Just wondering if my experience is unique. We have had to fight (won both times) two nonsense eviction cases in which the tenants got legal aid bleeding-heart attorneys to take on their cases and mount nonsensical arguments. Yes we won both times - but it is a resource drain. Currently we have to prepare to defend against an appeal being brought by a lawyer for an tenant who already lost their eviction case and have moved off the property. We are also defending a BS personal injury claim against another tenant who didn’t pay rent and was served with eviction papers then magically had a slip and fall in the park shortly thereafter. We haven’t seen this kind of litigious hostility in the apartment business - it seems in our experience unique to mobile home parks.
Screen the tenants better on the front end. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Very good point - these were all inherited tenants from prior ownership.
Yes, I have dealt with “Free Legal Aid”. It’s kind of BS.
Most of the time they have no clue how MHP laws work and try to use the regular apartment/residential laws. We have always won.
Definitely hire a good MHP attorney and follow their advice. These legal aid attornies have nothing better to do than to find some obscure court case/legal defense and try to use it against you.
I was sued several years ago for discrimination because according to the resident, I evicted her; not because she was dealing drugs, not paying rent and threatening other residents but because she is gay and black.
My texts were subpoenaed and I spent thousands in lawyer fees. She received free representation. Her lawyer wanted to reach an agreement outside of court. I refused.
She dropped the suit and it cost her nothing. Meanwhile, it cost me time, money and a ton of anxiety even though I did nothing wrong.
It’s easy to become jaded in this business. But, fight the urge. When you have something, others will eventually try to take it from you. Lawyer up when you must and live to fight another day.
Jon
The US is the most litigious country in the world - roughly 40 MILLION lawsuits filed every year in America.
Jon is spot on, “When you have something, others will eventually try to take it from you.”
Recommend finding an asset protection attorney to properly structure your legal entities in order to combat BS personal injury claims and that doomsday mold lawsuit that costs you 4 million dollars because an activist judge pierces the corporate vail.
Good luck,
Zach
Unfortunately, pretty much all of this is true. To expenses, alI can recommend is, upon winning the case maybe ask the judge for the plaintiff (losing party) to pay all legal and court fees. Of course, the tenant may not have money and be able to pay, but you can try.
As to MHPs having an increased chance of litigious action - yes likely true. It pays to have good liability insurance, and further an umbrella policy.
Whomever had the quote about “having something good others try to take” is spot on. Many unethical ambulance chasing attorneys definitely try to go after those with assets. They (and we) know full well they wouldn’t take on the case if the defendant was a homeless person with $0 net worth. Quite an unethical practice.
We had a case of a dog bite. Tenant’s dog bit our contractor. Tenant wasn’t even allowed to have the dog and had been given notices. Six months later contractor’s dirt bag attorney called me asking for my insurance information. Guy was basically fishing. I told him to hit the road and asked why he didn’t go after the tenant and REAL dog owner. He acknowledged he knew all about tenant (including her financials). I concluded since she had no money, he went fishing for those who do. Why else would you not serve justice on the actual responsible party? In the end, to avoid a drawn out $250k lawsuit, we settled an insurance claim for $35k. Our liability policy covered it, though I encouraged the carrier to subrogate. I guess some ins companies just have $$ to burn…
Agree with this…Dealing with this can be frustrating. It’s a shame when they lack expertise in specific areas like MHP laws. Smart move to go with a specialized attorney who knows the ins and outs.