On May 18, 53-year-old Carl Kachel stepped into line for a routine blood sugar check in the Cleveland County Detention Center. They turned out to be his last steps.
Jailed on a 16-year-old Jackson County warrant with a $1,000 bond, Kachel’s end came after a string of evictions that also began in 2009. The last one on record was filed on Dec. 2, 2020, by Brigid Kennedy, one of thousands she filed in central Oklahoma that year.
Kennedy’s filing forced Kachel and his wife, Kimberly, out of their Moore apartment for owing more than $4,000 in back rent. Kennedy, an attorney who specializes in landlord-tenant actions, filed a Forcible Entry and Detainer — an eviction — a few weeks before Christmas. By Jan. 15, the locks were changed; Kachel and his wife were out.
Four years later, with the two living in their van, the police pulled over Kachel and arrested him. His van had an improper tag, he had no insurance, and there were other infractions. His wife, Kimberly, told the Norman Transcript that he was a stroke survivor, diabetic, and had slurred speech from his condition. He died in Cleveland County’s jail while standing in line for a routine finger stick to check his blood sugar.
Kachel’s 2020 eviction was one of about 350 such claims Kennedy filed that year in Cleveland County. Her Oklahoma City law firm files FEDs in Oklahoma, Cleveland, and Canadian counties on behalf of landlords. Kachel’s was one of thousands filed by Kennedy, who is one of the three most active eviction attorneys in central Oklahoma.
Records for 2024 show Kennedy filed more than 3,000 FEDs in Oklahoma County. She comes in second place after Darquita Maggard, of Ratheal, Maggard & Fortune; and ahead of Robert, Edward, and Thomas Goldman, of Goldman Law. In 2024, the three firms filed approximately 9,900 of the more than 18,000 such actions, according to records on the Oklahoma State Court Network.
“ I don’t understand why people won’t pay their rent,” Kennedy said last week while walking out of the Oklahoma County courtroom where she conducts most of her clients’ hearings. “I think this gets slanted towards, ‘It’s all the landlord’s fault that the landlords are somehow evil because they’re evicting people who don’t pay their rent.’ They’re no different than any other bill collector. They’re your gas bill, your water bill, your light bill. I mean, your utilities get turned off if you don’t pay your bill. But everybody gets upset if you get kicked outta your apartment ’cause you don’t pay your rent.”
Kennedy made the remarks briskly as she left a hearing in which she filed 51 forcible entry and detainer notices, and in which most were dismissed. Observers described it as a slow day. Cases are usually dismissed because the tenant came up with the money and reached an agreement with the landlord, but that also usually includes Kennedy’s fee, which can be hundreds of dollars for each case. Attorney’s fees are almost always paid by the tenant.
Also in attendance were Maggard and Robert Goldman. Maggard left without comment, but Goldman spoke with Oklahoma Watch about his part in the process.
“ I had three continuance cases today,” Goldman said. “This is kind of a light day for me anyway, but of those three, not one of ’em have complied with the agreed minute that we entered into to give them an opportunity to either pay it out in a lump sum or over a course of time,” he said. “ And look, I, my heart goes out to some of these people. They have families, they have children. It’s hard on them. It’s hard. I don’t see how they can keep on moving from one place to another, although I have some who have really taken advantage of the system.”
Goldman is the president of the Red Andrews Christmas Dinner, which provides warm meals, coats and toys to about 7,000 people each December. He is also a board member of Metropolitan Fair Housing Council, board member of the Oklahoma Multi-Family Housing Association, and serves as legal counsel for the Apartment Association of Central Oklahoma.
The Business of Evictions
Oklahoma’s Landlord Tenant Act has been under scrutiny for some time, recently culminating in a bipartisan law that passed through Oklahoma’s legislature, but was vetoed by Governor Kevin Stitt, who said, “This bill seeks to expand minimum wait times in eviction proceedings, making the already burdensome and difficult process of obtaining an eviction that much more burdensome.”
Attorneys Brigid Kennedy (standing) and Darquita Maggard (seated) and RObert Goldman (rear) are three of central Oklahoma’s most active eviction attorneys. More than 200 evictions were on Judge Brooke Holman’s docket in Oklahoma County on Oct. 23, 2025 (Brent Fuchs/Oklahoma Watch)
That law would have extended the lead time for tenants to prepare for their evictions before being locked out of their homes. Currently, Oklahoma allows the eviction process to begin within three days of the rent not being paid, allowing lockout to possibly happen within a week. Other states with longer eviction timelines have lower rates of eviction, which indicates the longer timeline allows for tenants to produce the needed funds to remain housed.
However, attorney fees are also part of the picture. Oklahoma law states that attorneys’ fees must be reasonable and can not exceed 10% of the judgment. Attorneys’ fees are usually passed on to the tenants. If the court rules that the tenants owe back rent for two months on a $1,000 two-bedroom apartment, the attorneys’ fees for those two months’ rent would be limited to $200. Such a judgment could also include late fees and filing fees, further driving up the cost of the situation for the tenant, who might have had trouble coming up with the rent in the first place.
Observers from Legal Aid Services Oklahoma try to reach tenants before they sign anything. Almost anything the attorneys hand them ends up being an agreement to be evicted, they said.
On Oct. 21, in Judge M. Brooke Holman’s Oklahoma County courtroom, Kennedy’s FED filings accounted for 51 of the 124 cases listed, according to court records obtained by Oklahoma Watch. Most, if not all, were dismissed. According to Apartments.com, the average one-bedroom rental in Oklahoma County is approximately $924. This would mean that a conservative estimate of Kennedy’s take on this particular day would be close to $5,000 from the filings.
