FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Attorney Jonathan D. Montag Receives the CLAY Award as an Attorney of the Year for Outstanding Achievement in Immigration Law

California – Attorney Jonathan D. Montag was recently honored by California Lawyer Magazine at the annual Attorney of the Year Awards in San Francisco on March 2, 2006. He was selected for the CLAY award for immigration for his work in the case of Tchoukhrova v. Gonzales [404 F.3d 1181 (2005), petition for rehearing denied, 430 F.3d 1222 (2005)]. The CLAY Awards recognize California attorneys whose work has had a significant impact in 2005 or whose achievements are expected to do so in the coming years. This year, 47 attorneys were recognized, out of a State Bar membership of more than 200,000 attorneys.

The Tchoukhrova case established that children with serious disabilities and their families constitute a “particular social group” that may qualify for asylum based on a well-founded fear of persecution. The case also highlighted that hardships to family members can be considered cumulatively. Thus, the hardship to a child can be considered in addition to a parent’s own hardship within a family social group in considering a parent’s asylum claim.

Evgueni Tchoukhrova was born in 1991 in Vladivostok, Russia with infantile cerebral palsy. This disability resulted primarily from the negligence of the staff of the Russian hospital who broke the baby’s neck by trying to forcibly extract him with forceps, and then discarded him immediately after birth into a container containing medical waste as “they didn’t see a reason for him to live.” Miraculously, Evgueni survived and was taken to a state-run facility for children with birth defects but government officials denied him access to his mother for his first two months of life. The record reflects that Russian state policy is to deny humane treatment to the handicapped in its institutions. As a young boy, he was often spat upon and physically attacked by members of the public. One particularly severe incident resulted in a broken arm and severe head trauma which required two months of hospitalization. Nonetheless, he was denied any protection by the police, who refused to accept a police report as such abuse was considered to be insignificant. Evgueni’s parents were able to bring their son to the U.S. in 2000 and subsequently applied for asylum.

About Montag & Nadalin LLP

Montag & Nadalin LLP is firm concentrating its practice in all aspects of Immigration and Nationality Law. Mr. Montag is a frequent speaker and writer on immigration matters and previously served as the President of the San Diego American Immigration Lawyers Association.