The Oklahoma Bar Journal August 2022

C ivil P rocedure

Put it Plainly: How the Use of Plain Language Can Increase Equity and Procedural Fairness in Small Claims Eviction Proceedings By Katie Dilks and Shandi Campbell L AWYERS ARE KNOWN FOR THEIR LOVE OF COMPLICATED LANGUAGE, but legalese is cumbersome and confusing to those who aren’t law trained. Many of our judicial processes and procedures can be accomplished fairly and efficiently using plain language, and this is especially true in areas of law like small claims. Small claims court is known as “the people’s court” for a reason – it’s supposed to be a simpler, faster system to resolve conflicts between people, whether over a disagreement, contract or money.

For evictions, in particular, “the people’s court” has shifted to an unlevel playing field where most landlords are represented by law yers, while the vast majority of ten ants remain unrepresented. A study of the Tulsa County eviction docket by students with the Terry West Civil Legal Clinic at the TU College of Law found 82% of landlords had legal counsel compared to only 3.5% of tenants. 1 This disparity leads to one party having a translator for the legalese heavily used by courts and lawyers, while the other is left alone to decipher terms like “forcible entry and detainer,” “affidavit” and “judgment under advisement.” This imbalance has a dramatic impact on the outcomes of eviction cases. The TU study found that tenants

without representation were almost twice as likely to receive a judgment for eviction (79%) as those with representation (43%). 2 Additionally, tenants who appeared in court alone were more than twice as likely to have a money judgment against them (78%) than tenants who appeared with counsel (34%). 3 For someone facing eviction, the first (and only) thing they receive to let them know they are being sued comes through the mail or is posted on their door: the summons. In Oklahoma, the Legislature created standardized form language for landlords to use (again, because lawmakers in 1971 assumed most landlords didn’t have lawyers), and the language on that form is difficult to understand. The first sentence

That’s why there are more relaxed rules in this setting for how courts can operate and how people bringing cases (or being sued) can tell their stories. One reason small claims court works this way is because the expectation is that many, if not most, people using it will be there without a lawyer. A section of Oklahoma law even tells court staff to help people without lawyers figure out how to fill out the paperwork to sue someone in small claims. In 1971, Oklahoma lawmakers decided eviction cases should be heard in small claims court because, at that time, most landlords didn’t use lawyers in evictions. Today, though, it’s a different story.

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL