without regard to the status of homelessness. -- Click Here For More --
Lawyers
for Equal Justice News Blog
