COLUMBUS, Ohio — Residents of a mobile home park in Lakeview, a village hit by an EF3 tornado in March, are taking legal action against their landlords.
In the days after the deadly tornado on March 14, a lawsuit filed in Logan County Common Pleas Court alleges that the owner of the property at a mobile home park off U.S. Route 33 began demolishing homes without warning tenants.
“Within the first two days after the tornado, the owners went in and began to demolish the homes. They didn’t give any notice to the residents, they didn’t get to go in and get their belongings, they lost literally everything, so they are starting over from scratch without a measuring cup, pair of socks or anything to help them rebuild their lives,” said Kristina Coen, an attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality.
She is representing 17 families who lived at the park in the lawsuit against Colonial Mobile Estates LLC and members of the family who own the property.
“I would say there were maybe six or eight homes that were severely damaged. The rest of the homes sustained some damage, but a lot of them would have been suitable temporary housing,” Coen said.
Missy Johnson is one of a few residents whose home was spared from demolition.
“What bothered me the most was seeing people’s homes in 48 hours getting picked up and put into a dumpster. They can crush one of these trailers in three hits, gone,” she said.
Still, she must move out. The park has been cut off from utilities since the tornado, and in April, she and her neighbors received a 30-day notice, stating the property was no longer habitable and they must be out by the end of May.
“Where do I go?” Johnson asked. For now, she is staying in an RV. But she and her neighbors are scrambling to find new permanent places to live.
Coen said low-income housing in the region is limited.
“Even before the tornado there was a huge issue if people got evicted or were displaced, they would end up homeless because there is just nowhere to go, so we were seeing tent cities popping up,” Coen said. “This has just kind of compounded the issue, so we are trying to do everything we can to get relief for people who were displaced.”
10TV reached out to the property owners and their attorney and did not receive a response.
The lawsuit asks for residents to receive up to $25,000 in damages each.