Two New Orleans bail bond companies working with two other businesses charged clients hidden and illegal fees – even sending armed bounty hunters to kidnap clients and extort money from their friends and family, according to a lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Louisiana’s Bogalusa City Court has agreed to issue $50 refunds to settle part of a federal lawsuit that describes how the court and a city judge operated a modern-day debtors’ prison by illegally jailing indigent people too poor to pay fines and court costs, the Southern Poverty Law Center announced today.
The SPLC and others are seeking to reform a wasteful money bail system that discriminates against the poor. But earlier efforts fell victim to tough-on-crime policies that emerged in the mid-1960s.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on a bill that would stop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) years-long effort to rein in predatory lenders who profit by trapping the poor in an endless cycle of debt.
The money bail system in Randolph County, Alabama, violated the constitutional rights of people charged with misdemeanors or felonies because it created a “two-tiered” system of justice based on wealth. The Southern Poverty Law Center and its allies filed a federal class action lawsuit to end...
Creditors can’t garnish the wages of low-income Alabamians if they are earning less than $1,000 per paycheck and that money is being spent on living expenses, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals recently ruled in a case brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Legal Services Alabama (LSA) on behalf of two women who would have been unable to support their families if a creditor had garnished their wage
The SPLC is urging a half dozen hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi this week to comply with federal laws and regulations designed to protect low-income patients from harsh collection practices.
Each year, law enforcement agencies seize billions of dollars in cash and other property from potential suspects – some of whom are never convicted or even charged with a crime – through a process called civil asset forfeiture.
The SPLC has reached a settlement with Alexander City, Alabama, and its police chief to resolve a federal class action lawsuit over the operation of a modern-day debtors’ prison in which people were jailed for being too poor to pay fines and court fees for traffic tickets and misdemeanors.
The recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office confirms what we already knew: The plan to replace the Affordable Care Act will drastically reduce the number of people with health insurance in our country. This bill will have life-threatening consequences for the poor as it slashes $880 billion in funding from Medicaid.
