A young couple faced with the expense of moving their mobile home out of Laurelwood Estates Mobile Home Park so the city can build a new mall on the property, can now stay in their mobile home until the city buys it from them.
Mark Downard and Marie Kettle were served eviction papers on April 14 after failing to pay their monthly space rent. The eviction hit the couple extra hard because it made them ineligible for relocation assistance from the city, which is trying to clear the park so it can begin work on the planned mall.Because so many Laurelwood tenants became delinquent on rent when word spread that the city planned to buy the park, a clause was included in the relocation assistance plan requiring Laurelwood residents to be current on rent and property tax to receive assistance.
The couple, however, reached a settlement Wednesday with RM Management that dismisses the eviction suit, thus making Downard and Kettle again eligible for the city's relocation assistance program. The settlement required the couple to pay rent for April, May and June. They also have to pay their own legal expenses. The city is expected to offer the couple about $11,000 for their mobile home.
"We're fine now because we can move," Kettle said. "As soon as we get our money we're out of there."
The settlement comes after Downard and Kettle filed a counter lawsuit against RM Management and appealed to the Provo Redevelopment Agency Executive Committee to keep them included in the relocation program. They claimed park management agreed to accept the rent late and was only evicting them to collect $1,500 that the city pays RM Management so it won't re-rent vacated spaces.
If the city had granted the appeal, however, it would have had to pay RM Management the $1,500 and also buy the couple's mobile home. The city was more concerned about setting a legal precedent that other evicted Laurelwood tenants could use to try to be included in the relocation program.
Wednesday's settlement resolves issues for all parties. RM Management gets its rent, Downard and Kettle will get compensated for vacating the park and the city doesn't have to worry about setting a precedent that other evicted tenants can use.
"It's been settled peacefully," said Gregory Hadley, attorney for RM Management. "(Downard and Kettle) are good folks and we've resolved our differences."
Hadley said the settlement was reached after all parties, the city included, began negotiating after last week's appeal hearing before the RDA's executive committee. The agreement was finalized Tuesday when Rene Merlander, president of RM Management, called Hadley and told him to settle the case.
"Sometimes there's a duty to make peace and that's what happened in this case," Hadley said.
Hadley said his client was not trying to squeeze extra money out of the city at Downard's and Kettle's expense as some Laurelwood residents alleged. The eviction suit filed against the couple was consistent with RM Management's past policy on delinquent rent issues. However, Merlander recognized the unique hardship the eviction would have caused the couple, he said.
"I believe had this matter gone to trial my client would have prevailed, but this was a case that didn't need to go to court," Hadley said.