Thanks, CLRA

MOSKOVITZ ON APPEALS

I can't let 2017 end without congratulating California Rural Legal Assistance, or CRLA, on its 50th anniversary. The legal aid group was formed in 1967. In a way, so was I.

After clerking for a California Supreme Court justice and a stint in a San Francisco law firm, I caught a bug that was going around then: the "I'll Save The World!" virus. So I went to work for LBJ's new Office of Economic Opportunity, in D.C. We funded anti-poverty programs around the country, including CRLA.

CRLA was also newly formed, to provide legal services in civil cases for California's rural poor, in offices strung out from Imperial County going north up the Central Valley. It was founded by two human dynamos: Jim Lorenz and Gary Bellow, who asked me to set up and run a new CRLA office in Marysville. I wasn't really cut out for D.C.'s political infighting, so I jumped at the chance.

Jim was a handsome, articulate guy who'd left Biglaw. Gary was a former public defender, a social activist with realpolitik instincts. (Both have since passed away.)

Jim and Gary were true believers who could really inspire a young guy like me who had never run a law office. They told me, "Don't just handle individual cases. Go up there and change the way they treat poor people."

So off I went. I hired some office staff, a couple of associate lawyers, and two "community workers" -- local Mexican-American farmworkers who could give me immediate credibility in that community. We opened our doors in March of 1967.

Opportunities to change things started immediately.

We served the poor in Yuba and Sutter Counties. Orchard country -- where farmworkers would prune, thin and harvest the peach, pear and apricot trees. But that spring, heavy rains blanketed the area for weeks on end, preventing work. The farmworkers' savings from last year's harvesting began to run out. They were embarrassed to apply for welfare benefits, but they had families to feed, so no choice.

Manuel Chavez (Cesar's cousin) was then organizing for an upcoming election for the orchard workers to decide if they wanted the United Farmworkers Union to represent them. Manuel took the men to the Sutter County welfare office -- which turned them down for a variety of contrived reasons. Manuel then brought them to my office.

I knew nothing about welfare law, but my associate (now federal magistrate) John Moulds knew Frank Vasquez, the top lawyer in the state's welfare agency, down in Sacramento. Frank gave us some lessons in welfare law. (Reagan was then governor, and Frank might have been fired if his bosses knew he was helping us on the sly. Brave guy.) Thus armed, we went back to Marysville -- and won 35 straight administrative cases against the welfare department.

I also sued the welfare department for an injunction compelling them to tell applicants their rights correctly. The local superior court judge threw it out, which led to my very first civil appeal, which I won.

And the farmworkers began asserting themselves. They picketed the welfare office. And one group launched a three-day strike against Green Giant's asparagus fields, which we helped them settle on favorable terms.

I knew we were having an impact on the local power structure when I ran into a local car dealer at a social function. When he teased me about my "rabble-rousing," I responded: "After the welfare fight, Gavin, we're going after the used car dealers." I was only kidding, as I had no idea about any misdeeds in his line of work. But he grew pale and looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

Then the Sutter County honchos struck back -- at me as well as my clients. The welfare director and the D.A. teamed up to charge some of my clients with welfare fraud -- sending a strong message to my client community: "Go to CRLA, and you go to jail!" If we didn't win these cases, we might as well close the office.

I'd never handled a trial -- let alone several criminal cases that could send my clients to the pokey and shut down CRLA's local presence. I asked a local criminal defense attorney how to defend a welfare fraud charge. He said, "You don't. Once a Sutter County jury hears that your client received welfare, to them that's fraud."

So I called for help. CLRA sent up Paul Driscoll, one of our senior attorneys (he was over 30) who had worked as a public defender. In the first case, the DA charged our client with lying on his welfare application about how much money he had. The key prosecution witness was a guy named Harry, a welfare department employee who had worked on our client's welfare application. Paul proposed that we invite Harry out for a beer. After a few drinks, Harry admitted that even if our client had stated the correct amount, he would have been eligible for the same benefits. I asked Harry to sign a statement saying that. He trembled and refused -- afraid of losing his job. At trial, however, on cross I got him to admit his oral admission, and used it to persuade the judge to dismiss on the ground that any misstatement was not material. (After the dismissal, I spoke to the jurors. Sure enough, they were ready to convict.)

The other cases were similar. I never did persuade a Sutter County jury to acquit, but did manage to get the judge to dismiss anyway. No convictions, and CRLA was saved.

It wasn't all gravy. I made mistakes, some pretty bad. At one point, Jim Lorenz came close to firing me -- for my failure to stop one of my community workers from calling our local congressman "the enemy of The People!" to his face, at a public meeting, and reported in the press.

And while still governor, Reagan tried to get the feds to terminate CRLA's grant. Stu Pollock (now associate justice of the 1st District Court of Appeal) represented CRLA, defended some of my office's more questionable actions, and beat the rap for us.

Much to our surprise, we survived past infancy. CRLA is still going strong today, 50 years later -- even in Marysville.

So thanks, CRLA, for the most exciting experience of my professional career. (A few years ago, I wrote a couple of articles about these adventures for California Lawyer. Drop me a line if you'd like to see them.)