Spreading & Pooling Debt Lawsuits: A Household-Level Approach to Studying Debt Collection and Eviction Lawsuits

In 2018, 3.6 million eviction cases were filed in U.S. county courts with a substantial percentage of the plaintiffs having filed multiple eviction lawsuits. Recent estimates for 2023 suggest the number of debt collection lawsuits range from $2.5 to $4.5 million. Multiple studies have examined the impact of evictions and debt collection on individuals, but less attention has been paid to the combined experience of debt collection and eviction lawsuits and how these lawsuits cluster in households and neighborhoods. Sociologist Fredrick Wherry will examine how a combination of debt collection and eviction lawsuits impact households and neighborhoods. He will analyze consumer debt lawsuits, eviction filings, and other Court data as well as data from Trestle, a data broker that aggregates information from public records, credit bureaus, utility connections, property data, phone network operators, and other sources, for his study.