From February 2 to June 30 there were 10,481 eviction filings from 1,820 different landlords. 8,883 reached a disposition.

About one in three cases that reached a decision did not end with the landlord getting the property back, but almost every one of those was ended by the landlord's own side, not by the tenant.

2,949 voluntary dismissals is usually the tenant paying or leaving. That's the system working.

The 52 below it are not good. Dismissed for want of prosecution means the court threw it out because the side that filed it did not move it forward. It's the one outcome with nothing to do with the merits and nothing to do with the tenant.

When that happens, nothing at the property changes. The resident stays, no writ issues, and the docket update is your entire notification.

If you are out of state, or someone else files on your behalf, the first sign of trouble is that nothing is happening. Nothing happening looks exactly like a case moving along normally.

I watched it happen with a new client.. Owner had a judgment date mid July, believed he had won, spent three weeks asking his property manager when the writ would be served. The case was dismissed for want of prosecution. He only found out when he called and read the warrant.

Two traps.

TRAP 1: the writ does not issue automatically. Winning dispatches nobody. The owner has to file for the Writ of Possession at the Clerk's Office and pay a fee. A won case with no writ request sits forever.

TRAP 2: an appeal never shows on your case. Either side can appeal within ten days, and an appeal moves the matter from General Sessions to Circuit Court for a fresh hearing.

What to do: call the General Sessions Civil Clerk at 901-222-3400 with your case number and ask two things. Was an appeal filed. Has a writ been requested. If someone files on your behalf, ask for the disposition and the writ request date in writing. Two facts with dates are harder to answer than "we're working on it."

I only pulled five months of data.. and ~15% of the filings in the window were still open when I counted, so fast cases are somewhat overrepresented. I used the Feb to June window over a more recent one because they were nearly all finished.

Disclosure: I manage rental property in Memphis, so I am not neutral on whether Memphis is a good place to own. I think it's great! Not an attorney, not legal advice.