For Afarin Kavandi, a 23- year-old Iranian woman, a $36 mix-up may mean that she must return to Iran – a place she says will prosecute her for her religious and political beliefs.
Tuesday, a Denver District Court jury heard Kavandi’s lawyer blame Robert G. Heiserman, the lawyer who handled Kavandi’s efforts to stay in the United States, for the mix-up.
Scott Jurdem, the lawyer representing Kavandi in a legal malpractice suit against Heiserman, said Kavandi is frightened and unable to lead a normal life as she awaits deportation.
“They (her family) are going to spend every cent they have and do everything they can to keep her out of that country (Iran),” Jurdem said.
But Craig Fleishman, the lawyer defending Heiserman, told the jury that there is little chance she will be deported, even though a member of Heiserman’s law firm sent federal authorities the wrong filing fee that caused the government to reject her application to remain in the United States. The fee had changed 11 days earlier.
He said no deportation proceedings have been started, none have been threatened and Kavandi has a very good chance of being granted asylum by the United States, where she moved in 1999 with her family. He said that by 2009, when her parents likely will become U.S. citizens, Kavandi can remain as long as she wishes.
The legal malpractice trial is expected to last four days. Kavandi is seeking unspecified damages.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
