Attorney Justin Schwartz's Legal Cases

Landlord or tenant

Everybody was happy.

May 11, 2015

OUTCOME: Agreed order entered to vacate eviction order.

Landlords wanted to evict my client. Immediately. This would have lost her subsidized housing forever. They'd turned off her water. I served them with a next-day motion to vacate the order to evict and ... turn back on the water. Over the weekend I negotiated an settlement: the landlord would agree to vacating the eviction order and turning on the water. They'd give her almost three months to find a new (subsidized) place. No contention. Client and landlords both went home happy.

Criminal defense

A clean win in a small case

Apr 17, 2015

OUTCOME: Charges dropped.

Client was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Plastic baggies. No residue. No drugs. (Illegal search, incidentally) State offered a deal for a plea. Client properly declined. I said, Your H ... onor, I want a trial. Right. Now. Not later. No continuances or trial date in August. I have a hearing in two hours. Officer's in court, we can do this in fifteen minutes. The judge asked me: counsel, didn't you hear the state drop the charges? I really wanted to cross the officer, ask if he had plastic baggies at home, and if so, why he didn't turn himself in. The state had a lot of nerve offering a deal in in a case where they knew the client was innocent. The civil rights suit will be filed shortly.

Family

Six figure judgment

Feb 24, 2015

OUTCOME: $120k child support award. Vacated due to sheriff's defective service. Currently being relitigated for with even more at stake.

Father had not paid child support for near-adult child. Ever, as far as I can tell, except for a few hundred dollars here and there. Had substantial means. A hard worker, but not such a support for the ... child. I asked for and got an award of over $120,000, with interest and penalties. Father began to show interest when I froze his assets. The judgment ended up being vacated because the sheriff has made a mistake in serving process when mother was acting pro se. (Before she retained me). I refiled and am now asking for child support back to now-adult child's birth, plus interest and penalties.

Car accident

A good settlement.

Sep 18, 2013

OUTCOME: Case settled, client pleased.

Client was injured in auto accident. Defendant's insurer offered a small change "settlement." I litigated the case until we got real money for client.

Criminal defense

Freedom

Mar 22, 2006

OUTCOME: Client freed after over 30 years in prison.

Client was serving a 300 year sentence. He had petitioned unsuccessfully for parole on his own and with the aid of some able lawyers almost 20 times. I brought in experts, wrote and assembled what was ... in effect a clemency petition, and ultimately persuaded the Prisoner Review Board that he should be released. Within three years of taking his case, I helped win his freedom after 31 years in prison. He's now entirely outside of correctional supervision, happily married, gainfully employed doing work he loves, and with enough life ahead of him to have a life to look forward to.

Justin Schwartz's Legal Cases (15)

Everybody was happy.

A clean win in a small case

Six figure judgment

A good settlement.

Freedom