Lauren Lofton

She does not read the briefs and review evidence in its entirety. Defendants did not show up to court and despite the voluminous evidence in support of all that was asked for by plaintiff, she still did not award the judgment amount requested, despite the clear proof that was in the brief. Really disappointing.

Although the Judge found for the defense, and I object of course, this Judge was attentative, articulate, seemed fair-minded, and actually allowed me to presentmy case, which many Judges do not. In spite of disagreeing with her tentative ruling, I liked her professionalism, and if I had met her elsewhere, I would have loved being friends with her. An intelligent, responsible, kind, reasonable woman.

Judge Lofton has an incredibly calm temperament. She is patient, polite, and kind to all parties. Overall, it is a pleasure to be in her courtroom. Bias is unnoticeable on the surface, but over the duration of the unlawful detainer case, it is clear that the exceptions were always in favor of the tenants. A kitchen sink approach of unsubstantiated affirmative defenses that were contradictions within themselves combined with tenants that stopped paying and filed grievances with housing agencies after the Complaint was filed were all overlooked as the case dragged out 9 months. Claims of uninhabitability that were not supported by the evidence were entertained to require a trial to determine credibility by jury. Tenants were not required to place money in an escrow account or continue to pay for occupancy as they intentionally dragged out proceedings. Tenants failed to meet discovery obligations and ignored the order to compel with little consequence. Considering the timing of the case being just after Covid and the Appelate Court overturning Dodson's ruling on an unprepared pro se defendant, Lofton may have just been overly cautious to not give reason for appeal. Unfortunately, all the caution was at the landlord's expense.