Legal Aid of Western Missouri Receives Nearly $800,000 to Provide Services to Low-Income Citizens

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Feb. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Legal Aid of Western Missouri has received nearly $800,000 in additional funding to help provide services to low-income families in the state.  The funds are residual proceeds from a class action lawsuit settled in 2011 titled Allen & Lande v. UMB Bank. The court-approved settlement was secured by plaintiffs' attorneys from the law firms of Tycko & Zavareei LLP, Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP and Gray, Ritter & Graham, P.C. The Court's order approving the settlement provided that settlement checks not presented by individual class members for payment within one year would be distributed to Legal Aid to carry out its charitable mission.

"These funds will allow the Legal Aid programs throughout Missouri to serve hundreds of low-income clients who we would otherwise have to turn away," states Gregg Lombardi, Executive Director of Legal Aid of Western Missouri. These services include:

• Stopping abusive and illegal consumer collection actions; 
• Preventing unlawful and avoidable foreclosures and evictions; 
• Freeing clients and their children from domestic violence; and 
• Turn blighted urban core properties into high quality housing.

"In addition to reaching an excellent result for the class members in this case, we are delighted that the settlement will ultimately benefit the low-income families of Missouri through the Legal Aid's first-rate services," said Hassan Zavareei, one of the plaintiffs' lead attorneys.  "We hope that the residual proceeds will help bring about significant changes and lasting impacts on Missouri's communities."

Legal Aid of Western Missouri has been providing essential legal services to low-income citizens since 1964. Legal Aid staff attorneys, paralegals and volunteers assist more than 20,000 people each year with problems that seriously affect their ability to provide for themselves and their families.

SOURCE Tycko & Zavareei LLP