Caddell & Chapman is proud of our pro bono litigation efforts, including class litigation. For example, on a pro bono basis, Caddell & Chapman represented, as Lead Counsel for a coalition of public interest groups, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita victims in a national class action lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The lawsuit, in federal district court in Houston, alleged that FEMA’s mishandling of its housing assistance programs violated federal laws and regulations. In a contested evidentiary hearing involving several witnesses, Caddell & Chapman persuaded the court to issue a preliminary injunction against FEMA compelling the agency to provide assistance with hurricane victims’ utilities as well as base rent. In what lawyers from the Public Interest Law Project of Oakland, California, termed “a significant victory for evacuees,” the district court found a “clear entitlement” that FEMA was required to provide assistance with utilities under applicable statutes and regulations, and FEMA’s failure to comply with these mandates endangered the victims’ ability to remain in livable housing. While the district court’s injunction was subsequently overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, FEMA made several concessions to the Hurricane victims in the interim, essentially conceding the relief sought by the lawsuit, as noted by Houston’s then-Mayor, Bill White, who stated that Caddell & Chapman “was of tremendous help to the Katrina evacuees in battling with FEMA.”