International Human Rights
The United States Supreme Court unanimously upheld a Fourth Circuit court decision won last year by a team of Cooley attorneys that limited the scope of immunity granted under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 to only countries and not to individuals. The decision will allow a lawsuit filed by Cooley and the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) in 2004 on behalf of several Somali nationals against General Mohamed Ali Samantar, a former high-ranking Somali official accused of orchestrating human rights abuses in Somalia during the 1980s and 1990s, to continue. Samantar is currently living in Fairfax, Va.
Capital Punishment—Lucas
Cooley has represented Larry Douglas Lucas for over 17 years on the appeal of his death sentence. In 2004, Cooley attorneys argued the case in front of the California Supreme Court, and the Court ultimately vacated the death sentence on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel by his former attorney during the penalty phase of trial. The government recently decided not to retry Mr. Lucas and as a result he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Court's decision in this case will help shape the California standard for acceptable legal representation in the penalty phase of capital cases.
Wrongful Convictions—Palladium
In 1994, while serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Cooley partner Steven M. Cohen worked on an investigation of the C&C street gang. During the investigation, he participated in debriefing a gang member who admitted that he and a fellow gang member were responsible for the 1990 shootings at the Palladium nightclub for which two other men—David Lemus and Olmedo Hidalgo—were convicted. After entering private practice, Mr. Cohen began working on behalf of Lemus and Hildalgo in an effort to obtain their release. Over the course of several years, Mr. Cohen and a team of attorneys collected evidence showing that Lemus and Hidalgo were not responsible for the murder. When efforts to negotiate a resolution with the Manhattan D.A.'s office failed, the legal team filed extensive briefs and conducted an evidentiary hearing. After the conclusion of the hearing, on August 19, 2005, all charges against Hidalgo were dropped, and he was released. On October 19, 2005, Justice Roger S. Hayes ruled that Lemus's conviction must be vacated and that he was entitled to a new trial. Lemus was granted bail and walked out of the Courtroom a free man for the first time in 14 years. Lemus's retrial is likely to take place in late 2006 or early 2007.
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Civil Rights Impact Litigation
Cooley has teamed with the American Civil Liberties Union in a class action lawsuit on behalf of immigration detainees at San Diego Correctional Facility, charging that chronically severe overcrowding places detainees' health and safety at risk and is unconstitutional. The complaint filed by the Firm, the ACLU's National Prison Project and Immigrants' Rights Project, and the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, is the first of its kind to seek broad improvements in the housing of immigration detainees based on their status as civil detainees. The ACLU and Cooley attorneys successfully amended a complaint filed by detainee Isaac Kigondu Kiniti, who had been representing himself in a case he filed in May 2006 that challenges overcrowded conditions at SDCF. Kiniti was taken into ICE custody in May 2004 and sent to SDCF in November 2004. Since 2005, living conditions have worsened while he has been awaiting proceedings to determine whether he will return to Kenya. The ACLU and Cooley hope their involvement will help improve conditions at SDCF so that the meet constitutional standards.
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Cooley has teamed with various civil rights groups in seeking to overturn the recent law passed by the City of Escondido that precludes "illegal aliens" from renting or staying in rental property in that city. The firm joined the ACLU, Mexican-American Legal Defense & Education Fund, The Fair Housing Council of San Diego, People for the American Way, Rosner & Mansfield and Brancart & Bancart in a filing against the City of Escondido challenging the legality of the ordinance. The ordinance places the burden of enforcing immigration laws on Escondido landlords by prohibiting them from collecting rent, with potential fines of up to $1000 and six months in jail, per day, for "harboring illegal aliens" in any rental property within city limits. Cooley is arguing that the ordinance not only violates the U.S. and California Constitutions but is also pre-empted by or otherwise contravenes several federal and state laws. The firm seeks an injunction to bar the enforcement of this Ordinance and to have it repealed.
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Cooley secured important civil rights for thousands of legal immigrants in Santillan v. Ashcroft, a national class-action lawsuit against the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for denying proof of status to lawful permanent residents. The suit charged that immigration services offices under the DHS consistently and wrongfully rejected lawful permanent residents' requests for documentation of their legal status. In August 2005, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, granted the plaintiffs' summary judgment motion in full, ruling that the DHS policy of withholding documentation from persons already determined to be lawful permanent residents by immigration courts was arbitrary and capricious and violated DHS's nondiscretionary duty to issue documentation in a timely manner. In December 2005, the Judge issued a permanent injunction, which ensures that class members will receive their documentation, enabling them to obtain employment, drivers' licenses and social security cards.
