Name: Improving Access to Justice for People Sued by Debt Collectors
Start: 2025-08-27T13:00:00-0500
End: 2025-08-27T14:00:00-0500

Wednesday August 27, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT

Room 410

In June of 2024, JP 1.2 launched a pilot to provide people sued by debt collectors with information on how to answer the lawsuit and their legal rights. Defendants were sent a plain language notice explaining what a default judgment is and its implications. The notice included a QR code that linked to a form answer and information on debt collection rights. The pilot was developed in response to a 2020 resolution from the Texas Judicial Council as part of a strategy to decrease default judgments and increase access to justice in debt claim lawsuits. It was implemented with input from the National Center for State Courts, Texas Legal Services Center, and Texas Appleseed.

This panel presents the current pilot results, looking at how access to legal tools and information affected answer rates as well as case outcomes. Insights from the court, TexasLawHelp, and Texas Appleseed provide a roadmap to develop and expand simple court-based efforts to improve justice for unrepresented litigants.

Speakers

Aaron Varner

Co-Managing Attorney, Texas Legal Services Center

Aaron Varner is a staff attorney in Texas Legal Services Center’s Self Represented Litigants Program, which administers TexasLawHelp.org. He has a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Wisconsin, where he focused on tech policy, and he received his JD from Chicago-Kent... Read More →

Judge Steven Duble

Justice of the Peace, Harris County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1

Steven Duble is Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1, Place 2 in Harris County, Texas. He was elected in November 2022 and took office January 2023. He earned his undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center... Read More →