{"id":89814,"date":"2025-12-11T00:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T00:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/89814\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T00:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T00:14:08","slug":"cuts-at-cal-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/89814\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuts at Cal State"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the January fires<\/a>, thousands of Southern Californians suddenly faced having to apply for FEMA assistance<\/a> and battle insurance companies<\/a> to rebuild what was lost.<\/p>\n

Faculty, students and volunteers at Pepperdine University were on the ground within days of the Eaton<\/a> and Palisades<\/a> fires offering free legal assistance and relaunching the Disaster Relief Clinic, which provided pro bono services after the Thomas<\/a> and Woolsey<\/a> fires in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n

Since then, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law’s Disaster Relief Clinic has assisted more than 300 fire survivors, according to the university. The clinic has helped recover at least $750,000 in FEMA assistance and millions more from insurance claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe provide really good legal help for people that have been damaged by the fire[s],\u201d David A. DeJute, the clinic\u2019s director, told LAist. \u201cIt makes me feel like I’m providing something of value and worth back to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the clinic<\/p>\n

The clinic is designed to help fire survivors with a wide variety of legal issues they may face as they go through the recovery and rebuilding process<\/a>, including having to find rental housing, working with remediation companies to clean up ash<\/a> and navigating insurance policy limits.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Pepperdine University faculty, students and volunteers were on the ground within days of January’s fires, offering free legal assistance to survivors.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Courtesy Pepperdine University<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

DeJute, who\u2019s also an adjunct professor with Pepperdine\u2019s law school, said the weeks after the fires were a \u201clittle like triage\u201d as the clinic focused on helping people prioritize their next steps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have someone in your family die, you experience trauma and shock and remorse, and nobody is surprised that it affects your mood and your ability to process information,\u201d he said. \u201cSame thing happens when you’ve lost your home.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeJute said some of the most common legal issues that come up at the clinic have to do with FEMA applications, landlords and price gouging<\/a>. <\/p>\n

If a survivor needs more help than the clinic can handle, like with litigation, it will refer them to other lawyers who\u2019ve agreed to take clients pro bono, according to Pepperdine.<\/p>\n

The clinic also has trained around 600 lawyers to bring free legal services to their own communities after a disaster, according to the university. DeJute said that includes a student who stepped in to help after the deadly flash flooding in Texas<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n

A survivor\u2019s story<\/p>\n

Pergrin Jung\u2019s family home was \u201ccompletely destroyed\u201d in the Palisades Fire in what he described to LAist as \u201cthe worst days of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jung, like many other survivors, wasn\u2019t sure how to start picking up the pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only were we in a state of shock,\u201d he said. \u201cBut also, none of us really knew what the next steps would be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jung reached out for help with an insurance claim for his homeowner\u2019s policy and said the clinic was a \u201cstaple\u201d every step of the way. He said students and staff helped explain the legal system, gave feedback on letters he sent to the insurance company and guided his strategy throughout the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving this resource made all the difference to us,\u201d Jung said. \u201cThey were invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resources for fire survivors<\/p>\n

Educational experience<\/p>\n

The clinic is run by Pepperdine faculty, staff and law students who get hands-on experience operating as attorneys under DeJute\u2019s supervision.<\/p>\n

The students are tasked with communicating with clients, diving into details of their legal needs, pushing back against price gouging<\/a> and managing issues with mortgage companies<\/a>, to name a few.<\/p>\n

Taylor Wedlock, a third-year law student, said the clinic was an opportunity to do her part for the community, especially after her father, an L.A. fire captain, spent about a week fighting the Palisades Fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren’t just doing FEMA appeals or applications,\u201d she told LAist. \u201cWe’re going to \u2026 help to get this survivor his instruments back<\/a> so he can so he can start his, you know, his musical career again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wedlock said the clinic helps students apply what they learn in law school textbooks and lectures while exploring the more personal aspect of being a lawyer.<\/p>\n

Wedlock recalled the relief in her client\u2019s voice when she got approved for FEMA rental assistance after more than six months of denials, for example. She said she considers that one of her major wins of the semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may seem impossible to come back from such devastation, but there are options,\u201d Wedlock said. \u201cThere are a lot of people who are willing to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to get involved<\/p>\n

People seeking disaster-related legal assistance from the clinic can fill out the request form here<\/a>. (Please note: A staff attorney or law student will respond to each request, but filling out the form doesn\u2019t create an attorney-client relationship, according to Pepperdine.)<\/p>\n

The clinic also has online resources available, including advice on dealing with FEMA and insurance<\/a>, as well as training for attorneys looking to provide pro bono legal services<\/a> in their communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the January fires, thousands of Southern Californians suddenly faced having to apply for FEMA assistance and battle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-89814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}