Cary Spivak | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Evictions are being halted in Milwaukee and Dane counties as the result of actions by the courts in the state's two largest counties.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Pedro Colón on Wednesday ordered that sheriff's deputies not serve eviction orders until at least April 9, when he holds a hearing on the matter.

Colón's action covers the 25 eviction orders that were scheduled to be executed by Milwaukee County sheriff's deputies this week and an additional 22 orders that have been approved by the courts and are in the pipeline. Tenants must vacate their homes as soon as deputies serve the orders.

It does not prevent landlords from filing eviction actions against tenants — they just can't throw a tenant out onto the street. New eviction actions will not be heard by the courts until at least April 3 because Mary Triggiano, Milwaukee County's chief judge, shut down most courtrooms because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Colón's order was in response to about 50 motions filed by the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee Tuesday asking that each pending eviction order be put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Peter Koneazny, litigation director for the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, said Colón's order will help the tenants, many of whom may be on the verge of homelessness, find new places to live.

"People will now have enough breathing space to be able to relocate," Koneazny said following the one-hour emergency hearing that was conducted over the phone.

Noting that even in normal times people who are evicted have a hard time finding a new place to rent, Koneazny said it is even tougher to relocate during the health crisis.

"Basically the whole city is shut down," Koneazny said.

Colón's order came the day after V.L. Bailey-Rihn, chief judge in Dane County, ordered that eviction orders, known as writs of restitution, not be executed in that county.

"In light of the necessary and critical issues to minimize the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus by having Dane County residents remain at home as much as possible, the court ... finds good cause to suspend all pending writs of restitution," Bailey-Rihn wrote.

The Dane County order came hours after Legal Action of Wisconsin wrote to the chief judges in 39 counties asking each judge to order that eviction orders not be executed in their counties.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett also called for a suspension of evictions.

"We cannot have people lose their homes or businesses during this pandemic," Barrett said in an interview Wednesday.

Barrett said his office has been in contact with the Milwaukee Housing Authority and that "we are not evicting anybody" at this time.

At least two of the cases heard by Colón on Wednesday named the city as the landlord.

In a brief opposing the Legal Aid motions, attorney Evan Knupp argued that Legal Aid attorneys did not have standing to bring the cases because the nonprofit has not been retained by the tenants and didn't even know the vast majority of the people they were representing Wednesday.

Knupp argued in a brief that there is "no reason to believe that Legal Aid has actually spoken with thedefendants in this matter." The defendants are the people who are facing eviction.

Koneazny said that because of the urgency, Legal Aid did not have time to reach out to the tenants prior to the hearing. He said the group plans on doing so now.

Meanwhile, he predicted that many will move prior to the next hearing, thus making the action moot in their cases.

"They have an incentive to leave on their own if they have another place or could get one," Koneazny said.

James Robinson, the attorney on five of the cases, said Colón should leave the decision on whether to serve the eviction orders up to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office.

The Sheriff's Office "is a separate branch of government and can make its own decision," Robinson argued.

In an interview prior to the hearing, Michael Rosen, director of the FAST Fund, a nonprofit that provides emergency financial help to MATC students, praised the nonprofit groups for fighting to get a stay on eviction actions.

"Avoiding eviction or helping homeless students find housing" are the top reasons students come to the FAST fund, Rosen said. He said if there is not a moratorium on evicting people, "we're going to have a huge growth of homeless students."

That growth could fuel the spread of coronavirus, he said.

"People will be back on the streets," Rosen said. "You'll have tent cities and those will become hot spots for spreading the (coronavirus) pandemic."

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Mary Spicuzza of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.