Fairness a concern in virtual court
Housing advocates say field not level in eviction hearings
With eviction and foreclosure filings expected to start pouring into Florida courts, the way hearings will be conducted is going to be vastly different than before the coronavirus pandemic upended normal life.
Under an emergency order from the state’s Supreme Court that largely suspended in-person proceedings, renters and homeowners will plead their cases not from inside a courtroom but, in most situations, in front of a computer screen.
Local court officials have been testing the system with domestic violence cases and are confident hearings will run smoothly. However, some housing advocates worry that holding hearings over video could make it more difficult to ensure residents get a fair shot at defending themselves.
And in at least one foreclosure case, a couple from Port Charlotte filed an emergency motion challenging the legality of holding hearings over Zoom.
The shift from in-person hearings came as Florida tried to curtail the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus that to date has infected more than 550,000 Floridians and killed 8,765. For the most part, in-person proceedings can’t resume until health conditions improve.
Orange County Judge Eric DuBois said the way virtual hearings would work there would be a judge tuning in on one screen front the courtroom, the landlord on another and the tenant on another. There also will be kiosks set up inside the Orange and Osceola courthouses for residents who don’t have a computer or WiFi access at home.
Donald Myers Jr., the chief judge over Orange and
Osceola courts, said the kiosks will be equipped with document scanners and someone will be available to deliver papers to the clerk if necessary. The courts are also looking into purchasing see-through masks, which Myers said would allow the parties to better gauge facial expressions.
The Florida Supreme Court has allowed courts to swear in participants over video, a practice that’s not ordinarily permitted by law. And just like they would in a normal hearing, the press and public will be able to watch the proceedings.
Courts for the most part have embraced the new way of doing things, with some officials suggesting that virtual hearings could become the norm even after courts are permitted to reopen completely.
“I honestly see this as the wave of the future,” DuBois said. “We’re trying to make it as user-friendly and seamless as possible.”
Eric Dunn, director of litigation for the National Housing Law Project, said he’s concerned there will be technical problems that could increase the risk of tenants being improperly evicted. Groups have also raised concerns about residents’ personal information, such as bank account and Social Security numbers, being broadcast online.
“We’re not against remote hearings at all, but they need to be done correctly. There needs to be a concerted effort to inform people about what they need to do,” Dunn said. “Not only is your housing at stake, but your housing is at stake during a public health crisis when you really need to stay home.”
Low-income and Black and Latinx households are especially vulnerable because they may not have access to adequate technology to take part in a virtual hearing, studies show.
According to a 2016 report from the National Center for Education Statistics, about 10% of households didn’t have a computer and about 19% didn’t have Internet. Another report from the Hispanic Federation in 2015 found that only half of Latinos in Orlando had a desktop computer.
James and Susan McLean, ages 62 and 57, whose Port Charlotte home was foreclosed on in 2018, have requested that their Zoom hearing be conducted inperson or be postponed until it’s safe for traditional hearings to resume. Susan McLean said she believes she and her husband deserve a fair hearing in a courtroom.
“This was supposed to be our retirement home,” Susan McLean said of the house they’ve lived in since June 2016 that they’re at stake of losing if they lose their case.
Ryan Torrens, the attorney representing the McLeans, said ensuring renters and tenants get a fair hearing is even more important after Gov. Ron DeSantis changed the wording of the statewide moratorium. That order, which has been in place since April, had largely prevented eviction and foreclosure cases from moving forward, but the way it’s written now, landlords and lenders have the green light to start filing.
Since April, when the moratorium was put in place, more than 5,800 evictions have been filed in courts across Florida, according to the Community Justice Project, a legal nonprofit in Miami that has been tracking cases. Of those, 372 were filed in Orange County, 113 in Osceola and 90 in Seminole.
Alana Greer, the nonprofit’s executive director, noted that after DeSantis amended the moratorium in late July there was an immediate uptick:
In the first 11 days of August, there were 164 evictions filed in Orange County.
Torrens has participated in one virtual hearing so far, which he said “was a mess.” There were problems uploading documents and the court reporter had trouble hearing everyone, he said.
“The Florida Constitution has a ‘due process’ clause and we believe the McLeans being forced to do this via Zoom is a violation of their due process rights. You need the court reporter to be able to hear everything in clear way, you need the documents to be able to submitted in a clear way,” Torrens said. “I think it’s a very important issue that needs to be raised.”
Note: Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida (1-800-405-1417) and the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association (407-841-8310) provide free legal services to low-income Floridians for civil matters, including housing.