Doctoral Dissertation Research: Examining Case Outcomes in Housing Court

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Title: Examining Case Outcomes in Housing CourtAbstractEviction can have devastating economic, psychological, and social consequences for tenants. Yet, many tenants facing eviction choose not to attend their hearing in Housing Court, resulting in automatic loss of their case and a much greater likelihood of being evicted. This occurs in part because many tenants are unaware of their judicial options. This project will study whether providing tenants facing eviction with timely informational reminders can overcome the barriers that keep tenants from attending their hearing. This study will explore the role of information in the judicial process of eviction, a context in which the problems of informational asymmetry and litigant confusion about tenants' legal rights are particularly pronounced. To do so, this project will measure the influence of time pressures and information on tenants facing eviction in Housing Court, by providing randomly assigned tenants facing eviction with a self-help mailer that links to a website containing accessible, actionable information. Case outcomes of those in the treatment group receiving the information will be compared against those of the control group. In this mixed methods study, quantitative data will be collected and qualitative interviews will be conducted. Outcomes examined will include whether tenants in the treatment group are more likely to show up to hearings, to file an answer-type document, and to settle before trial, and whether tenants in the treatment group are less likely to be evicted and to have a subsequent eviction action filed against them.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.