Can a mobile-home park tell a family...

Can a mobile-home park tell a family with children to hit the road?

That’s the question that has just worked its way through the court system to the California Supreme Court.

The case is Schmidt vs. Superior Court. The high-court decision will settle the issue of whether a mobile-home park can discriminate against children.

Terry Lynn Schmidt wanted to live with her children in the Ranch Club Mobile Estates in Buellton. The park said no. They explained that they had a policy of banning children so as to cut down on noise and hubbub.

If the court rules in favor of Schmidt, it will eliminate the last area of housing discrimination against children in California, with the exception of senior citizen housing.

In 1982, in the case of Marina Point vs. Wolfson, the California Supreme Court told apartment landlords they could not reject tenants merely because they had children.

Then in 1983, in the case of O’Connor vs. Village Green Owners Assn., the state high court said that condo associations could not forbid condo owners from having children live with them.

So now its’s come down to the issue of whether mobile parks can do what apartments and condos can’t do.

The court is expected to give its decision later this year.

But assuming that the court doesn’t drive off in a new direction, in the future it may be that more kiddy cars will be seen in mobile parks.