Legal Aid represented a young man with disabilities who lives on SSI as his sole source of income and yet manages to rent independently in the private market. The young man fell behind on rent one month, but managed to pay the entire balance at the eviction hearing in court. His landlord filed another eviction anyway, arguing that the client had to pay the attorney fees it claimed from the case—an amount nearly five times his rent—in order to stay in his home. Legal Aid fought the case to the Court of Appeals and prevailed, securing a published decision that protects the right of tenants to keep their homes notwithstanding onerous attorney fee provisions in lease agreements.

Congratulations to managing attorney Luke Grundman, and staff attorney Georgina Santos, for their work on this landmark decision that protects tenants' right of redemption at a critical time in history, as Minnesota experiences an acute shortage of affordable housing for the most vulnerable among us. Read the decision in ACC OP (University Commons), LLC v. Rodriguez from the Minnesota State Court of Appeals.