Partners in Environmental Justice—Teaming Up in Pursuit of More Equitable Phila. Neighborhoods
In this article for The Legal Intelligencer, Hausfeld partner Katie Beran and associate Tim Kelly discuss how Hausfeld works with The Public Interest Law Center on high-impact legal strategies to restore environmental and social justice to disadvantaged Philadelphia communities.
Noxious fumes and noise routinely intruding the home. Junked or illegally dumped cars lining the streets. Oil cans littered all over and staining the sidewalk. And tires, trash and debris in every direction. For many low-income communities of color across Southwest Philadelphia, sharing a block with unlawfully operated autobody shops is the norm.
The Public Interest Law Center uses high-impact legal strategies to support Philadelphia communities facing discrimination, inequality and poverty. The Law Center saw that the high concentration of autobody shops in residential areas was creating myriad environmental hazards. Concurrently, our environmental team at Hausfeld was exploring ways to partner with non-profit organizations to make a difference in our local communities. So we teamed up and got to work.
We connected with residents of a Southwest Philadelphia community where the problem was particularly bad. Situated next to Mount Moriah Arboretum along Cobbs Creek, the area once was beautiful and quiet—the perfect place to raise a family—and residents worked hard to keep it that way. There was an autobody shop nearby, but it operated lawfully and without interfering with residents’ rights to the use and enjoyment of their property. However, when ownership of the shop changed hands, everything changed.
The new autobody shop operators frequently broke zoning laws and city regulations designed to maintain a baseline quality of life in residential neighborhoods, accruing nearly 60 notices of violations from the Department of Licenses and Inspections over eight years. They would dump cars on the surrounding public streets, sidewalks, and in a privately owned shared alleyway behind our clients’ homes. They deposited car parts in residents’ yards, and damaged private property when moving vehicles. They blocked streets for extended periods of time, which could prevent emergency vehicles from accessing homes. Toxic fumes would permeate neighboring homes, exacerbating chronic health conditions, like asthma. And loud noises from illegal operations and even late-night raucous parties deprived residents of the tranquility they once loved about their community.
After years of doing everything in their power to shut down the unlawful autobody shop, our clients ultimately resigned themselves to trying to save enough money to relocate, despite decades of history and attachment to their neighborhood, until they realized they had another option: they could take legal action.
As pro bono counsel, we filed suit in the Court of Common Pleas, bringing claims for nuisance, trespass, and material interference with a shared easement. The litigation concluded swiftly with a favorable settlement, including the elimination of the nuisance and the removal of the unlawfully operating business from the property.
No longer at the mercy of the nuisance business, our clients and their neighbors can live peacefully again. But that doesn’t help other working class Black neighborhoods dealing with the unchecked proliferation of unlicensed or nuisance autobody shops and scrapyards—a reality that would be unimaginable in white, affluent areas of the city. That inequity will continue unless and until more significant citywide action is taken.
To read the full article. (Partners in Environmental Justice—Teaming Up in Pursuit of More Equitable Phila. Neighborhoods | The Legal Intelligencer (law.com))
