Reporter Randy Billings wrote in the July 21 Press Herald that a “wave of evictions” is expected when the courts re-open this month, after being closed for COVID protocols. The impact of the end of the protections against evictions of tenants will be substantial. Fortunately there will have to be court hearings and judgments issued by neutral judges before people are actually put on the streets. For some that is.
The poor who do not have attorneys will not be able to successfully conduct court trials against seasoned landlord attorneys. Nor, can we expect the already overburdened legal aid attorneys to have the ability to challenge the entire “wave.”
What is needed is a new law that states: if the landlord does not legally prevail in an eviction case they bring to court, the landlord should be required to pay the legal fees of the tenant. That way, at least, the poor may be able to find a lawyer that will accept the challenge of the case, win it, and be paid legal fees.
Donald Fontaine
Falmouth
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