Apr. 1—PRINCETON — A circuit court judge has given the company owning five Mercer County mobile home parks until Aug 1 to fix sewer problems pointed out during inspections conducted by the Mercer County Health Department.

There was a status hearing Friday before Circuit Court Judge Derek Swope in the case of Duncan v. Smith Management LLC, which owns mobile home parks including Gardner Estates, Elk View, Country Roads, Delaney and Shadow Wood. The nonprofit law firm Mountain State Justice has filed two lawsuits on behalf of tenants concerned about rising rents for their homes' lots and conditions at the parks.

Prosecuting Attorney Brian Cochran, who represented the county health department, said while the department is mentioned in the complain, it is not alleged that the department did anything wrong, so the department is seeking to be dismissed from the case. A second complaint filed by Mountain State Justice did not name the health department.

Adam Wolfe, a staff attorney with Mountain State Justice who represented the tenants with attorney Bren Pomponio, said sewer issues at the five mobile home parks had not been corrected. At Shadow Wood, sewage can be seen under homes and backing up into sinks, he stated.

Swope asked Cochran whether permits for the mobile home parks would be issued before the sewer issues were addressed. Cochran replied it was standard practice at the health department to issue permits first, then revoke them if any problems are not addressed. Swope compared this practice to getting a car inspection sticker before problems such as faulty brakes were fixed.

Attorney Sandra Henson Kinney, who was representing the parks' owners, said it was understood that if permits are issued, her law firm's clients cannot operated the parks.

The owners plan to fix problems at the parks and comply with the local regulations, she said. A contractor retained by the owners had estimated that six to eight weeks of work at each park would be needed to fix the sewer problems, which would add up to about 10 months. The owners had tried to get a second local contractor to work at the parks, but this contractor decided the project was too big for it.

The health department inspected the parks in December 2022.

Swope said he understood that construction work often cannot be done during the winter, but "spring has sprung." He said that the court was giving the owners until Aug 1 to fix the sewer problems at all five parks.

"This needs to go quick," Swope stated. "You need to start turning spades right now," adding that the owners might want to consider not raising lot rents until the parks pass a final inspection.

Swope said he was going to require all parties in the suit to meet with the court every 30 days for a status report. The first meeting was scheduled for May 17 at 1:30 p.m.

Swope also stated that every tenant had to have a copy of their lease.

"When we come back May 17, you're going to tell me everybody has a lease," he said.

"We understand what is expected," Kinney told the court.

During previous hearings, Swope said he could not order the owners to not raise rents, adding that "private property rights are very important in this country" and that tenants need to understand that "the rent is not going to be fixed forever."

Wolfe spoke with the media after the hearing.

"So we have two class actions pending against Homes of America," Wolfe said after the hearing. "The case that we had today was just a status conference on that first case and that deals with a lot of the issues these parks are experiencing. I think the judge made it clear that permits are not issue until these issues are corrected by Homes of American, and he gave them until Aug 1 to correct all those issues. They haven't been addressed yet, but I'm hopeful the court will hold their feet to the fire and make these necessary changes and these parks better."

"I think as lawyers we always try to come to an agreement and when we can't come to an agreement, that's when we come back to court and get a ruling from the judge," he stated. "And, of course, we've got a second class action that raises all our concerns about the rent increases, about the problems with the leases, and that's just getting started.

This second lawsuit is also against Homes of America LLC and Smith Management LLC. In 2022, tenants at the five parks learned that they could expect large increases in their lot rents.

Valeria Steele, who lives at Elk View Mobile Home Park near Glenwood, said there were sewer issues there.

"I'm trying to take everything with a grain of salt because there is so much going on," Valeria Steele said. "When we're looking at the big picture of the second lawsuit, which details a lot more of the issues that are going on, the more important issues — this one was involving the health department and the health issues. I do agree with the judge's decision that they need to do the work, but he's not getting the whole picture of what's going on."

"They've had the park for a year. They've gone without a permit for over a year," Steele said. "They've done no work to the park for over a year, so it's not like this is something new. You don't put a lot of credence in they're in a big hurry to get anything done. I'm just hope it expedites getting some of the things taken care of and have a better living conditions."

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com