For more information, please contact: Gwen Osborne, director of public
affairs, (312) 906-5251
Chicago-Kent and Lawyer's Committee for Better Housing study finds
eviction court inattentive to procedural requirements and tenants' dignity
CHICAGO-December 18, 2003---With an average duration of 1 minute
and 44 seconds per case, hundreds of eviction court hearings monitored
by Chicago law students frequently failed to require landlords to meet
their statutory burden of proof; rarely, if ever, afforded tenants the
opportunity to state a defense to the landlord's claims; and, at times,
overlooked other due process requirements.
 |
Chicago-Kent Honors Scholars authored
the eviction court study. Shown (L-R) Wenfeng Li, John Guzzardo,
Karen Doran, Ryan Liebl. Not shown: Kevin Hill, Neal Kitterlin.
|
According to a study conducted by Chicago-Kent College of Law and co-sponsored
by the Lawyer's Committee for Better Housing, the court's lack of attention
to procedural requirements, while usually not subverting justice, harms
the dignity of tenants and often sends them away with little to no understanding
of the judgments against them.
During the fall of 2002, six Chicago-Kent students, all of them members
of the law school's Honors Scholar program, monitored 763 cases in Chicago's
eviction court. They found that in only eight percent of the monitored
cases were parties sworn in before giving testimony, and in only 65
percent of cases did the judge examine the written notice given by the
landlord to the tenant as required by the Illinois Forcible Entry and
Detainer Act.
Although judges frequently asked tenants whether they had paid the
rent, in only 27 percent of the cases monitored did judges ask tenants
if they had a defense. When asked for a defense, the tenant presented
one about 55 percent of the time. However, when not asked, the tenant
presented a defense only nine percent of the time.
While the reasons offered by tenants for nonpayment of rent were rarely
sufficient to avoid eviction, asking tenants if they have a defense
"reinforce[s] the legitimacy of the process," says the report.
"Although many defendants may have little to contribute to their
own defense beyond an explanation for their inability to pay, the dignitary
harm inflicted on the defendant by such a style is substantial. Often,
the defendant does not grasp the nature of the proceedings or even the
meaning of the outcome," the report says.
The report stresses the need for tenant education before eviction cases
even get to court. The data showed that a small but significant number
of tenants could have asserted effective defenses based on substandard
living conditions had they understood the required procedures. "One
of the recurrent tragedies monitors witnessed was tenants being evicted
from shockingly substandard housing, often documented with photos brought
to court, whose attempted defenses failed because they did not know
that they were required to provide notice of their intent to partially
withhold and that they should not withhold all of their rent,"
says the report.
The report recommends that, to help tenants raise habitability defenses,
the law require landlords to include language in their five-day notices
that explains the procedure for withholding rent. The report also recommends
that tenant rights advocates conduct public service advertising campaigns
to reach out to low-income tenants before a five-day notice is served,
telling them that they have a right to habitable housing and directing
them to information sources where they can learn how to enforce their
rights.
"[F]or the system to work, it must at least be possible for defendants
to prevail, and where they don't, it must treat them with the dignity
and respect owed to those facing one of life's most devastating losses:
the loss of one's home," says the report.
Chicago-Kent Honors Scholars, the authors of the report, are scholarship
students with records of high achievement in academics and leadership.
"I am delighted by the initiative demonstrated by our students,"
said Chicago-Kent Dean Harold J. Krent. "They learned a great deal
through the study, and I hope that their results can provide impetus
for overdue reform."
Copies of the study are available from Gwen Osborne, director of public
affairs, Chicago-Kent College of Law, (312) 906-5251 or gosborne@kentlaw.edu.
# # #
