Evictions and Debt: The Cook County Early Resolution Program

Although we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Cook County has continued to roll out new updates and orders in an effort to create resolutions to the many problems being faced by its residents. In January of 2021, Cook County issued its most recent Administrative Order (“Order”) to explain their resolution to the high volume of evictions and consumer debts that are likely going to be coming to fruition in the upcoming months. As a response, Cook County created the Residential Eviction and Consumer Debt Early Resolution Program (“ERP”).

The ERP was created in order to bring legal aid, mediation, and community support services to the high volume of evictions that are likely going to be brought within the county. The ERP’s goal is to provide resources to litigants in order to encourage early agreements and resolutions in cases, whenever possible. All of the ERP’s resources will be available to anyone who filed a consumer debt or eviction action after March 27, 2020 and has a rental, tenant, or consumer debt issue. The ERP will provide legal services, conflict resolution, and/or financial assistance on a case-by-case basis.

ERP Procedures for Evictions and Consumer Debt Cases



For residential tenants and consumer debts filed on or after January 25^th, 2021, new ERP procedures have been put in place. First, any plaintiff initiating a new action must include a notice of the ERP with the summons, in English, Spanish and Polish. The plaintiff shall use the Cook County template form summons, the Illinois Standardized Form Summons, or in certain circumstances, an Alias summons, each of which must include the described ERP notice.

Second, when issuing notice to a defendant, all defendants must receive a “Notice of Early Resolution Program” as well as the ERP flyer in English, Spanish and Polish. The notice of the ERP shall be provided to all defendants five business days prior to their next court proceeding, by First Class Mail. The plaintiff does not need to send the ERP notice if the defendant is already represented by Counsel.

Next, the Plaintiff must also file the “Notice of Early Resolution Program” with the Clerk of the Circuit Court, including a certificate of service pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/1-109. All eviction cases will be assigned an automatic 30-day initial case management date at the time of tiling their complaint. All consumer debt cases will be assigned an automatic 90-day initial case management date at the time of filing the complaint.

Lastly, in regards to case management, each district will have one call dedicated to Eviction cases, and one dedicated to Consumer Debt Cases. Each call will handle the automatic initial case management hearings. For District 1, the First Municipal District will hear the Eviction Call and the Consumer Debt Call on a daily basis. Districts 2,3, and 5 will hear both calls on a weekly basis, while Districts 4 and 6 will hear both calls twice a week. Each of these calls will be limited to a maximum of 60 cases per call.

If you, or a loved one, have questions regarding this past Order or are in need of assistance with your eviction or consumer debt proceeding, please call Josh Pagan at (312) 332-7555 or email him at JPagan@lavellelaw.com for assistance.