JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 For most, the right to legal representation is as absolute as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, for some, that opportunity can be an uphill battle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Supreme Court years ago said if you\u2019re going to take away someone\u2019s liberty and send them to jail or prison, they\u2019re entitled to counsel paid for by the state if they can\u2019t afford it,\u201d Fourth Circuit judge Steve Fahlgren explained Sunday. \u201cWe don\u2019t really have that in the civil context.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday and Sunday, the organization Freed to Run held multiple runs at the Duval County courthouse to raise money for those who are left fighting civil battles, without representation. Specifically, Freed to Run is looking to close the gap in legal services for elderly people in northeast Florida who are at risk of losing their homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps indigent housing-insecure senior citizens in our community deal with consumer fraud, deal with reverse mortgage scams, and anything that could be affecting their golden years and their ability to stay in their house or to stay at suitable housing,\u201d Freed to Run founder Mike Freed told Action News Jax.<\/p>\n
So far, the organization has already raised roughly half a million dollars towards the cause in the last three years, looking to ensure that those seeking representation have a helping hand always, come their day in court.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that go unrepresented or don\u2019t even know they have a legal problem,\u201d Freed highlighted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of people who lose their housing because of circumstances they can\u2019t control, oftentimes medical issues, oftentimes legal issues, and they\u2019re not experts,\u201d added Fahlgren. \u201cTo have someone come beside them is life-changing for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2025 run has raised over $115,000 for seniors in legal need. Those who missed out but still would like to donate can do so by clicking the link here<\/a>.<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 For most, the right to legal representation is as absolute as the right to life,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,30872,35713,969,116,118,117,634,6455,35711,9280,35712],"class_list":{"0":"post-58829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action_news","9":"tag-duval_county_courthouse","10":"tag-free_to_run","11":"tag-jack","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","14":"tag-jacksonville-news","15":"tag-local","16":"tag-logan_mcdonald","17":"tag-lord_mcdonald","18":"tag-northeast_florida","19":"tag-supreme_court"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}