Eviction cases can be filed in two separate court systems in Oregon; circuit courts or justice courts. Some counties only allow eviction cases to be filed in one court system, either the local circuit court or justice court, and some counties allow eviction cases to be filed in both court systems. The data on Evicted in Oregon only reflects eviction cases filed in the circuit court system. Therefore, counties are classified as ‘circuit court counties’, ‘multiple court-systems counties’, or ‘justice court counties’ in our reporting.

Circuit court counties: we can see all of the filings and court records for these counties.

Multiple court-systems counties: we can see the filings and court records for cases filed in the circuit court, but cannot see that information for cases filed in the justice courts, in these counties. We do not know what percentage of the total amount of cases filed in each ‘multiple court-system county’ we are reporting on but it is important to remember that what is reported here is only partial data for each of these counties.

Justice court counties: these counties process eviction cases almost solely within the justice court system, but on rare occasions cases are appealed at the circuit court, or a landlord files an eviction case at the circuit court erroneously. Without access to the court records for the individual justice courts, we are unable to reliably report on eviction court activity in these counties at this time.