Possession isn't everything. Without a money judgment the eviction case is only half-won.
As the first part of a series investigating Chicago's rumored bias towards tenants in the residential rental sector, I did the general stats on eviction numbers in Chicago last week by means of a study of the First Municipal Circuit Court of Cook County's online dockets. I'm sure at least a few of you read that and are wondering what's up with the unpaid rent. Previously I only counted cases where possession was given back to the landlord. But these cases are brought to court when rent doesn't get paid for a long time. They're called Joint Action suits. The landlord wants not only possession, but the money back. If they win only possession, they've only won half of the case.
Now, Chicago judges are notorious for being tough to squeeze for rent judgments. Many landlords are encouraged to seek possession only, but if you're going to pay $237 in filing fees and take a day to head down to the Daley Center you probably want to get some cash out of it, too.
Today I'm following the money. If you're starting here, you may want to go back and read last week's entry (linked above) as I'm using the same methodology here. (more…)
