Legal Aid Services Seek to Halt Eviction Proceedings Amid COVID-19

Nine eviction hearings were scheduled for Tuesday morning in Ada County — and the night before, two Idaho nonprofits filed emergency amicus briefs in all nine cases, seeking to halt the evictions under the provisions of the federal CARES Act.

“It’s just been crazy — we didn’t know even how they were going to do this. They’re not allowing anybody in the courthouse for hearings, so they called all the defendants if they had their number,” said attorney Howard Belodoff, with Idaho Legal Aid Services. 

The ACLU of Idaho and Idaho Legal Aid Services filed the briefs, the two nonprofits argue moving forward with evictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic “poses profound and dangerous constitutional problems.”

The briefs filed Monday to argue the summons the tenants received were inadequate because they did not explain how a person could appear in court for a hearing at a time when access to the courthouse is restricted — and that proved to be a problem, Belodoff told the Idaho Press Tuesday.

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