‘The Renters’ Nightmare’: Class Action Alleges Scales Tipped Too Far in Landlords’ Favor in Arkansas Criminal Eviction Process

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The state laws that allow for the criminalization of the eviction process in Arkansas have effectively turned publicly funded police and courts into “landlords’ private debt collectors” and created “debtors’ prisons” that disproportionately harm low-income and vulnerable residents, a proposed class action alleges. 

Filed against Malvern/Hot Spring County Prosecuting Attorney Teresa Howell and Hot Spring Sheriff Mike Cash, the 35-page lawsuit alleges the Arkansas Criminal Eviction Statute, under which landlords are in certain circumstances allowed to trigger criminal charges against a tenant, essentially criminalizes poverty in a form of wealth-based discrimination in violation of the due process and equal protection clauses within the United States Constitution. 

In practice, the case relays, landlords use the Criminal Eviction Statute, the only one of its kind in the U.S., as a strategy to force tenants to self-evict, as a landlord might threaten to call the sheriff to arrest a tenant for being behind on rent. Tenants who do not self-evict and go to court are almost always underrepresented, and could face a judge who instructs them to move out or else be jailed for contempt of court, the lawsuit says. 

According to the case, a landlord’s statement is all that’s necessary to trigger the Arkansas Criminal Eviction Statute. Under the law, charges may be filed against a tenant solely on the grounds of a landlord’s affirmation that the tenant failed to pay rent on time and failed to vacate the premises within the 10-day notice period, the lawsuit states. 

From there, an arrest warrant or criminal summons can be issued to a tenant based solely on what a landlord has said and without investigation into the veracity of the statement or an opportunity for the tenant to dispute the amount alleged to be owed, according to the case. Further, landlords who trigger the criminal process against a tenant are still free to pursue separate civil action against them, the complaint adds.

“Some landlords will pursue multiple cases against tenants simultaneously,” the suit reads. “They will press criminal charges under the Criminal Eviction Statute, open a civil eviction claim under the unlawful detainer statute, and open a small claims court case to recoup unpaid rent.”

The complaint, filed by attorneys with the Equal Justice Law Center and the UALR Bowen Legal Clinic, states that Arkansas eviction proceedings, as opposed to standard civil landlord-tenant court matters, do not afford tenants an opportunity to make up for rent alleged to be overdue. If a tenant offers to pay to cover a portion or all of the rent due, judges routinely tell the tenant that it’s the landlord’s decision as to whether to accept the money, the suit says. According to the lawsuit, most landlords will refuse the money given they instead prefer that the tenant leave the property.

The lawsuit calls the Arkansas criminal eviction arrangement an “abuse of the criminal process,” tipping the scales of justice “too far in favor of landlords looking for a cheap workaround from tenant protections, all at the expense of tenants who are struggling to afford rent.”

The complaint stresses that Arkansas landlords continue to use the criminal eviction process to evict vulnerable residents amid the pandemic. According to the case, the Criminal Eviction Statute is a law that disproportionately targets Black, low-income and female residents. 

According to the suit, the two plaintiffs stopped paying rent after their landlord replaced their water tank in August 2020 and left them without running water. Per the case, the plaintiffs, after being deprived of running water, stopped paying rent because they could no longer afford it on top of the new expenses they incurred, such as the costs of renting a porta potty and buying bottled water, among others. The individuals were served with a failure-to-vacate eviction notice in April 2021 that stated they had 10 days to move out or they would face criminal eviction charges, the suit says. 

“To this day, Plaintiffs do not have running water, yet they are being threatened with criminal prosecution,” the filing reads. “Plaintiffs are elderly, indigent, and have disabilities requiring use of wheelchairs for mobility.” 

A bill that would have repealed the Arkansas Criminal Eviction Statute failed to receive an endorsement from the state’s House Insurance and Commerce Committee in April 2021. The proposed bill was one of several measures aimed at addressing the state’s landlord-tenant laws. 

The lawsuit requests a temporary restraining order and a preliminary and permanent injunction ordering Howell and Cash to cease proceedings against the plaintiffs under the Arkansas Criminal Eviction Statute. 

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