Fort Worth-area landlord jailed after forcing out woman who faced coronavirus pay cut
In late February, Susan Gilbert moved to a tidy suburban neighborhood in Haltom City with her two grandchildren, Gavin and Ryleigh. The house — just up the street from the famed Clown Burger — is close to where she works and is in a school district where Gavin, an eighth-grader, has thrived, becoming part of the talented and gifted program.
But within weeks of moving in, her wages thrown into disarray by the coronavirus, Gilbert ended up $300 short of her $1,200 rent for April. Despite a statewide moratorium on evictions, she was forced to leave her home after her landlord shut off and locked the water and gas services, according to court records. And that was only the beginning. A two week saga ensued, ending with the landlord in jail for not following a judge’s orders.
Renters in Dallas-Fort Worth and nationwide have found themselves in similar situations, as landlords, unable to use the court system because of eviction moratoriums, attempt to kick out tenants through measures that violate property laws. These de facto evictions — known as self-help evictions — involve actions designed to pressure a tenant to leave, including utility cutoffs, switched locks and door removals. In the Valley, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid recently helped a mobile home renter who had been planning to move only to find they had been locked out. Jeannie Nelson, executive director of the Austin Tenants Council, heard this week from a man whose utilities had been cut by a landlord. When he got them turned back on by the utility companies, the landlord removed his refrigerator and stove, Nelson said.
Self-help evictions are rare, but the economic damage inflicted by the coronavirus appears to have escalated the threat. Stuart Campbell, a Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas attorney who represents Gilbert, said he’s had three clients dealing with self-help evictions the last couple weeks; he had two self-help eviction cases in the previous two and a half years. In Atlanta, a housing attorney who typically sees two to three self-help evictions a month is now getting three to four a week. Attorneys general in Rhode Island and Massachusetts have instructed law enforcement officials to be on the lookout for self-help evictions. “This is about keeping people safe,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, referring to renters.
How tough has the weakened economy been for them? By April 5, with about two-thirds of workers reporting job loss, lost wages or lost hours, only 69% of rent payments had been made, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council. That was down from 81% at the same point in March. And many landlords rely on that rental income. They face obstacles waiting on mortgage relief, just as tenants wait on rental relief. “These are incredibly desperate times, and I think both the property owners and the tenants are struggling to find the funding to keep the housing going,” said Emily Benfer, a visiting law professor at Columbia University who has researched state eviction laws during the coronavirus crisis. “That seems to be really an impetus for these styles of evictions but that doesn’t make them legal, conscionable or allowable. They’re still a violation of the law.”
Gilbert, 54, began feeling the economic crush in late March. She has a job soliciting sponsors for the spirit items cheerleaders throw into the bleachers and typically makes between $1,200 and $1,400 a week. But nearly all of her pay comes from commission, she said. When the economy tanked, nobody wanted to pay for a sponsorship. Her paycheck declined to $200, and she was unable to afford all of her rent.
Tarrant County government officials and the Texas Apartment Association have urged landlords to be flexible with tenants dealing with financial issues. That didn’t happen for Gilbert, she said: “I get it. I’m new and I was going to be late on rent. But he wouldn’t even try to work with me.” Gilbert said she called her landlord, Jay Huckabay, and a property manager several times and tried to explain that she would soon be able to use her federal stimulus check for rent, but her calls were not returned.
On April 21, Gilbert found that the water was off in the house. Gilbert assumed she forgot to pay the bill. When she tried cooking dinner that night she realized the gas was off, too. She saw that locks had been placed on the gas and water meters, preventing them from being turned back on. After hearing from the water department that service cancellations had been halted because of the coronavirus, Gilbert contacted Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas. Campbell, her attorney, said he tried to no avail to contact Huckabay before starting a court action. Upon hearing Gilbert’s story April 23, Justice of Peace Judge Ralph Swearingin Jr. ordered the utilities to be restored. But the gas and water were not turned back on. “You got this pandemic going on and you can’t wash your hands,” Gilbert said. “You can’t take a shower.”
She and her grandchildren spent the next few days at a hotel while Huckabay continued to ignore the restoration order, according to court records. The locks were removed from the gas and water lines by April 27, but Campbell said Gilbert had to switch the utilities on herself. When she returned from the hotel on April 27, she said two “No Trespassing” signs were nailed to the garage door. The mailbox was gone, an internet cable had been cut, and a breaker connected to the A/C system was removed, leaving the house without air conditioning.
The failure to follow the judge’s order led to Swearingin issuing a contempt of court order. On May 1, at the contempt hearing, Huckabay testified he cut the utilities because he believed Gilbert had vacated the house and that there was a gas leak. His reasoning did not convince Swearingin, who sentenced him to three days in Tarrant County Jail. Huckabay said he was released Tuesday. In a telephone conversation, he mostly declined to discuss the case, other than saying, “This went to court for hearsay.” Campbell and Huckabay’s lawyer, Bradford Shaw, said Swearingin said he had never encountered a situation where a landlord had been sent to jail for contempt in his 30 years of law enforcement and 14 years on the bench.
The only reason Gilbert sought legal action and realized she may have been wronged was because the water department told her the service could not be disconnected during the coronavirus crisis. Otherwise she said she would have assumed her utilities could be cut and not researched her situation on the internet.
“I think in almost every case the tenant is unaware of what their rights are and that this is not supposed to happen,” said Fred Fuchs, the housing coordinator at Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid and a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. “Because their sense is, ‘I’m behind on the rent and the landlord changes my locks and I guess the landlord has the right to do that.’” Sandy Rollins, executive director of the Texas Tenants’ Union, said undocumented immigrants and non-native English speakers are at higher risk because they are often reticent to reach out to legal authorities.
Sometimes landlords don’t know the law and will comply when notified they’re acting illegally. The penalty in Texas for illegal utility cutoff is one month’s rent, plus $1,000 — meaning landlords who cut utilities are essentially on the hook for the rent they want their tenants to pay. Asked if Huckabay was aware utility cutoff for nonpayment of rent was illegal, his lawyer, Shaw, said: “I don’t know. He is now.”
Gilbert has also filed a lawsuit against Huckabay seeking $7,200 in damages and attorney fees, in addition to the one month’s rent and $1,000. In the future Huckabay can still file an eviction against her because neither Tarrant County nor Texas have instituted grace periods to renters during the coronavirus pandemic, although cities like Dallas and Austin have.
For now, Gilbert plans to stay at the home in Haltom City, in part because of her grandson’s success in the school district. She wanted to share her story so the rest of Texas would learn their rights. “I really want people to know,” she said, “you can’t be done like this.”
Tips for renters who need assistance
- Call 817-392-5720 to apply for rental assistance from the city of Fort Worth; call 817-531-5620 for a Tarrant County help line regarding rental and utility assistance.
- A notice to vacate is not an eviction. It begins the process and does not force you to immediately leave your home. An eviction can only be carried out if signed by a court. And if a landlord does not provide a notice to vacate, the landlord may not begin an eviction process.
- Because of the Tarrant County and state moratoriums, you cannot be evicted, except for criminal or violent behavior. The state moratorium ends May 18; the Tarrant County moratorium is indefinite, although judges plan to hold eviction hearings the first week of June.
- The federal CARES Act prohibits evictions, late fees and notices to vacate until at least July 24 on properties with federally-backed mortages. These properties include public housing, Section 8 voucher housing, LIHTCH and many others.
- For a list of local organizations that assist renters, including Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, visit fortworthtexas.gov/rentalproperty/rights/