World Trade Center Collapse Proceedings
From 2002 – 2004, Cooley's New York office represented the families of more than a dozen victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center collapse in proceedings before the Victims' Compensation Fund, successfully obtaining more than $30 million for the families.
Guardianships
Cooley collaborated with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County to develop Legal Aid's Guardianship Panel, which provides representation to caregivers in guardianship proceedings, so they can obtain the legal authority required to make medical, educational and other life decisions for the children in their care. Cooley attorneys have handled dozen guardianship matters and, in every case completed to date, have either negotiated a settlement or successfully helped the caregiver become the court-appointment guardian.
Asylum Matters
Cooley regularly takes on asylum matters, representing individuals who have been the subject of persecution in their home countries. Our attorneys have worked on asylum matters before the Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and enjoy a remarkable record in obtaining asylum for our clients.
Constitutional Challenges
Cooley represented four public housing tenants in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) v. Rucker, a case that challenged HUD's "one strike" eviction policy. We argued that the evictions of our clients were invalid under various constitutional principles and, with respect to a disabled client, under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Cooley obtained a successful result from the Ninth Circuit and subsequently argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Although the Supreme Court ultimately overturned the Ninth Circuit decision, we were able to obtain positive outcomes for all four of our clients, as well as significant changes in the way HUD enforces its policy.
Attorneys in Cooley's New York office represented Legal Services Corporation in a case involving the constitutional limits of Congress to define the scope of services provided by federally subsidized programs. After victories in the Eastern District of New York and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ultimately held that one of the restrictions imposed by Congress on the scope of the Legal Services program was facially unconstitutional.
Community Advocacy
Cooley represented Soko Bukai, an organization that helped create the Japanese YWCA in 1912, in a dispute against the San Francisco YWCA. Soko Bukai alleged that in the 1920s, the SF YWCA agreed to hold property in a trust for the Japanese YWCA during a time when Japanese were not permitted to own real property in California. When the SF YWCA attempted to sell the property for its own profit, Soko Bukai (with the support of the Japanese-American community) filed suit to enforce the trust. Cooley attorneys successfully obtained the return of the historic landmark building to the Japanese community.
Environmental Litigation
Cooley attorneys filed an amicus brief on behalf of the American Lung Association of San Diego and Imperial County in an appeal before the Ninth Circuit in a suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), brought by Earthjustice on behalf of the Sierra Club. Earthjustice and the Sierra Club claimed victory when the court ruled that the EPA illegally permitted Imperial County to blame its dirty air on Mexico rather than adopting stronger anti-pollution measures on the U.S. side of the border. The court further ordered the EPA to reclassify Imperial Valley in regard to particulate pollution, a step that will trigger stronger antipollution requirements for industry, agriculture, and other pollution sources.
Not-For-Profit Counseling
Cooley represents the national offices of Communities in Schools (CIS), a not-for-profit organization and the nation's leading dropout prevention organization. CIS has a 30-year track record of working within existing school systems and social service systems to find needed community resources and deliver them to young people. CIS has a presence in 3,250 schools in 27 states, and directly serves nearly one million children each year. Cooley provides a variety of legal services for CIS, including contract, employment counsel and trademark advice.
Intellectual Property
Cooley represents Creative Commons, a not-for-profit organization that works to make it easier for authors and creators to share their work. Cooley attorneys helped the organization develop a system to provide copyright licenses that enable artists and creators to protect their works with "some rights reserved" instead of the automatic "all rights reserved."
Charitable Transactions
Cooley represents the Points of Light Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that facilitates online charitable giving programs. Working with Cooley's counsel, the Foundation has partnered with eBay to provide the company's exclusive program for online charitable giving, called GivingWorks. Through GivingWorks, whenever a seller registers a particular item to be auctioned on eBay, he or she can elect to donate a portion of the proceeds to any charity that participates in the program. Since its inception in early 2005, the program has raised millions of dollars for charities.