Enforcement of Commercial Leases: Evictions and Dealing with a Tenant\u27s Personal Property

Any misstep in this jurisdictional minefield along the road to an eviction can be costly. Even though pursuing a forcible detainer action is supposed to be cumulative of a landlord\u27s other remedies, l\u27 doing so inadvertently may impair them, despite the supposedly limited preclusive effect of suits tried in justice court. Moreover, a judgment for possession in a forcible detainer action will not, as commonly believed, bar a tenant\u27s claim for wrongful eviction. Thus, a landlord may succeed in recovering possession in justice court only to find itself ordered by another court to pay damages to its former tenant because the justice court wrongfully ordered the eviction. And, in some circumstances, a judgment for possession in justice court will not prevent a district court from restoring possession to a tenant after a justice court orders an eviction. This article tries to chart these and other mines in the forcible detainer minefield and to give directions to some of the paths around that minefield