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Four residents of a central Minnesota mobile home park are suing its current and former owners alleging fraudulent practices and health violations, including a faulty sewer system that caused sewage to back up into their homes.

The four are longtime residents of the Sartell Mobile Home Park north of St. Cloud. They are plaintiffs in a class-action suit filed Tuesday in Stearns County District Court by the Minneapolis-based Robins Kaplan law firm and Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid.

“Those leaks are coming into their home. Some of them have had to pay to have that repaired or to have had to clean it up themselves, exposing themselves to that sewage,” said Rashanda Bruce, an attorney with Robins Kaplan.

The suit also claims the park’s owners installed inaccurate water meters that wildly overcalculated the amount of water residents used, and deceived them into signing new leases with stricter terms.

The suit names the Sartell park’s former owners, David Reynolds and Frank Rolfe of Colorado, who bought it from its longtime owners in 2014 and operated it under the names RV Horizons and Impact Communities. 

Reynolds and Rolfe own several mobile home parks across the U.S. and have been subject to other lawsuits, Bruce said.

“It’s not unique to us, but just enough for the residents there who finally want to do something about it,” she said.

The lawsuit claims Reynolds and Rolfe “also run a training course on how to get rich quick by preying on the low-income veterans, seniors and persons with disabilities who live in manufactured housing parks.”

The suit also names Michigan-based Gemstone Communities, which bought the park in June. 

Emails sent to Gemstone and Impact Communities were not immediately returned. A woman who answered the phone at the park on Thursday declined to comment.

The lawsuit also claims the park owners falsely informed residents that a new state law required them to re-sign their leases, failing to disclose that they were actually signing new leases with more restrictive terms.

Marcie Knox moved into the Sartell park in 2017. The 65-year-old Knox said she thought it would be the perfect retirement home, with two apple trees and raised garden beds in the back.

But a few days after she moved in, raw sewage backed up into Knox’s shower and toilet. Since then, it’s happened two more times. The second time, Knox said the park owners refused to pay for the repairs. 

After the park owners installed new meters, Knox’s water bills spiked by more than two times, although she says she didn’t change her water use.

Knox said she’s now looking for an apartment.

“I can’t take the stress there, because my sleep is interrupted a lot worrying about what they might do, what they’re going to do next,” she said. 

Bruce noted that living in a mobile home is generally much more affordable than renting an apartment or house. Many mobile home residents are low-income and can’t afford to move, she said.

“It’s a tight-knit community,” Bruce said. “A lot of people have lived there for quite a few years, and so to have to pick up and leave your home is an issue.”

The lawsuit asks the court to require the owners to correct the plumbing issues, install meters that accurately track water usage and compensate residents for added fees.

Kirsti Marohn

Author

Four residents of a central Minnesota mobile home park are suing its owner, claiming a faulty sewer system caused sewage to back up into their homes. The suit also claims the park’s owners installed inaccurate water meters that wildly overcalculated the amount of water residents used, and deceived them into signing new leases with stricter terms.

The historic Stearns County Courthouse seen

Lawsuit against Sartell mobile home park alleges sewer backups, deceptive practices

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