After 3 years, virtual eviction hearings in City of Detroit end for at least three months
(CBS DETROIT) – It's a decision tenant advocates say will hurt those who are already struggling. For at least the next three months, all eviction hearings in the 36th District Court will return to in-person after three years of doing them virtually.
The virtual hearings were in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and helped tenants like Jabrina Bowers.
Bowers' landlord took her to court for back rent earlier this year while she was pregnant.
"When I started going to court, it was more time for me to sit down and rest my body and not move so much," Bowers said.
At times there were some technical hurdles.
"Sometimes the courtroom wasn't the right room, but it was okay. I figured it out on my own because I'm kind of internet savvy," Bowers said.
It's those kinds of issues 36th District Court Chief Judge William McConico believes has made the system that handles landlord-tenant disputes inefficient.
"Because we don't have an e-filing system at our court. It's a very convoluted. Very highly, highly hands-on situation, and it's causing delays," McConico told CBS News Detroit on Tuesday.
Beginning Monday, all eviction hearings will be in-person for at least the next 90 days.
"A citizen who has a case at nine o'clock will no longer have to possibly wait to two to three o'clock to have their case or because the cases will move faster because a judge will be able to call the case once they know that these cases are ready because they're in person," McConico said.
If tenants fail to appear in court, it could result in a default judgment which would lead to an eviction order.
"We saw before the pandemic what the rate of default was; it was climbing nearly 40%," Attorney Tonya Myers-Phillips, project leader for the Detroit Right to Counsel Coalition, said.
"During the pandemic, with implementing virtual proceedings and the Right to Counsel initiative, that's come down like 15%, which is amazing, and which is good, and we should continue moving in that direction."
Tenant advocates believe the court should address their filing system first before making any permanent decisions.
"I think you'd be hard-pressed to find individuals who want to take a whole day off of work or compromise their childcare to come down to court when there's a perfectly viable virtual option that used to be available to them. Why take it away," Myers-Phillips told CBS News Detroit.
Judge McConico reiterated that return to in-person hearings is only being done on a trial basis, and the court will re-evaluate the decision in about three months.
Detroit's Office of Eviction Defense shared these tips for those who have a case in the landlord-tenant division:
The courthouse opens at 8 a.m.
Arrive early to pass through security and find your assigned courtroom.
Cell phones are allowed in the courtroom but many items are prohibited, such as cords/chargers, food, beverages, and weapons.
To look up your court hearing details, click here.
