Burned Out, Cut Off : Elderly Pair Win Order Restoring Utilities at Trailer

For 55 days, Frank Fisher, 82, hauled water four miles from a gas station to his trailer in Saugus so he and his 85-year-old wife could continue living there after a landlord shut off all utilities.

Frank and Mabel Fisher had stayed in the trailer with the blessing of their former landlord, who felt sorry for them after their house burned to the ground two years ago. A new landlord, however, shut off utilities, arguing that the couple had no legal right to live on the property.

On Monday the Fishers won a court order restoring the utilities.

“We have some elderly people who are ill and desperately need those utilities connected,” argued Lynn Menefee, one of two attorneys who volunteered to represent the couple.

Frank Fisher is recuperating from pneumonia and has fluid around his heart and lungs, said his daughter, Sheri Turner. Mabel Fisher suffers from heart disease.

“It’s a bad situation all the way through,” said Fisher, whose diverse careers included ambulance driver, chef, bear-wrestler and stunt man. “Everything we had is gone.”

“It’s been quite hard on us,” Mabel Fisher said.

The trailer sits on property along Hasley Canyon Road that the Fishers leased 19 years ago. Fisher built the couple’s house by hand and saw it destroyed in a fierce brush fire.

Aided by donations from the public, they bought a 45-foot trailer and set up house. The land was not zoned for trailers, but the Fishers said they had few options.

The landlord, who lived nearby, allowed the Fishers to draw water and bathe at his house. The couple paid him for water and electricity. The Fishers prepaid their lease years ago and no longer pay any rent.

But Bill Jordan, who purchased the land last October, says the lease only allowed the Fishers to occupy a house, not a trailer. When the house burned down, the lease became void, he said. He turned off their utilities in August.

Jordan’s attorney, Andrew M. Wallet, said the lease does not oblige the landowner to provide utilities. He also called the trailer a nuisance and a potential legal liability for Jordan because its power supply had been hooked up illegally.

“It is somewhat of a disgraceful situation,” Wallet said.

In court Monday, attorneys Menefee and Richard A. Patterson argued that the couple’s lease gives them right to the land, regardless of their residence.

The previous landowner arranged the lease, which expires Dec. 20, 1990, to provide the Fishers a retirement home, Menefee said. “He wanted to be sure they lived there the rest of their lives,” she said.

The Fishers sued Jordan last month, alleging breach of contract, negligence and emotional distress. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Haig Kehiayan did not comment on the lawsuit Monday and encouraged the two parties to settle the dispute out of court.

Jordan declined to comment, but Wallet said the judge’s order had placed his client in a “settlement posture.” He also denied allegations that Jordan was trying to muscle the Fishers out to develop the property. “This isn’t a situation where we have a big, bad developer,” he said.

The preliminary injunction is not a complete victory for the Fishers but it does end a laborious routine that started when they discovered their utilities were cut Aug. 9. Every few days, Frank Fisher drove to a gas station--the couple’s only water source--and filled up plastic bottles and buckets.

“That’s damn really vicious,” he said about the shut-off. “It’s really stupid when you think about it.”

Generator for Lights

With his grandson, Fisher rigged a jerry-built, gas-powered generator to run the lights and turn a fan in the metal trailer where temperatures soar during the day. But it costs $15 a day to run the generator, Fisher complained. He would not reveal his monthly income or where he earns money for food and necessities, only saying that his grandson helps support him.

When word of the couple’s plight became public, some Santa Clarita Valley citizens set up a small fund at Valencia National Bank. A sanitation firm installed a solar-powered, portable restroom near their trailer free of charge.

Meanwhile, the Fishers have other legal problems with the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning. Joel Daskal, a zoning enforcement officer, said the trailer violates county zoning ordinances and may not be used as a permanent residence. The county cited the Fishers in June, 1988, and ordered them to remove the trailer and clean up a collection of junked cars on the property.

The county issued the Fishers another citation last month and could forward the case to the district attorney’s office for prosecution if progress is not made by mid-October, Daskal said.

Patterson said that most of the debris has been cleaned up and that he and other Santa Clarita Valley citizens are trying to find a new home for the Fishers. The court order will let the couple live comfortably while they look for new quarters, he said.

“I know it’s against the law to live in a trailer,” Frank Fisher said. “The trailer is up for sale. We’re old people. They ought to give us a little concession.”