Tornado Related Legal Cases Continue One Year Later
By: Jennifer Penate
Updated: May 22, 2012
JOPLIN, MO -- Local attorneys are still seeing tornado survivors with legal problems a year after the storm.
Legal Aid of Western Missouri added two attorneys, Jamie Rodriguez and Zach Tusinger, last fall to help victims of the tornado.
Cases have shifted from landlord-tenant issues to contractor scams and future FEMA evictions.
The pair are currently working around 30 cases.
Most of those are battles with contractors.
The attorneys say it's both a rewarding and frustrating job.
"There's no quick and easy fixes to these problems. When someone wants to come in they're at their wits end and want us to fix it for them so we tell them we'll try our best and it could be we aren't succesful," says Zach Tusinger.
Rodriguez and Tusinger will continue working with tornado victims through October of next year.
