Eviction court sees 361 cases in one day as Knox County urged to fund legal aid

Yahoo

11-03-2025

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Advocates are pushing for change after 361 cases were on the docket for Knox County eviction court on Tuesday.
John Fletcher was evicted last month after he withheld his rent, due to what he called an 'insect infestation' at his apartment. In some states, tenants have the right to withhold rent if landlords fail to repair major problems. Tennessee is not one of them.
'I have been couch surfing, I have had a couple of friends help me out, I bought a storage unit, but right now the priority is just graduating, so I've been trying to keep my head down, I don't have a permanent place right now,' he said.
Fletcher is set to graduate college in a few weeks. He is a disabled veteran and a father of a 4-year-old girl.
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Despite the ruling on his eviction happening last month, he found himself back in eviction court on Tuesday. He said his now former landlord is suing him for damages. This time in court was different though, as he was surrounded by hundreds of people in the same boat.
'It's nauseating. That's a symptom of a much, much deeper problem. And I'm begging our lawmakers, I know they want the stadium and I know they want Knoxville to grow, this isn't the way to do it. This is, to me, gentrification,' he said.
Legal Aid's Eviction Prevention Office provides free legal assistance to those facing eviction.
'We try to get to the highest priority cases that we can to prevent an eviction judgement on somebody, because if they have that judgment, it makes it extremely hard for them to rent the next apartment that they need. It's a huge hit to their credit, it may cause them to be homeless,' Michael Davis, managing attorney with the office, said.
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The office has taken on 577 cases over the past year. Of the 338 eviction cases already resolved, 91% have successfully avoided a judgement on the tenant's record. In total, 275 children have lived in those households.
However, funding for the office is set to run out in May.
Adam Hughes, with Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment or SOCM, helped advocate for the creation of the office, and hopes local government will step up to provide the needed funding.
'They have been so helpful in streamlining the court process, helping tenants find new houses, so we're hoping that the city and the county can find $600,000 to keep this office open, to keep lawyers being able to have a presence in court. We think the entire court process for landlords, judges, tenants, everyone, gets easier when you have this support in court,' Hughes said.
The University of Tennessee's Appalachian Justice Research Center (AJRC) estimates that every dollar spent on funding the office, returns $6.14 in downstream education, medical, and housing costs to the city and county.
Currently, the office is funded by Knox County, through the American Rescue Plan Act.
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Eviction filings began increasing after the pandemic, but Davis says that's not the sole reason behind the spike.
'I think the way a lot of people thought about it, whether this was true or not, was that these were people that just choose not to pay their rent or that there's some failing on their part, but with the situation that we got now, we're seeing people with two incomes, with full time jobs on a single income because they're maybe a single parent, that are not able to keep up with something like rent doubling in a month. We've seen cases of that. It's not always 50%, sometimes it's 100% rent increase. No one can plan for that,' he said.
According to the AJRC, eviction filings increased by 53% between 2022 and 2023 in Knox County, and that trend is expected to continue.
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