Almost one year ago, Texas Housers’ Southeast Texas regional director Julia Orduña wrote about her experiences from the scene of Harris County Justice of the Peace Court 5.1 on Valentine’s Day 2023. The eviction dockets that day contained 500 cases in total: “Tenants were in need. Legal aids jumped into action. Advocates were mobilized. The court was observed.”
Nearly a year to the day, on Tuesday, February 13th 2024, there were a total of 316 eviction cases set for hearing. Yet, in the courtroom that day, there was no major media attention, mobilization of advocates, or outrage. In fact, business was inconspicuously conducted as usual.
We are seeing that one year later, these numbers have not fallen and, if anything, have become normalized. Dockets that exceed 200 cases, notably in Pct. 5, Place 1 with Justice Israel Garcia presiding, have become commonplace.
High volume eviction dockets often decrease the fairness afforded to a tenant during their eviction hearing. Tenants who have their eviction hearing on a high volume docket are more likely to have a shorter hearing in front of the judge. Also, navigating eviction court can already be an overwhelming and confusing experience for many tenants. Under these overcrowded circumstances, tenants may not be able to access and utilize the limited resources available to them, such as legal aid, as effectively.
With the absence of substantial tenant protections, many eviction courts in Texas have become a conveyor belt for landlords to execute speedy evictions. So we find ourselves, one year later, reflecting on the same question: Can justice be served in 60 seconds?
The early morning scene at the courthouse off Chimney Rock Road in Southwest Houston was somber. A line of tenants stretched beyond the corner of the courthouse before 8:00am. A clerk opened the door and called for the eviction docket to come inside. The 92-person capacity courtroom quickly filled up with tenants and landlords in the benches. In the gallery, five or six lawyers – only one of which would represent a defendant that day – were present. Any tenant who was not present by 8:00am was lined up in a crowded hall outside the courtroom, where they would wait for their name to be called by a clerk no more than twice. Having no clue when their hearing would take place, many in the line had to stand in the hall for two to three hours for their chance to be heard in front of the judge. Their apprehensive and frustrated chatter culminated into a cacophony that continuously echoed through the courthouse as hearings commenced.
Unlike one year ago, there are no current emergency protections in place to shield tenants from the harm of an eviction. In 2024, tenants are no longer able to have their eviction case abated for 60 days, or their eviction record sealed upon clearing their back rent with emergency rental assistance. The Houston-Harris Helps rent relief portal closed earlier this year, and there is no landlord obligation or encouragement to accept rental assistance payments.
With all safety nets now taken away from tenants, that day we observed a default eviction hearing in court lasting approximately 38 seconds. An eviction hearing with both parties present lasted less than a minute – only 52 seconds.
How often does this happen?
In the year 2023, there were 73 eviction dockets scheduled in Harris County with over 100 eviction cases, out of 644 eviction dockets total. This means that roughly 1 in 9 eviction dockets has over 100 cases.
Of these 73 total dockets exceeding 100 eviction cases, 61 were heard in Judge Israel Garcia’s court, 10 were heard in Judge Lincoln Goodwin’s court and 1 docket was heard in Judge Laryssa Korduba and Judge Bob Wolfe’s courts respectively.
- 38.9% of the dockets heard in Judge Garcia’s court were over 100 cases (61 out of 157 dockets)
- 3.7% of the dockets heard in Judge Goodwin’s court were over 100 cases (10 out of 269)
- 0.41% of the dockets heard in Judge Korduba’s court were over 100 cases (1 out of 111)
- 0.48% of the dockets heard in Judge Wolfe’s court were over 100 cases (1 out of 107)
While it is important to note that dockets containing over 100 cases are a rarity in most Harris County JP courts, the practice of scheduling over 100 cases on a single docket should not be the norm. Considering that Justices of the Peace have control over the administration, staffing, and scheduling of dockets in their court, a Justice of the Peace has the ability to and should exercise practicality and prudence when it comes to scheduling eviction dockets.
Given the magnitude of eviction cases, Justices of the Peace must take active steps to ensure that docket sizes meet a sensible threshold to ensure tenants have a just trial.
What are other judges doing?
Below is a table that shows the total number of dockets, total number of cases set for hearing, average number of cases per docket, and maximum number of cases per docket for each Justice of the Peace in Harris County for 2023. There are a total of 16 Justice of the Peace courts across Harris County, with two Justice of the Peace courts located in each of the eight Constable precincts.
Immediately, it is clear there are two precincts that see significantly more eviction cases set for hearing than the others: Precinct 4 with 13,744 total cases and Precinct 5 with a staggering 21,173 total cases. Compare those figures to the two precincts with the least amount of cases set for hearing: Precinct 6 with 2,482 total cases or Precinct 8 with 3,565 total cases. Judge Garcia’s court in Precinct 5 had 13,077 cases set for hearing alone, over 5 times as many hearings set in the entirety of Precinct 6. These significant discrepancies in the amount of cases set for hearing between precincts should raise concerns about the boundaries of the current JP precincts, and offer some explanation for the scheduling of high volume eviction dockets.
