Court approves class action settlement between residents, owner of T.O. mobile home park
Mike Harris
A class-action rent-control settlement has been reached between 42 elderly, low-income residents of the Ranch Mobile Home Park in downtown Thousand Oaks and the park's owner.
Under the settlement approved by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kent Kellegrew last week, the most the 42 residents' rent can increase for the rest of their lives — or until they sell their properties — is $119 a month more than their rent was in October 2011.
While residents of the 74-unit park own their mobile homes, they rent the space the properties are on, said resident Jim Wolf, a spokesman for the residents.
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Under a 2011 Thousand Oaks mobile home rent control measure, the city approved a $191.95 monthly rent increase for the park, to be phased in over seven years, according to court papers.
Wolf said that with interest, the hike would have been much higher at the end of the seven years.
Wolf is treasurer of the Senior Alliance for Empowerment, a nonprofit group formed by the park's residents, which called the settlement "a huge victory for elderly low-income residents."
"This settlement allows the most fragile of our community to live the remainder of their lives free from the stress of being on welfare or becoming homeless," the alliance said in a statement. "It is especially critical because the current city ordinance covering rent control expires in 2021, and there is no plan to continue rent control for the elderly and aged, very low-income residents of the city's mobile home parks.
"Most important, the members of the class are protected from any further rent increases for the remainder of their lives or until their home is sold, whichever occurs first," the alliance said.
The class consists of the 43 people who bought a home at the park after Sept. 11, 1977, and were leasing a space there as of October 2011 when the park owner imposed rent increases pursuant to the city's rent stabilization ordinance, Kellegrew wrote in his order. One of the 43 has since moved, Wolf said.
Members of the class include Holocaust survivors, World War II and other veterans and disabled people, he said.
The settlement does not apply to residents who are not members of the class.
The residents' lead attorney, Les Brown, said, "We're extremely pleased that we were finally able to come up with a solution to protect the residents of the park." Brown and other lawyers worked on the settlement on behalf of the park's residents for free.
Waterhouse Management Corp., the Roseville-based company that manages the park, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did attorney Bill Dahlin, who represents the park's owners.
In a separate but parallel case, a state appellate court in March upheld Thousand Oaks' rent control ordinance, finding that it does not violate the federal Fair Housing Act. The ruling ended a five-year legal battle between the city and residents of the mobile home park.
The California 2nd District Court of Appeal's ruling affirmed a 2015 ruling by Kellegrew, who also sided with the city against the residents of the mobile home park.
The residents, who had sued the city in 2012, appealed Kellegrew's ruling, but lost in the appellate court's March 13 ruling.
The residents promised not to further appeal to the California Supreme Court in return for the city agreeing not to try to recover a small portion of its legal costs from the plaintiffs, Assistant City Attorney David Womack said in April.
But in the parallel case, the residents had sued the park's then-owner, A.V.M.G.H. Five, the Ranch Limited Partnership.
The two cases stem from the city's mobile home rent control measure, enacted to protect tenants from excessive rent increases and provide mobile home park owners a fair and reasonable return on their investments, the appellate court wrote in its 22-page ruling.
"Because these goals may conflict, (the measure) was bound to spawn litigation," the court noted.
Under the measure, the city approved the $191.95 monthly rent increase for the park over seven years, the court stated.
The park's owner had requested a rent increase of $620.11 per month and considered the measure "a slap in the face," but nonetheless accepted the law as valid, the court said.
Unhappy about the rent increase, Karen Montana, the daughter of late Ranch resident Leo Rampersad, and the alliance sued the city. They argued in part that the measure violated the Fair Housing Act.
Both Kellegrew and the appeals court rejected that argument.
The city's legal documents in the case "show that (the measure) is required to maintain affordable rents, provide mobile home park owners a fair and reasonable return on their investments and to establish consistent rent control regulations," the appellate court stated.
Residents of the Ranch Mobile Home Park "enjoy the lowest rents in the area, with all the benefits of a rent control ordinance," the court noted.
"There is no housing discrimination or equal protection violation because disabled tenants are treated the same as non-disabled tenants," the ruling stated.
Wolf said the settlement was initially reached with the park's previous owner, A.V.M.G.H. Five, the Ranch Limited Partnership. After the park was sold, the new owners - Ronald and Esther Ubaldi - accepted the agreement, Wolf said.
The new owners "cooperated with us 100 percent," he said.