Just about all unlawful detainer (UD) actions in Alameda County are coordinated through Department 511 located at the Hayward Hall of Justice. This was true both before and after the eviction moratoriums. During the moratoriums, UD actions came to a screeching halt.
Now that the moratoriums are ending and evictions are starting up again, some rules will be changing. A few of these rules are technical and will only make sense to landlord and tenant lawyers, or experienced landlords who have been through the UD process before.
As a result of the Alameda County eviction moratorium ending, it was expected that UD filings in Alameda County would surge. The judge in Department 511 estimates that between 400-500 UD cases were filed in May 2023 alone. Later this summer, the moratoriums in Oakland and Berkeley will be phased out. We can expect even more UD filings to come throughout August 2023.
Starting June 5, 2023, the Alameda County Superior Court will stop enforcing Local Rule 1.8.1 in UD actions. This was the rule that required the judge in Department 511 to issue an order before a summons in an unlawful detainer action could be issued. Any new unlawful detainer filings will be directly processed by the court clerks, without approval by the judge in Department 511. All filings prior to June 5 will still have to be processed by the judge in Department 511.
Also starting June 5, 2023, no new Case Management Conferences will be set when parties file a request to be set for trial. Instead, they will be set in Department 511 for settlement conferences on a Wednesday morning. Court trials will be set on Thursday mornings, and jury trials on the following Monday mornings, just like pre-COVID.
The judge in Department 511 is still playing catch up with the large number of UD filings since the Alameda County eviction moratorium ended on April 29. Because she will no longer need to review UD complaints and summonses, old filings should be processed in the near future.
To read the press release by the Alameda County Superior Court and learn more about this topic, visit: https://shorturl.at/flD26.
