No transcripts, no appeals for Cook County’s wrongfully evicted

Lawyers' Forum

By Daniel Epstein and Ken Thomas

Daniel Epstein is a litigator at Jenner & Block in Chicago with an active pro bono practice. He can be reached at depstein@jenner.com. Ken Thomas is a Chicago litigator with a significant pro bono eviction defense practice. He can be reached at kenthomas@uchicago.edu.

Posted November 14, 2018 12:47 PM

Citizens in Cook County are losing their right to challenge wrongful evictions for an easily fixable reason: The court that determines whether tenants should be evicted does not provide a court reporter and, unlike other courts in the state, has not adopted digital recording.As a result, people fighting evictions are not guaranteed a transcript of their proceedings, which makes it impossible for some to effectively appeal their wrongful evictions.It seems unbelievable that something like a transcript could be the …

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