Thread: Hazleton gets more legal help

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 5154&rfi=6

09/03/2006
Hazleton gets more legal help
BY WADE MALCOLM
STAFF WRITER


The publicity of a high-profile legal battle has opened doors for Hazleton in its effort to defend the controversial Illegal Immigration Relief Act.

A nationally known immigration lawyer contacted Hazleton, offering to work at a reduced rate. Two advocacy groups have lent services free of charge. And donations from supporters across the country, according to Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, have flowed into Hazleton’s bank account.

Now, the city embroiled in debate national over illegal immigration policy has help from a more traditional source: its insurance policy.

Scottsdale Insurance Co., carriers of Hazleton’s liability insurance policy, has appointed a Philadelphia law firm to help represent the city against a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of several plaintiffs by a group of advocacy groups and local attorneys.

Hazleton will receive through its insurance policy free legal help from Deasey, Mahoney & Bender Ltd., a firm known for defending against civil rights litigation, according to City Solicitor Christopher Slusser.

The city notified its insurance provider shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Slusser said, and the counsel was assigned to Hazleton at no additional cost.

It is also the city’s hope that insurance will cover damages if Hazleton loses the suit.

While the insurance company has not explicitly told Hazleton it would do this, Slusser said the city anticipates that will be the case, considering Scottsdale’s willingness to provide legal help. The company, though, could offer legal help while limiting the damages it will cover.

“But at this time, it appears Scottsdale is offering us coverage for this claim,” Slusser said.

Attorneys at the law firm did not return phone calls Friday.

The Philadelphia firm will team with the rest of Hazleton’s established legal team: law school professor and former counsel to the U.S Attorney General Kris Kobach; national advocacy group the Federation for American Immigration Reform; and the Mountain States Legal Foundation.

“Typically in large cases like this, you need division of labor,” Kobach said. “The more hands, the better.”

That statement is certainly also true of the plaintiffs’ stocked legal lineup, which includes the American Civil Liberties Union, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, other advocacy groups and several local attorneys. On Friday, the two sides signed a procedural agreement in federal court. The city agreed not to enforce illegal immigration ordinances passed in July and August, while the plaintiffs agreed to file an injunction against those ordinances.

Hazleton City Council is expected to pass a new, more-intricately worded ordinance this month, against which the plaintiffs could, and likely will, file an injunction.

wmalcolm@citizensvoice.com

This article makes my day. This is the America that makes me proud.

Originally Posted by Preachingtothechoir

This article makes my day. This is the America that makes me proud.

I'm with you. This is awesome. I hope it starts a wake effect throughout the nation.