Wow. Late yesterday afternoon, word came through
that we, our neighborhood, and the City of San Rafael have WON our lawsuit
against the largest corporate manufactured-home park owners in the United States.
It was a long, long battle. It took us thirteen years.
I'm sorry to say there were casualties. Seventy of our neighbors, many of them seniors who had put their life savings into their homes, were forced out by these crooks. Sam Zell and his ELS drones are without souls.
But we stood up for our rights, rather than forfeit them, and we prevailed. Big time. Yesterday's ruling by the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals not only protects us, it will protect manufactured home owners throughout the country.
For us, personally, it means that all the money and hard work we put into our home over the past fifteen years is no longer lost. We won our equity back. Our home value just went back up $100,000-150,000. Oh, yes.
But the best part? I get to work on my house again!
Because it was such a long, long lawsuit, our victory is taking a long, long time to sink in. To help with that, here are Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, at the height of their "I Love Lucy" fame, in "The Long, Long Trailer." Got your popcorn popped?
I'm sorry to say there were casualties. Seventy of our neighbors, many of them seniors who had put their life savings into their homes, were forced out by these crooks. Sam Zell and his ELS drones are without souls.
But we stood up for our rights, rather than forfeit them, and we prevailed. Big time. Yesterday's ruling by the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals not only protects us, it will protect manufactured home owners throughout the country.
For us, personally, it means that all the money and hard work we put into our home over the past fifteen years is no longer lost. We won our equity back. Our home value just went back up $100,000-150,000. Oh, yes.
But the best part? I get to work on my house again!
Because it was such a long, long lawsuit, our victory is taking a long, long time to sink in. To help with that, here are Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, at the height of their "I Love Lucy" fame, in "The Long, Long Trailer." Got your popcorn popped?
Some say it was our own fault for buying a manufactured home on leased land (most are) even though we had a little thing called RENT CONTROL.
Everyone knows that with lots of money and lawyers, corporations can trample the
law. How silly of us to think we might be dealing with honest businessmen. How
foolish of us to be whimsical dreamers with actual hopes and aspirations like... Lucy...
No, we had to buy the place. We had to follow our hearts and do what was perfectly reasonable and right, but - because others
don't do what's reasonable and right - we wound up fighting for the
very roof over our heads.
It was an uphill battle from the get go.
We found ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard
place.
On the rim of ruin.
The edge of annihilation.
More than once, we didn't think we'd make it.
We had some tricky maneuvering to do.
At times, it seemed we didn't have a leg to stand on.
We felt locked out of our own house.
Washed up.
Sold down the river.
We wanted to throw in the towel and get out.
What a mess.
But we stuck together, we stuck with it, and we won. We've been going at this for so long it's hard to know how to behave now. Maybe we should throw a trailer party!
With drinks on the house trailer.
Or maybe just a nice candlelight dinner.
A cake.
Once again, we're rolling along on the road to happiness.
Life is good in the trailer park.
And we can live happily ever after.
All movie stills from "The Long, Long Trailer"
can be found on FanPop
"The Long, Long Trailer" trailer
Richard Brody talks about Vincente Minnelli's film "The Long, Long Trailer"
ABC 7 News report originally aired on January 17, 2011
"The Long, Long Trailer Park Lawsuit"
The Heroes
starring
396 Mobilehome Owners
Our Attorneys At Law
Justice
enacted by
The Villains
played by themselves
