New fight brewing over NC eviction filings, speed of hearings after Supreme Court ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court decision last week to strike down a moratorium on evictions in pandemic-stricken communities is expected to set off a rush of new filings in Mecklenburg County, where thousands of households are behind on their rents.
How quickly those cases will be heard by a judge already has touched off a new legal fight that has reached North Carolina’s highest court.
In a statement to the Observer on Friday, a spokeswoman for the Mecklenburg courts said new eviction filings won’t make it to a courtroom before at least October.
First, the county says it will whittle down a backlog of about 2,600 cases that has arisen from court dockets disrupted by COVID-19 and the evictions moratorium enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2020.
That means potentially hundreds of Mecklenburg families whose landlords have filed eviction papers since the Supreme Court ended the moratorium on Thursday have at least another month before facing eviction.
‘Evictions are going to happen’
The ruling already has had an impact on the courthouse’s eviction dockets. Attorneys for tenants had cases scheduled Friday that they expected to be delayed by the moratorium, said Isaac Sturgill, head of the housing unit for Legal Aid of North Carolina.
“Things are moving forward, quicker than we thought,” Sturgill said Monday. “Some of those people may have other defenses, and some of them we may be able to work out deals or get rental assistance ... But I think a lot of cases we’re gonna move forward, and evictions are going to happen.”
In a statement criticizing the high court’s opinion that said the moratorium was unconstitutional, U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., said as many as 20,000 Mecklenburg households — the most in the state — are behind on their rents.
But the Mecklenburg courthouse’s decision to push new eviction filings to the back of the line also means many area landlords will go another month — or longer — without being paid.
Charlotte attorney Chris Shelburn told the Observer that he has clients who haven’t received rent checks since early 2020 and are more than $10,000 in the hole.
Now some of those landlords are pushing back.
In a rare move, the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association has called on N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby to intercede and order Clerk of Court Elisa Chinn-Gary to speed up the process. The association says it provides housing for some 400,000 residents over an 11-county area.
In a letter this month to the judge, Deidre Wilson, the association’s board president, says Chinn-Gary “has unilaterally announced and decided” to schedule court hearings as far out as 60 days after landlords file their paperwork. State law requires the courts to hold an eviction hearing within seven to 10 days of the filing.
“We implore Your Honor to intercede on our members’ behalf and would respectfully request that you direct the Mecklenburg County Clerk of Court to move swiftly to docket eviction hearings in order to dispose of accumulated cases and to administer justice without delay,” Wilson wrote.
Shelburn, while acknowledging the damage the pandemic has caused both to the Mecklenburg courts and Chinn-Gary’s staff, says the clerk’s office has been ignoring the law and “dragging its feet on purpose” to slow the process. He said multiple eviction cases scheduled for hearings in early August were unnecessarily delayed by the clerk’s office so landlords could seek rent assistance for their tenants.
“The seven days is not negotiable. There is no caveat,” Shelburn told the Observer. “The clerk is being political when it’s not the clerk’s job to be political ... It’s going to take ages to through those 2,600 cases.”
In a statement emailed to the Observer over the weekend, Chinn-Gary said the backlog is the direct result of “a deadly pandemic” and the CDC’s moratorium.
“To suggest that the clerk’s office disregards the rule of law is simply unconscionable,” she said, adding that scheduling the oldest cases first serves the interests of landlords and tenants alike.
Help for renters, landlords
In her statement Friday, Mecklenburg Trial Court Administrator Casey Calloway said the courthouse has partnered with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations — (704) 335-5330 — to offer free mediation to tenants and landlords, as well as information on available legal and financial assistance.
Those efforts have led to hundreds of out-of-court settlements in eviction cases, Calloway said. “The goal is to prevent tenants from losing their homes, while also making landlords whole.”
Rent and utility assistance is available in Mecklenburg through the RAMPCLT program for households with a pandemic-related financial hardship.
First priority will be given to those with an eviction hearing scheduled, followed by those with the lowest incomes. Apply at rampclt.com or by calling 980-406-7509.
Renters earning up to 80% of the area median income ($67,350 for a family of four) are eligible to apply.
Those with other financial hardships can apply for rent and utility assistance through Crisis Assistance Ministry.
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 2:29 PM.
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