LA Times: Owners of Long Beach mobile home park hit with $34 million in damages in lawsuit alleging squalor

November 28, 2018

LA Times

A Los Angeles County jury has awarded $34 million in damages to 51 people who live or used to live in a troubled Long Beach mobile home park that residents say has been decaying for years without repairs.

The damages, issued Tuesday, come a week after the jury hit the mobile home park owners with a $5.5-million judgment for negligence and violations of the state’s mobile home residency laws, said Brian Kabateck, an attorney for the current and former residents.

The residents argued that the park was built on top of a former city landfill with shifting soil that led to various problems, including sewage backups, sinkholes, blackouts and structural damage to the mobile homes at the park, according to court documents.

The park continued to collect payments from residents who leased their spots at the park but never put the money toward repairs, Kabateck said.

He said all but four of the residents in the lawsuit still live at the park and will use the funds to find new places to live.

Attorneys for the Friendly Village Mobile Home Park did not immediately return a request for comment.