Over half of the Justices of the Peace (9) maintain an average eviction docket of under 25 cases. Assuming that an eviction hearing where both parties are present, and where both parties are given a reasonable opportunity to deliver testimony and respond to the judge’s questioning, lasts around 3-5 minutes, a docket of 25 cases would only last about 2 hours.
Only two Justices of the Peace maintain an average eviction docket of over 50 cases: Judge Holly Williamson (8.1) and Judge Garcia. Despite having the second and third highest number of cases set for hearing in their respective courts, Judge Goodwin (4.1) and Judge Eric Carter (1.1) both manage to keep their average number of cases per docket under 50, with Judge Carter keeping his average number of cases at 20 per docket. Notably Judge Carter also has the most dockets of any Justice of the Peace in Harris County, despite not having the most cases out of all the Justices of the Peace.
This may indicate that Judge Carter’s court schedules a greater quantity of dockets with smaller overall case sizes to accommodate a high volume of eviction cases coming in his court. On the other hand, Judge Williamson had the same amount of dockets as Judge Lucia Bates (3.2), despite having twice as many total cases set for hearing in her court, which naturally revealed a significantly higher average case count per docket.
| Judge name, Court Precinct & Place, and Courthouse Location | Average # of cases per docket** | Total # of dockets | Total # of Cases set for hearing per court* | Max # of cases per docket |
| Garcia (5.1) (Gulfton) | 83 | 157 | 13,077 | 256 |
| Williamson (8.1) (Pasadena/Deer Park) | 52 | 51 | 2,655 | 90 |
| Burney (7.2) (Old Spanish Trail/South Union) | 40 | 133 | 5,149 | 83 |
| Wolfe (5.2) (Addicks) | 39 | 208 | 8,096 | 107 |
| Stephens (3.1) (Channelview) | 39 | 110 | 4,232 | 93 |
| Adams (7.1) (Old Spanish Trail/MacGregor) | 32 | 100 | 3,208 | 61 |
| Goodwin (4.1) (Spring) | 32 | 269 | 8,599 | 165 |
| Bates (3.2) (Baytown) | 21 | 51 | 1,048 | 48 |
| Korduba (4.2) (Humble) | 21 | 245 | 5,145 | 111 |
| Carter (1.2) (Northside) | 20 | 429 | 8,345 | 54 |
| Delgado (2.1) (Pearland/South Belt) | 14 | 195 | 2,760 | 41 |
| Duble (1.1) (Downtown Houston) | 14 | 177 | 2,553 | 54 |
| Ditta (8.2) (Clear Lake) | 13 | 72 | 910 | 47 |
| Rodriguez (6.1) (Magnolia Park) | 10 | 140 | 1,328 | 31 |
| Trevino (6.2) (Second Ward) | 10 | 111 | 1,154 | 38 |
| Lozano (2.2) (Pasadena) | 9 | 175 | 1,552 | 21 |
Why is it important to limit docket sizes?
It is imperative that courts provide tenants an opportunity for a fair eviction hearing. When there are a large number of eviction cases on the docket in a given day, the lack of time fosters an environment where judges hear cases more expediently.
In the interest of time, tenants often are not given the chance to deliver extensive testimony. The judge can be less likely to ask as many questions to either party during the hearing, forgoing an opportunity to verify important details of the eviction case such as terms of the lease, issues with the ledger, and issues with the notice to vacate.
We have seen this practice deny tenants a meaningful chance to raise a defense in court. Moreover, fast moving days with loaded dockets can allow landlords to earn a judgment on cases that were haphazardly filed. Common examples of landlord filing issues that may go overlooked include cases with a defective Notice to Vacate or improper details on the eviction petition. As most common legal defenses a tenant may raise under Texas law deal with such procedural violations or deficiencies in filings, tenants with a rushed hearing can be denied access to the few protections afforded to them.
Additionally, while property managers, lawyers, and landlord eviction agents get paid while they wait in court during a loaded docket, tenants must take off work or find child care to be present for whenever their eviction hearing may occur. This practice of forcing tenants who wish to defend themselves in court, but do so for an unclear amount of hours at a time, forsaking work and family obligations they may be unable to break, is inherently unfair.
Large dockets also negatively impact the work of the supportive services that operate in eviction court. As tenants are not guaranteed legal representation in eviction proceedings, unlike in criminal court, legal aid representatives operate with limited resources that become stretched thin during high volume dockets. Legal aid providers are challenged with providing quality legal advice and performing rapid intakes on eligible clients due to the volume of individuals they are tasked with serving. Legal aid providers are also often unable to have enough staff capacity, with regards to both lawyers and support staff, to properly accommodate and represent clients who are on a high volume eviction docket. High volume dockets serve as an impediment to tenants accessing the full scope of support that legal aid providers are able to deliver in an eviction hearing.
All of the aforementioned issues with high volume eviction dockets are compounded when considering that COVID-19 era tenant protections, such as the Texas Eviction Diversion Program and Emergency Rental Assistance have ended. Tenants now lack the proper resources to mitigate the harm of an eviction, all while enduring the unfair conditions on the day of their hearing that emerge from being on a high volume eviction docket.
