The report found that in 100 percent of those cases, a property manager or housing authority had representation, whereas tenants only had representation roughly 3 percent of the time. That number fell to about 1 to 2 percent for tenants in private housing depending on the year.
“What this tells us is it’s not a fair playing field in Denver county eviction court,” CCLP attorney Jack Regenbogen said.
“Businesses that prey upon vulnerable workers need to be held accountable and need to be required to pay their employees,” Killmer Lane & Newman attorney Mari Newman said. “I wanted to stand up for people who are in a position that makes it difficult to stand up for themselves.”
The July 2013 suit, filed against the Fantasy Gentlemen’s Club in Grand Junction for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Colorado Minimum Wage Act, resulted in a settlement award of $500,000 for 12 individuals earlier this year. The case is one of four nominated for the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association’s Case of the Year award.
The death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February left several Supreme Court decisions in a holding pattern, and as the GOP continues to block President Obama’s nominations for the vacant spot, the future of policies like DACA remain unclear.
“It feels like I have to prove myself every time,” she said. “I feel like I have proved myself all my life, so it just feels unfair that I have to keep doing this until somebody does something.”