NC Courts stop evictions and foreclosures as part of coronavirus response
North Carolina will stop eviction and foreclosure hearings for the next 30 days as part of the court system’s latest effort to reduce courthouse traffic and slow the spread of the coronavirus.
While the announcement late Sunday offered some potential relief to the state’s at-risk families, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that eviction orders already in the pipeline will be carried out unless the courts step in to stop them.
Citing the threat posed by COVID-19, Mecklenburg Sheriff Garry McFadden called on the courts to stop 75 eviction orders already handed down by Mecklenburg judges.
“We had a crisis of homelessness in Charlotte prior to (COVID-19),” McFadden said during a hastily called press conference Monday morning. “We just don’t want to add to that problem.”
In response, a spokeswoman for the Mecklenburg judges said the sheriff’s office “has not provided any legal authority for ... an order staying” evictions or foreclosures, and that homeowners and renters can still appeal eviction orders before a judge.
Nonetheless, housing advocates said needy families are facing the loss of stable housing in the throes of a pandemic.
Jessica Moreno, an organizer with advocacy group Action NC, said evictions should be stopped during the public health crisis as low-income residents and service-industry workers will be especially hard hit.
“People are wondering how they are going to keep afloat,” she said.
In a memo released Sunday, Cheri Beasley, chief justice of the state Supreme Court, expanded a list of extraordinary restrictions on courthouse activity for the state’s 100 counties. The first round of changes was announced Friday.
“Put simply, it cannot be business as usual for our court system,” Beasley said in her memo. “Non-essential court functions that cannot be accomplished through the use of remote technology must be postponed.”
The 30-day halt on foreclosure and eviction hearings should have an immediate impact on courthouse traffic. Mecklenburg County, for example, has more than 30,000 evictions a year.
More than 16,500 Wake County households faced a possible eviction in 2019, according to the North Carolina Housing Coalition, while more than 460 families faced a possible foreclosure, the News & Observer reported.
As coronavirus cases continue to pop up statewide, daily lives for low-income households have been shaken by the closing of schools and the waves crashing through the economy, especially the service and hospitality industries.
The speed and sweep of the court changes in North Carolina has led to some contradictory messages.
Courthouse weddings on hold
Beasley said Sunday that courthouse marriages should go on — two days after the Mecklenburg County courts announced that it has suspended the ceremonies as part of its local coronavirus response.
But the spokeswoman for the Mecklenburg courts said Monday that the freeze on courthouse wedding ceremonies will continue. There are so many, she said, that the courts cannot hold them and still comply with Gov. Roy Cooper’s emergency order and Center for Disease Control guidelines “restricting crowd size and implementing other social-distancing precautions.”
She said the courthouse will still issue wedding licenses “and will provide guidance as to other resources to complete weddings.”
As for evictions, McFadden’s office said in a statement that because they involve court orders, deputies are required to serve them — unless the court tells them differently.
“Until a court order is issued, MCSO is duty bound to fulfill the constitutional and statutory mandates of the Office of Sheriff and will continue to serve and execute civil processes and court orders,” the announcement read.
The Mecklenburg courts spokeswoman told the Observer on Monday that Beasley’s orders restrict court activity did not block parties from filing eviction or foreclosure motions — only that the hearings for those requests cannot take place before April 13.
Under the restricted schedule under which the courthouse is operating, the courts have aside one courtroom on Tuesday mornings to hear motions from those hoping to fend off evictions.
“Despite modified court schedules, legal relief remains available to tenants and homeowners,” the spokeswoman said.
Charlotte City Council member Braxton Winston said in a tweet that the sheriff should stop evictions now.
“It is in the interest of public safety that @MeckSheriff stop enforcing eviction orders immediately,” Winston wrote.
Rep. Alma Adams wrote in a tweet last week she had called for the N.C. legislature to approve a 90-day moratorium on evictions, foreclosures and utility disconnections. She said the ban would add stability to families who desperately need it.
“Allowing families to quarantine in place during this crisis is not only good public health policy, but also the only just policy decision for North Carolina families,” Adams said in a Monday morning statement.
Her request last week came the same day Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said the city would not disconnect water service for nonpayment. Duke Energy has announced it also will not disconnect electricity during the crisis.
Several jurisdictions have already halted evictions, including New York state, San Francisco, Boston, Miami-Dade County and Seattle, according to local news reports.
Changes to N.C. courts amid COVID-19
Beasley’s orders for North Carolina courts also includes:
▪ The cancellation or postponement of in-person meetings “to the fullest extent possible.”
▪ For cases or hearings that cannot be postponed , “remote technologies should be utilized as authorized by law and to the fullest extent possible.”
▪ Clerks of court — “subject to health precautions” — should go forward with hearings for involuntary commitments, guardianship cases and “pressing estate administrations.”
▪ Beasley said last week that all trials should be halted unless a jury has been picked.
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 12:04 PM with the headline "NC Courts stop evictions and foreclosures as part of coronavirus response."
