Class Action Claims Jefferson County (KY) District Court Changed Zoom Dial-In Numbers for Eviction Hearings Without Notice

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The Kentucky Equal Justice Center has filed a proposed class action that alleges certain residents’ due process rights have been violated as a result of the state changing the phone number and access codes for eviction hearings to take place over Zoom without providing notice to those facing eviction. 

The 17-page complaint names as defendant Anne Haynie, in her official capacity as Chief Judge of the Jefferson County District Court, and alleges violations of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

“Nobody has told the people facing eviction that the location of their Zoom Eviction Hearings have changed,” the lawsuit, filed on February 1 in Kentucky federal court, alleges. 

According to the case, the Kentucky Supreme Court, in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, ordered all eviction proceedings to occur remotely, and began conducting hearings via Zoom on June 15, 2020. For months, the Jefferson District Court has sent to those facing eviction hearings instructions that explain how to appear remotely at the hearing via Zoom by dialing a certain phone number, the suit says. 

Effective January 25, however, the Jefferson District Court changed the number to call to appear at a Zoom eviction hearing without informing individuals facing eviction, the complaint alleges. The suit claims that as a result, the plaintiffs were dealt judgments of eviction “despite following the instructions the Court provided them with their eviction paperwork.” 

Until very recently, the Jefferson District Court provided a phone number and other information to individuals facing eviction in their eviction notice paperwork, the case states. Included in the paperwork was a page that served as notice from the sheriff of the time and place of the individuals’ eviction hearings, which have taken place over Zoom, the suit relays. If a person facing eviction fails to appear at their first and only Zoom hearing, the court enters a default judgment instructing the renter to vacate their home within seven days, the lawsuit says. 

In a footnote, the Kentucky Equal Justice Center stresses that the Kentucky legislature has not updated the state’s landlord-tenant law in 40 years. As a result, the complaint reads, the reality for most Kentuckians is that “they have one shot to appear, present evidence, and defend themselves from eviction” before having seven days to appeal the court’s decision. Absent paying money “they almost by definition do not have,” those facing eviction have “no chance of staying the enforcement of a judgment of eviction,” the lawsuit says. 

The Jefferson District Court does not provide those facing eviction with notice in their eviction documents that the information pertaining to the Zoom hearing may change, the case says.  

At some point, the suit continues, officials responsible for the administration of the Jefferson County District Court made the decision to change the phone number for Zoom eviction hearings: 

“Instead of calling 1-888-822-7517 and using Conference Code 816670# to appear at their hearing, people facing eviction were now supposed to call 312-626-6799 and use access code 789 335 2944 to appear at their summary eviction proceeding. 

Nobody told the people facing eviction about this change.”

The lawsuit alleges the Jefferson County District Court is aware that individuals have been having difficulty appearing for Zoom eviction hearings, as evidenced by the fact that in the days following January 25, court officials “spent time calling landlords’ attorneys who had not appeared for their cases to inform them of the change in phone numbers.”

Despite helping landlords and their attorneys, the court has taken no action to provide actual notice of the correct information to appear at Zoom eviction hearings to those who actually face eviction, the case claims.

“Instead of rescheduling everyone’s hearings until the Court can provide the correct, updated information to people facing eviction, the Court has told those people who did manage to appear—finally—despite the incorrect information they were provided by the Court that they were too late,” the lawsuit reads. 

According to the complaint, nearly 650 people who face eviction in the coming weeks do not have the correct information on how to appear for Zoom hearings. 

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