November 7, 2017 by Clarissa Ayala
Litigation Decrees Client Perpetual Disability Tax Exemption
Topic
Press Releases
Harris County, TX – After a team litigation effort between Lone Star Legal Aid attorney Sharon Reynerson and Disability Rights Texas attorneys Rachel Cohen-Miller and Christopher McGreal, Tonia Osberg, who is legally blind, has been rightfully awarded a disability tax exemption. The exemption is also perpetual and will remain in effect until the client decides to either sell or move from the home.
Osberg was denied a disability tax exemption on her property taxes based on the fact that she is not a Social Security disability recipient and on the fact that she is only 45. She is completely blind in one eye and, at best — with corrective lenses — 
20/400 in the other eye. “For me personally, every single time I have had to speak up for myself, even when I knew that I was right, I’ve lost. At the hearing, I almost felt like the attorney representing the Harris County Appraisal District was a warden of a prison and I was a prisoner. She was so mean. It is so hard to prove that you have a disability. We struggle the most fighting for our rights and we didn’t choose for our lives to be this way, we didn’t choose to be disabled. Without you guys we wouldn’t have been able to get this exemption,” Ms. Osberg said tearfully.
Lone Star Legal Aid and Disability Rights Texas attorneys proved their case by providing expert medical testimony and evidence that resulted in an offer by the Harris County Appraisal District to grant the exemption and settle the case.
Disability Rights Texas (DRTx) is a private, nonprofit agency that protects and advocates for the legal rights of Texans with a broad range of disabilities. We are designated by the federal government as the protection and advocacy agency (P&A) for the state of Texas. For more information on, please visit their website at https://www.disabilityrightstx.org/. Media contact: Edie Surtees, esurtees@disabilityrightstx.org.
Lone Star Legal Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy on behalf of low-income and underserved populations. Lone Star Legal Aid serves the millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines that reside in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and also 4 counties of southwest Arkansas. Lone Star Legal Aid focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety and stability, health and well‐being; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, such as those who have disabilities, or who are elderly, homeless, or have limited English language skills. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.lonestarlegal.org. Media contact: Clarissa Ayala, cayala@lonestarlegal.org
