Tenants at disadvantage in eviction cases, study finds

About nine of every 10 eviction lawsuits in the state result in tenants losing their homes, an outcome that partly reflects a huge disparity in who gets help from attorneys, according to a landmark study that analyzed a decade of Hawaiʻi court data.

The nonprofit Lawyers for Equal Justice found that landlords were represented by attorneys in about 70 percent of cases, compared with just 5 percent for renters.

And in nearly half the eviction lawsuits, the landlords won because the tenants failed to show up in court—even though some likely had justifiable defenses, according to the study’s authors.