Attorneys brace for evictions backlog from courthouse closure

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By Beth Kevit

Landlords trying to rid themselves of problem tenants might have to get in a long line when Milwaukee County Circuit Court repairs its fire damage and resumes hearing eviction cases.

An electrical fire in the Milwaukee County Courthouse’s basement Saturday forced a shutdown there and in the county’s Safety Building, both of which share a ventilation system. The courthouse remains closed, but the Safety Building reopened Wednesday.

The county was able to resume criminal case proceedings and can now accept filings for civil cases. However, civil cases scheduled for the week of July 8 were pushed back a week, and that delay, according to one attorney, could stymie the county’s evictions court.

Patrick Roney, an attorney with Milwaukee-based Roney & Knupp LLC, specializes in evictions. He said he is concerned there could be a crushing backlog of cases.

“The system,” he said, “could just collapse.”

Evictions court meets only in the afternoons, Roney said, and can accommodate only 80 new cases a day. With pending cases added to the mix, the court sometimes schedules about 200 for an afternoon.

The backlog of cases, though, could force scheduling as many as 500 in an afternoon, he said.

“I just don’t think they’ll get through it,” Roney said.

But Jeffrey Kremers, the Milwaukee County Circuit chief judge, said the court will survive.

“That’s absurd,” he said, “to suggest the eviction court is going to collapse.”

The county is prioritizing criminal cases, Kremers said, and if the courthouse reopens Monday as planned, the criminal courtrooms on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors should be open. The civil courtrooms on the fourth floor, he said, might take longer to clean.

Kremers acknowledged there will be a backlog of eviction cases. However, he said, the county has experience handling long waiting lists, such as when judges are out sick.

“I’m not gonna say, ‘Well, we’re going to do this, this and this,’” he said, “because I don’t know how bad the backlog is going to be.”

Roney said the delay, beyond complicating cases and inconveniencing lawyers, could spell real trouble for landlords, many of whom, he said, operate on tight budgets.

For every day those landlords are forced to let a tenant stay rent-free, Roney said, they could get a little closer to foreclosure.

Joe Hoffman, a partner at Milwaukee-based Porch Light Property Management and one of Roney’s clients, had two eviction cases scheduled for this week. Though the owners of those properties are not on the brink of foreclosure, he said, other landlords might not be as lucky.

“Typically, they’re not rolling in money,” Hoffman said, “and they still pay their mortgage whether the tenant pays their rent or not. But that rent is used to pay their mortgage.”

Hoffman said he has been filing for evictions on behalf of the owners he represents for about 20 years. The process, he said, already takes longer than most owners want.

Any delays, he said, will make it that much harder for the court to keep up.

“To dump all that load,” he said, “I don’t know how they’re going to do it.”

Kremers said he will not know how to proceed until the courthouse reopens and he can evaluate the extent of the backlog.

“I can’t just demand they open up the courthouse if it’s not safe for the public,” he said. “And right now, there are cables snaking all over the building.”

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