Samantha Nettles and Lenita Merrida are like a lot of Legal Services Alabama's clients: they work, but don't earn enough to call it a living wage, and their cash strapped status means they struggle to pay their bills on time. When they both fell behind on their payments to Credit Acceptance Corporation, a company that primarily finances high interest loans for used cars, their cars got repossessed. Then, they got sued for thousands of dollars for missed payments. When they couldn't pay up, they got hit with judgments and garnishments, and interest on the judgments at rates over 20%. 

Both Ms. Ne ttles and Ms. Merr ida faced garnishment of 25% of their paychecks for their delinquent car loans. Each woman earned around only $5 00 every 2 weeks. When Ms. Nettles came to LSA, she supported two children by herself, and was pregnant with a third. Ms. Merrida was the sole source of support for her young grandchild.           

On Friday, May 12, LSA won a victory at the Court of Civil Appeals on behalf of both of the clients. The Court returned to the rule that as long as you can show you are spending your wages on necessary living expenses, you get to hold a minimum sum of $1,000 from your paycheck at any given time. B ecause Ms. Nettles and Ms. Merrida were easily able to make this showing, they are entitled to claim their limited, meager wages as exempt every paycheck.           

    

Congratulations to LSA and Farah Majid!