Mobile Home Park to Pay $500,000 in Damages

Asked to “send a message” to California mobile home park operators, an Orange County Superior Court jury assessed almost $500,000 in punitive damages Friday against a park that tried to illegally force residents out.

The verdict was against Planned Management Inc., a Utah firm that runs the Country Club Mobile Manor Park in Santa Ana and 32 other mobile home parks in western states.

It was the first jury verdict in the state in any case involving alleged violations of a 1983 California law passed to protect mobile home owners.

“It’s a terrific message to the park owners,” said Marie L. Malone, president of the Golden State Mobile Home Owners League, which claims 182,000 members and 25% of all mobile home owners in California. The average age of association members is 62, Malone said.

Law Is ‘For Real’

“It says the law on the books is for real and they must abide by it,” Malone said.

Before the law, mobile home park operators could evict anyone whose home was more than 17 years old. Today, residents may be evicted only if their mobile homes fail to meet health and safety codes.

In the case tried before Judge Jerrold S. Oliver, jurors found that the park operators used a variety of illegal tactics to try to force Daniel G. Kimmel and his wife to move rather than sell their older mobile home.

To discourage sale of the Kimmels’ home, park managers threatened to require costly upgrading and threatened large rent hikes if it changed hands, according to evidence presented at the two-week trial.

When they were unable to sell and financially unable to move, the Kimmels were essentially “imprisoned” in their mobile home for almost two years, according to their attorney, R. Richard Farnell. He told jurors that managers of the Santa Ana park preferred attracting new homes to the park, rather than letting older homes already there be resold.

Punitive, Emotional Damages

The jury awarded the Kimmels $275,000 in punitive damages. The Kimmels also received $50,000 in general damages for emotional distress.

A second plaintiff, Dianne L. Jeffries, 35, said she had to wait more than a year to sell her mobile home because of the tactics used by park owners. She was awarded $220,000 in punitive damages and $25,000 for emotional distress.

Malone said the new law was passed at a time of a critical shortage of spaces in mobile home parks--one of the least expensive forms of housing available. No new parks were built in California between 1976 and 1983, according to Malone.

“The reason the law was passed was because owners were abusing residents,” Malone said. “People weren’t allowed to sell their homes, and the home wasn’t worth anything outside the park because there was no room. People lost a tremendous amount of money.”

Defense lawyer Timothy T. Tierney claimed that park management just wanted to maintain and enhance property values at the park. He said his clients were “considering an appeal.”

The jury returned punitive damages against four defendants:

- Planned Management Inc., which managed the park under contract, $165,000.

- The owner of the land, a trust represented by Margaret Goland, $200,000.

- John Chamberlain, an officer and part owner of Planned Management, individually for $90,000.

- Vaughn Drage, a mobile home salesman and Planned Management agent, $40,000.