What are some short and long term improvements to mitigate massive eviction dockets?
There are some active steps that elected officials, ranging from Justices of the Peace to state and local lawmakers, can take to address the issue of unfairness that emerges from high volume dockets.
- Justices of the Peace should set a local rule to limit the number of eviction cases that can be heard on a single docket, or in a single day
Harris County Justices of the Peace have the ability to set Local Rules that “provide for the efficient processing of cases” and “provide for the administration of cases and for the assignment, docketing, transfer, and hearing of cases.” These Local Rules must be agreed upon by all of the Justices of the Peace in the county and set certain standards for court administration and procedures locally.
We advocate for the Harris County Justices of the Peace to adopt a local rule that places a cap on the amount of cases that can be set for a single eviction docket, in the interest of court efficiency and fairness to all parties. This practice would ensure that eviction dockets contain a reasonable amount of cases and provide sufficient time for both parties to give detailed testimony so the judge may make the most prudent decision.
- Justices of the Peace should promote eviction diversion tactics in their courts to address eviction cases which do not require a hearing
If Justices of the Peace intend to continue scheduling high volume eviction dockets, we at Texas Housers suggest that eviction diversion procedures are implemented that focus on alternative resolution methods for landlords and tenants. These practices would not only decrease the amount of cases that necessitate a hearing in front of a judge, but would also promote stronger landlord-tenant relationships and cooperation between both parties.
These practices include Justices of the Peace offering a Rule 11 agreement to tenants and landlords, encouraging both parties to speak with legal aid before they will hear the case on the docket, and offering mediators in their court to resolve disputes and enter into agreements. All of these practices would ideally decrease the amount of cases that need to be heard by a judge in a given day; trimming down high volume dockets by having parties that can reach a resolution without judicial intervention. All of the practices we mention have already been observed in certain courts across Harris County by Texas Housers Court Observers, meaning other Justices of the Peace can take the opportunity to model the practices of their colleagues.
- Justice of the Peace/Constable Precinct boundaries should be reviewed and modernized
As January Advisors astutely notes in a 2022 blog post, the precincts that Justices of the Peace preside over in Harris County have not been altered since 1973. Harris County is somewhat of an oddity among other Texas counties, which set their Justice of the Peace boundaries according to the boundaries of the County Commissioners. County Commissioner boundaries are redrawn more frequently, every ten years, to account for population changes. Other large metropolitan areas including Travis County or Dallas County, who do not align their Justice of the Peace/Constable precinct boundaries with the County Commissioner precinct boundaries, have committed to redraw their Justice of the Peace/Constable boundaries at the same time the County Commissioner boundaries are redrawn.
As Harris County has grown considerably since 1973, its population has unsurprisingly shifted away from certain precincts across the area. This change in population has impacted where eviction cases are filed, as areas with a greater population and greater concentrations of rental properties would likely see more eviction filings. The changes in population around Harris County has led to an significantly unequal distribution of eviction cases in certain precincts, most notably Harris County Precincts 4 and 5, compared to Harris County Precincts 6 and 8.
Naturally, an unequal distribution of eviction cases would lead to certain courts being overburdened with cases, and those courts likely find setting high volume eviction dockets necessary to process those cases in addition to all the other types of cases Justice courts handle. If the issue of high volume eviction dockets is to be permanently solved, elected officials must contemplate altering the boundaries over which the Justice of the Peace courts preside to reflect a more balanced distribution of the overall population of Harris County. This is not only an issue of eviction dockets, but of redrawing districts in the interest of balance of representation in electoral politics, given that Justices of the Peace and Constables are elected officials.
Conclusion
The 8:00am docket on February 13th ended a little before 1:30pm that day. There were about nine defendants remaining in the courtroom by 1:00pm. Many had been there since 8:00am when the docket started. As each of the final cases was called, there was a collective exasperation amongst the few remaining defendants each time their name was not called. The clerks began ushering in the next docket, which also contained over 100 cases as the final 8:00am docket hearings were ongoing. The feeling of exhaustion permeated the courtroom, from tenants and property managers waiting in the stands, to the clerks as they diligently recorded the case decisions, to the judge himself.
High volume eviction dockets not only create the conditions for a “conveyor belt” for landlords to execute speedy evictions, but they also are representative of an overburdened court system which can serve none of its constituents to the most just ability. Justices of the Peace have many roles and responsibilities they must fulfill, so there should be administrative guidelines in place that maximize both their and the court staff’s ability to perform their responsibilities expediently and fairly. A court that operates inefficiently affects constituents who come to the court for a variety of issues, not just evictions. In order to strive for fairness in all Justice of the Peace hearings, there must be proactive steps taken by elected officials to fairly docket and distribute eviction cases amongst the Justices of the Peace.
After all, when an individual or family’s long term housing stability is at stake, it is doubtful that justice can truly be served in 60 seconds or less.
