LANCASTER : Mobile-Home Park Owners Sue City

The owners of nine Lancaster mobile-home parks have sued the city in federal court seeking to overturn its rent-control law.

Claiming that the law is unconstitutional, they are asking for $9 million in damages.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles, follows a city decision to grant no rent increase to park owners this year. It challenges the entire law but aims at the city’s annual decisions on cost-of-living increases for space rentals and an amendment that eliminated temporary rent deregulation when units are sold.

The law firm of Swanson & Dowdall in Santa Ana, which filed the suit, said the regulations have led to an illegal taking of owners’ property by depriving them of its value.