Update On Court Closures and Related Issues Pertaining to COVID-19 - UPDATED 3-19-20
UPDATED ON 3-19-20
Here is the latest on the court closures -
Milwaukee County
Most of my firm’s pending eviction cases in Milwaukee County have been rescheduled for mid to late April.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff is no longer executing any writs that were previously filed and they are no longer accepting the filing of any new writs. So, if your tenant is still living in the unit they will be allowed to do so until at least April 3rd, unless they voluntarily move out. The Sheriff could not provide me with a date that they would resume executing writs.
Waukesha County
The Waukesha County Chief Judge also signed an Order Regarding Emergency Temporary Measures that affects all court appearances – including evictions --- and accompanying guidelines which became effective as of March 13th. Essentially the guidelines state that all contested matters requiring in-person appearances, including small claims, and any hearing where evidence will be taken by other than telephonic means (including all de novo hearings) are suspended until April 12, 2020. Clerks in the individual branches will schedule these proceedings as the Court’s calendar permits. You should contact the clerk directly. Any hearing that can be done by phone will proceed as scheduled, included but not limited to stipulated divorces, name changes, scheduling conferences, status conferences, motion hearings. These are guidelines only; if any party has questions regarding scheduling with a specific court, they should contact the branch directly for guidance. My firm has an initial appearance on an eviction scheduled for Monday and it is still on and we are appearing by phone. So it appears that Waukesha Co. will still accept new eviction filings.
Washington County
Washington County does not have any Emergency Temporary Order in place for COVID-19 but my firms was contacted by a Washington County court in which we have pending eviction matters and advised us that they were going to be adjourned until April 13th. We were told that the individual judges were each handling their pending calendars and cases as they saw fit.
Mediation
I was contacted by Mediate Milwaukee after they read my last blog post on COVID 19 and they indicated that they could be of assistance to landlords while the courts are shut. They indicated that most of their landlord tenant mediation occurs via telephone with supplemental communication via email. If you are interested in working out an informal resolutions with your tenant they may be of assistance to you. If interested please contact Amy Holtz, Executive Director of Metro Milwaukee Mediation Services, Inc., at 414-939-8800 or amy@mediatemilwaukee.com
