An Ethnographic Case Study of an Eviction

Abstract

This case study examines systemic inefficiencies within Colorado’s residential eviction process through an ethnographic analysis of a single landlord-tenant dispute. Guided by the research question, to what extent do procedural complexity, institutional fragmentation, and enforcement delays contribute to managerial inefficiencies and financial losses for small-scale landlords, the study documents how legally compliant actions can result in prolonged delays, escalating costs, and uncertain outcomes. Drawing on detailed narrative evidence, the case illustrates how courts, attorneys, housing authorities, and sheriff’s offices operate as loosely coordinated components within a fragmented system. Findings indicate that eviction outcomes are shaped less by statutory design than by a party’s ability to navigate procedural requirements over extended time horizons. Procedural complexity, institutional fragmentation, and enforcement delays jointly generate cumulative inefficiencies, increasing transaction costs and reducing the predictability of legal outcomes. The study contributes to management policy literature by identifying how administrative burden and process misalignment transfer risk to individual stakeholders, with implications for improving system coordination and enforcement reliability.