In Eviction Court, Most LA Landlords Have Lawyers And Most Renters Don’t

Los Angeles County’s eviction protections for tenants who can’t pay rent due to the COVID-19 pandemic expired two months ago, and eviction cases are starting to pile up.

Based on data from this year, eviction filings in March were higher than any other March since 2015. Eviction attorneys say filings have likely grown since the start of April, when the county’s COVID-19 protections went away.

“Courts are going to get backlogged,” said UCLA postdoctoral fellow Kyle Nelson, who studies L.A. eviction trends. “Usually when this happens, tenants are the ones that really don't come out ahead.”

At the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown L.A., judges render decisions on dozens of eviction cases each day. Landlords almost always show up with attorneys, while tenants tend to represent themselves.

The courtroom atmosphere can be disorienting. Lawyers barge in and out of the room, parties fail to show up, observers talk over the proceedings and tenants struggle to understand hearings that can last less than five minutes. In a typical day, many lose their homes.

“Eviction court in a lot of ways is the front lines of the homelessness crisis,” Nelson said. Unlike in criminal proceedings, tenants are not guaranteed an attorney in eviction court. Nelson said renters without attorneys “tend to get steamrolled.”

The difference a lawyer makes

On the sixth floor of Stanley Mosk, a gaggle of lawyers, renters and landlords mills around a long marble hallway. Some pace as they wait to go before a judge who will decide if tenants stay in their current housing — or get locked out.

Esmeralda Pocasangre was there to fight a claim from her landlord, who said that she and her mother owed more than $20,000 in back rent.

“I do dispute it,” Pocasangre said. “We have been paying rent. They changed the amount so it’s stating that we were supposed to pay a different amount.”

Pocasangre said after their rent-controlled building was sold, they received a large, unexplained rent hike. She said people they’d never seen before were suddenly demanding large sums of money.

“We still to this point don't know who the landlord is,” Pocasangre said.

The Pocasangres were able to find a pro-bono attorney, Sebastian Bendeck with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. In their hearing, he argued the landlord should have to document what his clients supposedly owe.

“I just need it laid out how they come to $20,000, or if that was just pulled out of their pocket,” Bendeck said in the hallway.

An eviction notice hangs on the door of a tenant's home.

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Vyacheslav Dumchev

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Inside the courtroom, the judge sided with Bendeck. He gave the landlord five days to submit more paperwork. Out in the hallway, Pocasangre said even though she has to come back to court, she was relieved by the outcome.

“I felt like the judge actually heard what the attorney had to say,” she said. “I felt like if it was the other way around, and we had to speak for ourselves, it would have gone differently.”

Just before Pocasangre’s hearing, an older man without a lawyer made an emotional plea. Speaking in Spanish and clearly distraught, he asked the judge if he and his wife should buy a tent, because they would be on the streets. The judge gave him seven days to move out.

“I can't imagine how he can feel right now, having to look for a place in one week,” Pocasangre said.

Most landlords have lawyers. Most tenants don’t.

The vast majority of L.A. renters, according to Nelson and other housing advocates, do not have legal representation in eviction proceedings. But 95% of landlords come to court with a lawyer, according to a UCLA study.

Outside the courtroom, landlord attorney Sherman Shew took a short break from the many cases he argued that day.

“I've been doing eviction work for about 20 years,” said Shew, who works for the prominent L.A. eviction law firm Dennis P. Block and Associates.

Shew had just won a case against two tenants representing themselves. The renters were visibly upset by the judge’s decision and had to be escorted out of the courtroom.

Shew said seeing tenants without legal help get evicted is an unfortunate part of his job.

“I understand that many tenants may be homeless after going through an eviction process,” Shew said. “I don't represent them. I represent the landlord, who is trying to survive, trying to supplement their income.”

The bulk of L.A. County eviction cases are handled in downtown L.A.’s Stanley Mosk Courthouse.

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Shew said tenants can turn to legal aid groups for help. But L.A. County landlords file thousands of evictions every month (4,053 in March alone) and by some estimates there are only about 50 lawyers in the county who specialize in eviction defense.

Tenants try to fight back on their own

During the pandemic, the city and county of L.A. have funded a program called Stay Housed L.A. that offers free legal aid to tenants. But that program doesn’t have enough resources to provide an attorney to every tenant who reaches out for help.

L.A.’s city council is now considering a program that aims to provide free attorneys to many tenants in eviction court, similar to the guaranteed representation defendants receive in criminal court. Other cities such as New York and San Francisco already have such right-to-counsel ordinances.

But for now, L.A. renters like Xavier Clark have to navigate complex proceedings on their own.

“I mean, I can kind of understand certain things,” Clark said in the hallway after a procedural hearing in his case that didn’t result in any final decisions. “I just have to do research to understand and fight back.”

Clark was facing eviction over a fight in an elevator at his apartment building, a fight he said he didn’t start. He said mostly, he didn’t want an eviction on his record. Such black marks can make it impossible for tenants to find another apartment in L.A.’s tight and competitive rental market.

In court with his wife and infant daughter, Clark noticed the judge joking around with a landlord attorney who showed up for multiple cases. But when he tried to ask the judge about legal help, the tone shifted.

“I just wanted to ask him a question,” Clark said. “How can I go about it? And he just said, ‘OK, the hearing is over. That's it. Good luck to you.’”

The judge’s ultimate ruling could have lasting consequences. Clark said if he gets evicted, he’s not sure where his family will go.