Manufactured home class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: Carla Hajek and Gregory Hammerlund filed a class action lawsuit against a group of manufactured home community owners and Datacomp, a provider of manufactured and mobile home data.
- Why: Hajek and Hammerlund claim the manufactured home community owners conspired with a mobile home data valuator, Datacomp, to fix, maintain and/or stabilize lot rental prices for their residences.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Illinois federal court.
A group of manufactured home community owners conspired alongside a mobile home data valuator to fix, raise, maintain and/or stabilize lot rental prices for the residences, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiffs Carla Hajek and Gregory Hammerlund claim residents of manufactured homes are “being overcharged for what used to be affordable housing,” thanks to the companies alleged conspiracy.
Hajek and Hammerlund named a number of owners of manufactured home communities in their complaint, as well as Datacomp, a provider of manufactured and mobile home data the defendants use.
“After acquiring the communities, these buyers have implemented steep, annual rent increases on their manufactured home lots, which have caused significant burdens on manufactured home residents,” the manufactured home class action states.
Hajek and Hammerlund want to represent a nationwide class of all persons or entities who paid rent directly for a manufactured home in a community included in a JLT Market Report from between Aug. 31, 2019, and the present.
Community owners coordinate to reduce, eliminate competition, class action says
Hajek and Hammerlund claim the manufactured home community owners coordinate with each other “to increase manufactured home lot rents systematically and unlawfully by purchasing and using market reports published by Defendant Datacomp.”
The plaintiffs claim they do this via reports known as JLT Market Reports, which they allege allow the community owners to “reduce or eliminate competition amongst themselves on price, services and quality for manufactured home lots,” according to the manufactured home class action.
“The consequence is that two of society’s most vulnerable groups—the elderly and low-income earners—face considerable financial pressures. Some residents are facing evictions,” the class action states.
Hajek and Hammerlund claim the community owners and Datacomp violate the Sherman Act. They demand a jury trial and request injunctive relief along with an award of treble damages for themselves and all class members.
In another case involving home prices, a consumer filed a class action lawsuit against Zillow in 2021, arguing the company failed to disclose critical information to investors in regard to its Zillow Offers side of the business.
Have you overpaid rent in a manufactured home community? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Adam J. Levitt, Brian M. Hogan, John E. Tangren, Gregory S. Asciolla, Karin E. Garvey and Jonathan S. Crevier of DiCello Levitt LLP; Reena Gambhir, Scott Martin and Megan E. Jones of Hausfeld LLP; and Myron M. Cherry, Jacie Zolna and Benjamin Swetland of Myron M. Cherry & Associates LLC.
The manufactured home class action lawsuit is Hajek, et al. v. Datacomp Appraisal Systems Inc., et al., Case No. 1:23-cv-06715, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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16 thoughts onManufactured home companies hit with lot rental price-fixing class action
I reside in a mobile community In NJ and we were hit with an outrageous rental increase after an ordinance was signed into affect by our Mayor. 8 days before this ordinance was to go into affect our development sent us letters informing us of the increase. We were told this action was illegal. They tried to be sneaky and get the rental increase before the ordinance became binding. They were not permitted to increase our rent more than 2% Our Mayor said they are in current litigation with the owners of our development and 2 other communities. We are looking to have a lawyer(s) to provide us information in regards to this matter. Continental Communities LLC in NJ home company is in Chicago, Illinois.
I hope they do something about this – it’s criminal the way they feed off of vulnerable people including seniors. Mobile Home University should be pulled down from internet and Frank Rolfe has basically come out and stated don’t worry about them, think about making a huge profit instead and it wont’ bother you. It’s a disgrace. Sickening that government backs low interest loans for these firms/corporations also. What are we to do when this happens and we lose the one asset we have?
I lived in a mobile home park in Kansas City Missouri owned by yes communities and they are evicting people without a 30 day notice that’s is required by the cares act because they are federal backed by Freddie Mac. They have evicted hundreds of people illegally and I want to do something about it.
In Findlay Ohio our current mobile park Eastowne Estates was sold in early 2023 by Genstone Communities,, the new owners have raised rent from 300 to well over 400 in 6 months while doing very little work and having only 2 employees working at 270 lot park, the new owner is out of Michigan no coincidence that the data firm reportedly in question is also from Michigan, I feel they also are in violation of Sherman act
Els community..violations on elderly, disabled and general public who pay approximately $1,000 monthly..