On Thursday, the docket swelled to more than 200.
The Eviction Crowd
In her courtroom, Holman constantly issued orders from the bench to control the crowd. She directed the people filing in to sit in the courtroom’s wooden pews.
“We have over 200 of you set today, so we’re going to take some different measures,” she said. “One of them is that only one of you per household needs to be present in the courtroom.”
Spouses, siblings and others filtered out, only to be replaced by more people who were standing in the hallway. Some gathered by the door, provoking another order from the judge.
“We cannot stand in the door,” she said, motioning those standing into crowded pews. “We cannot block the door. That is an ingress-egress. The fire marshal will shut us down.”
She continued to repeat the directions throughout the hearings: don’t block the door, sit down, be silent and put away all cell phones or they will be confiscated.
“ We have two different types of services available to all parties today,” Holman said. “The first is early settlement mediation services. Mediation services are kind of like magic. They can help two parties that disagree to reach an agreement together.”
Holman said those mediation personnel, available to all parties, were trained, experienced workers who would help both parties reach an agreement. Holman said that assigning a tenant to mediation was an order, a court instruction to be followed.
Attorney Robert Goldman, one of central Oklahoma’s most active eviction lawyers, is shown leaving the Judge Brooke Holman’s courtroom in Oklahoma County on Oct. 21, 2025. (Ben Fenwick/Oklahoma Watch)
“I am not ordering you to agree,” Holman said. “I am ordering you to use your best efforts to solve your own problem. There are plenty of human defenses to the reasons why you cannot pay your rent. Legal defenses seem to be fewer and farther between.”
Maggard, Kennedy, and Goldman sat in the well, the area of the courtroom surrounded by a wooden railing, separating the pews from the business end of the court. There were other attorneys present, but most represented only one or two clients. The big three had files stacked in front of them. On this day, Holman also sat tenants in the well in wooden chairs ringing the courtroom.
Court Assistance
As the judge called out tenants’ names, they acknowledged their presence. She then told them to exit and wait in the hall to make room for others to enter and register their appearance. In about an hour, the entire docket had been called. No-shows, whether plaintiff or tenant, were noted and judgment defaulted to the other side. Most no-shows were tenants. Once they were all called, the attorneys called each tenant back in, one by one, to either cut a deal or notify them to start packing.
One tenant, Josh Childers, was called into the well by Kennedy. He debated his case with her. But she was not there to help him. She was there to help the landlord. Working against Childers was an agreement to pay rent that he signed the month before.
“I want mediation,” Childers said.
“We are not going to mediation,” Kennedy said.
Childers continued to ask for mediation. Kennedy continued to refuse. She said his case would go to trial if he didn’t pay.
At that point, Holman’s court clerk, Ashleigh Ball, spoke loudly from her seat next to Holman’s on the bench, giving Kennedy’s side of the argument a boost.
“Sir,” she said in a clear, loud voice. “ Not all announcements are applicable to everybody. Please listen to her.”
“What does that mean?” Childers asked.
After all, wasn’t mediation, in the judge’s words, available to all parties?
“Listen to everything she’s saying,” Ball answered. “The information she’s giving you is correct.”
Next to her, Holman did not look up.
Kennedy pushed a piece of paper to Childers.
“Sign this,” she said. “We are not going to give you more time. Those are your options. You can go to trial or you can sign it.”
Childers signed it. Outside, he shared a homemade motion to stay he had drawnup, which availed him of nothing.
“She was very aggressive and rude,” he said.
Roadblocks to Change
Remedies seem few for now. The governor’s veto of the new law that would have increased the time to file for evictions might have staunched the rate, but other concerns are daunting as well.
“It feels like the system is entirely stacked against renters who are just trying to keep their heads above water,” said Jessica Earley, director of Stay Housed, a program of Neighborhood Services Organization. “There are just so many evictions filed in Oklahoma County, and the process moves incredibly fast. What’s been tough for me to wrap my head around is how many roadblocks face those of us doing everything we can to help those in need. It seems there is little room for compassion for those on the verge of losing their homes. It’s simply business as usual.”
“ I don’t understand why people won’t pay their rent.”
Brigid Kennedy
In Tulsa County, recent changes are helping lower the eviction rate by informing tenants before they get to court of help available to them. The changes, initiated by the court itself, required every eviction notice to have a resource sheet containing contact information for legal aid, a QR code for a free bus pass to get to the court and information about available rental assistance. Court observers said it is one reason Tulsa’s eviction rate, which was once higher than Oklahoma City’s, is now 2% lower.
Other possible solutions, such as increasing filing fees to make evictions more costly, would likely backfire by being passed on to consumers, Goldman said.
“It’s a socio-economic issue here, as far as I’m concerned, as long as the powers that be want to keep minimum wage down as low as they want to,” Goldman said. “Some of these people have to take two or three jobs, pay their rent, you know. It’s really harsh on them and I understand that.”
But the problem is systemic, most tenant advocates said. As long as eviction filings remain lucrative, the problem will continue to get worse.
Amy Coldren, the director of advocacy and communication for Mental Health Association Oklahoma, which works with clients to prevent evictions, said the court is being used as a rent-collection tool.
“The laws are skewed heavily in favor of the landlord, making it a very quick and easy and inexpensive process,” she said. “ They’re simply using it as a way to collect rent, then those fees, and those attorney fees, the filing fees, they become the responsibility of the tenant.”
Ben Fenwick is a Norman-based journalist and contributor to Oklahoma Watch. Contact him at ben.fenwick@gmail.com.
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