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Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until January 20, 2025

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Evicted in Cleveland, Ohio: A Sociology of Displacement and the Role of the Court

Albitz, Casey Lynn
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5459-3217
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1670606410724306

Abstract Details

2023, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Sociology.
In 2018, 5,313 Cleveland households received eviction judgments with a scheduled set-out date. These litigants found themselves faced with a ruling legally allowing them to be forcibly removed from their home as early as seven days from their court date. Eviction as a social problem has re-emerged in both public discourse and academia. Yet this “eviction crisis” is not new, and scholars have extensively documented how eviction processes severely harm dwellers. Missing is research critically examining how powerful judicial institutions shape litigant trajectories. This dissertation is an extended case method study of Cleveland Municipal Court – Housing Division (Cleveland Housing Court). Established in 1980, Cleveland Housing Court is a special-purpose court, unique in its exclusive jurisdiction and proclaimed “problem-solving” within the civil eviction realm. Contrasting previous assumptions of civil courts as passive institutions, this work systematically documents the occurrence of formalized eviction in Cleveland utilizing participant observation and analysis of archived court records between 2016 and early 2020. This work sought to (1) understand the formal eviction process, (2) document experiences of litigants and court personnel, and (3) explore if and how court actions reproduced owner privileges, refuted dweller exploitation, or mitigated against negative consequences imposed on litigants. In focusing on this court, this research sought to recognize how everyday practices resulting in the mass removal of Clevelanders from their homes were justified, routinized, and perpetuated by this judicial institution, questioning if there is room within powerful, bureaucratic structures of the state such as this for liberation and change. Ultimately, I found that Cleveland Housing Court has nearly perfected procedural justice to a point where dwellers blamed only themselves for their predicament and judicial staff continued to reproduce inequality. This is done under the guise of “a morale of mitigation,” constantly working against consequences the judiciary itself imposed. I conclude that the court was not only reproducing owner interests but was also exploiting low-level worker labor to maintain a veil of justice, minimizing procedural critique. I offer tiered recommendations encouraging a reexamination of unequal legal procedures and urging advocates to refocus efforts towards directly addressing the pernicious housing market.
Susan Hinze (Committee Chair)
Avidan Cover (Committee Member)
Brian Gran (Committee Member)
Timothy Black (Committee Member)
793 p.
Law; Legal Studies; Sociology
Eviction; Housing Court; Displacement; Sociology; Procedural Justice; Inequality; Housing; Contract Law; Law and Society; Forcible Entry and Detainer; Cleveland, Ohio

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Albitz, C. L. (2023). Evicted in Cleveland, Ohio: A Sociology of Displacement and the Role of the Court [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1670606410724306

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Albitz, Casey. Evicted in Cleveland, Ohio: A Sociology of Displacement and the Role of the Court. 2023. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1670606410724306.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Albitz, Casey. "Evicted in Cleveland, Ohio: A Sociology of Displacement and the Role of the Court." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1670606410724306

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1670606410724306
© 2023, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.