South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward judge makes house calls

By Lisa J. Huriash

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

September 13, 2009

This judge makes house calls.

On a recent afternoon, Broward County Judge Lou Schiff examined a 10-room boarding house in central Pompano Beach, lifting the toilet seat to check for dirt and searching the showers for mold.

Tenant Ronald Campbell, who had stopped paying the $450 monthly rent and defended against eviction by claiming he was living in slum conditions, was impressed by the judge's visit.

Such a personal approach "gets down to the bottom of it," Campbell said. "It gets to the point."

It's unusual, but not unheard of, for civil court judges to take such road trips. But Schiff, 54, a jurist for 12 years whose docket has many small claims cases, ventures out of his Deerfield Beach courtroom more than most of his colleagues.

Guarded by his court deputy, he has examined fences for flaws, reviewed kitchen cabinets for poor craftsmanship and studied auto paint jobs for smears.

Mostly he tours houses and apartments in eviction cases where tenants claim they don't have to pay rent because the places are uninhabitable. Schiff wants to experience firsthand the overflowing toilets.

"You have to see it in person to see how bad it is," he said. "If someone says it smells, you don't appreciate how bad it smells until you go out there and get a whiff for yourself."

Field trips in criminal cases, especially to crime scenes, get more attention. The issues in civil court may not seem as compelling, but for each person before him, Schiff knows, "it is the most important case on the planet."

Broward Chief Judge Victor Tobin said Schiff's trips are a good use of time "to make sure justice is done."

Usually Schiff will venture to the scene only if both sides agree. Sometimes the lawyers ask him to go, as in the case last year of a Coral Springs homeowner who couldn't get a company to replace an improperly installed fence. The posts were supposed to be 7 feet long, with 2 feet underground for stability.

When Hurricane Wilma blew through in 2005, the fence was toppled and the owner could see it had been embedded only a few inches below ground. After years of squabbling the man hired Boca Raton attorney Mark Gilwit. He asked Schiff to come to the house, since getting the fence posts past courthouse security would have been problematic.

Schiff showed up with a tape measure and eventually ruled for the homeowner.

"He went above and beyond," Gilwit said. "He came out at 7 a.m., before he had to report to the courthouse."

Fort Lauderdale attorney Alex Soto said several years ago when he was representing a contractor, Schiff came out to inspect kitchen cabinets at a condo in Deerfield Beach.

"It helps justice to be served," Soto said. If somebody is complaining about damage to a car, for example, "it's a lot easier to say, 'I rubbed it with my finger and the crayon mark came off and it wasn't damaged,' or, 'There's a deep gash in the paint and they should be compensated.' "

On the recent Pompano Beach visit, Schiff was dealing with a case where the landlord tried to evict Campbell and another tenant for nonpayment. But the men claimed the boarding house was uninhabitable, it had bed bugs that bit them. Schiff went out last month, made an inspection, and ordered fixes to plumbing and electrical work.

On the return trip, he signed off on the improvements, Campbell agreed to start paying rent immediately and the landlord dropped the eviction case.

"Cleaner than my shower," Schiff, smiling, adjudged the bathroom.

He said it's part of a job where he has to be both judge and jury.

"Photographs don't always tell the story," Schiff said. "This is what county judges are supposed to do."

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com or 954-572-2008.

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