Philly Landlord Tenant Officer married to eviction court judge – WHYY

The story of Shuters ascendancy to Landlord and Tenant Officer is the latest chapter in a nearly 50-year-old failure to reform Philadelphias eviction process.

A unique feature in Pennsylvania, the citys current Landlord and Tenant Office dates back to 1970 and was initially introduced as a civil reform to the citys ancient constabulary system. That 17th-century system of appointing men to handle tax collection and court service had, by the 20th century, lost many traditional powers due to government reorganization. By the 1960s, people elected to constable positions in Philadelphia functioned primarily as politically connected bounty hunters, charged with enforcing court eviction orders for profit often by any means necessary.

During that decade, the constabulary system became a lightning rod for criticism over graft and lack of oversight. Renters routinely reported being harassed out of their homes or evicted without cause. The men doing the evictions held constable sales or distress sales to recoup their costs and time, auctioning off furniture or clothing belonging to displaced tenants.

A 1965 state attorney generals inquest into the system recommended abolishing the positions and transferring their duties wholesale to the city Sheriffs Office.

[Philadelphias] constables are engaging in practices designed to terrify the average citizen, the report reads, describing many constables as glorified bill collectors operating under official marque.

Sam Stretton, a longtime ethics lawyer in Philadelphia, said he recalled now-deceased U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter making a case for dismantling the constabulary system as a central plank of his campaigns for Philadelphia District Attorney in the 1960s.

It was the wild west out there, he said, of the constables. It was bribes and everything else.

Outcry and a court injunction followed an episode in 1969 in which a constable sought to auction the furniture of a North Philadelphia family that put rental payments in escrow after the inspectors deemed their landlords property unfit for human habitation. In a subsequent lawsuit, filed by legal aid group Community Legal Services, federal courts ruled these sales unconstitutional, ordering the abolition of Philadelphias constabulary offices and the judicial appointment of theoretically more formalized Landlord and Tenant officers.

But the ensuing reform soon became a source of controversy itself. And the new system quickly came to resemble the old.

One of the first Landlord and Tenant officers, Edward A. Green, was sued by Community Legal Services for attempting in 1970 to shake down tenants for travel costs and service fees on top of what he was legally allowed to collect. Al Sacks, another Landlord and Tenant officer himself a former constable was also sued by the legal nonprofit in 1986 for allegedly bilking tenants into paying bogus legal fees.

The legislative reformsput the Landlord and Tenant Officers in Philadelphia in the same position as the constables were prior to those reforms, lamented plaintiffs in the suit against Green.

By the late 1980s, the position came under the aegis of the law firm of Robert H. Messerman. This attorney was appointed by Marisa Shuters father, former President Judge Silberstein, who presided over Municipal Court from 1986 to 1999. Messerman would hold this appointment for nearly 30 years.

Reached by phone in July, the attorney said he could recall few details of the offices operations. But records show Messerman subcontracted much of the eviction work to surrogates. A so-called deputy landlord-tenant officer that was shot and killed in a 1990s dispute with a West Philadelphia tenant was later revealed to be a contract worker paid by Messerman, according to an Inquirer report. A later lawsuit filed against Messermans office indicated that work was also sometimes subbed out to a local process service firm called B&R Services for Professionals, Inc.

Meanwhile, Silbersteins daughter, Marisa Shuter, graduated from Temple Universitys Beasley School of Law in 1993 and soon went to work in the family trade administering the citys court system. After a stint as an associate in the real estate department at Blank Rome, she began her career in the court system. While her father served as Municipal Courts president judge, the court hired her as a law clerk around 1996. She later joined Messermans office in 2006, serving as a staff attorney and office manager, according to First Judicial District spokesperson Marty ORourke.

When Messerman eventually retired from his post as Landlord and Tenant Officer, Marisa Shuter was appointed by then-President Judge Marsha Neifield Williams to replace him in January 2017.

Today, she runs the office much as Messerman did, relying on independent contractors to do the heavy lifting of writ service. ORourke said all these people are formally deputized, but court rules do not require them to be trained or certified law enforcement.

The court does not require the Landlord-Tenant Officer or the Deputy Landlord-Tenant Officers to meet any specific law enforcement credentials, ORourke said.

Marisa Shuter said, in practice, many did have a background in police work or had served as suburban magisterial constables. She reiterated that she requires deputies to have a license to carry a firearm, own a vehicle and that all received significant job training.

I personally explain all of the laws to them and the process from start to finish, she wrote. They ride along with an experienced deputy for a period of time before being assigned to handle evictions on their own so that they can learn the job.

Michael Williams, a Philadelphia housing attorney, said the distinction between these deputies and actual law enforcement was often vague.

Sometimes tenants will call them the sheriff, but thats wrong, Williams said. Theyre from the landlord-tenant office. Sometimes, they will still refer to themselves as constables.

Some, like ethics lawyer Sam Stretton, said the courts shouldnt be empowering private entities with little duty to disclose information to the public to force residents from their homes.

This office is held out as part of the government when, in fact, its a private law firm, he said. Theres still no standards. They could just get some monster, and say hes just the toughest guy I found.

Read the original here:

Philly Landlord Tenant Officer married to eviction court judge - WHYY