HCBA Lawyer Magazine Vol. 28, No. 2 | Page 46

REPRESEnTing SERviCEMEMBERS in SCRA CASES
Military & Veterans Affairs Committee
Chairs: Alexandra Srsic – Bay Area Legal Services, Inc. & David Veenstra - Hunter Law, P.A.
The SCRA literally alters
the terms of written
contracts when those
contracts come under the
T
he Servicemembers
Civil Relief Act 1
protects active duty
members of the
Armed Forces against a variety of
civil proceedings, such as evictions,
termination of installment sales
contracts, mortgage foreclosures,
and sales of stored goods to pay
for storage liens.
The Act is not limited in its
application to servicemembers
who have been involuntarily
called to active duty. It applies
to all servicemembers (including
Reservists and Guardsmen)
on active duty, whether they
volunteered, enlisted, or were
brought onto active duty kicking
and screaming — and not just
members serving in combat
zones or outside the continental
United States.
To gain the Act’s protections
against eviction, 2 self-help
repossessions of automobiles
and other property, 3 mortgage
foreclosures, 4 and enforcement
of storage liens, 5 a servicemember
generally must be prepared to show
that he or she has been “materially
affected” by the call to military
service. Although the phrase
protection of the Act.
© Can Stock Photo / Stockagogo
“materially affected” is not defined
anywhere in the Act, it has evolved
through usage to generally mean
that the servicemember and his or
her family have less overall income
after entering military service
than he or she did “in the civilian
world,” either before enlisti