Mobile home park reaches settlement with state after residents forced from homes

A settlement has been finalized between the Indiana attorney general and the operator of a mobile home park in Indianapolis whose actions had forced multiple residents from their homes in 2019.

Blue Lake Inc., the former owner-operator of the I-70 Mobile Home Park, announced the imminent closure of the park in the summer of 2019. However, multiple residents contacted the attorney general to report they were unable to move their manufactured homes from the site because Blue Lake had never turned over the titles after they had purchased the homes.

Under the consent agreement approved in Marion Superior Court Dec. 3, Blue Lake is prohibited from withholding the titles to any mobile home it sells, a violation of the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, and from taking money from elderly consumers for the purchase of a mobile home but not providing a title, a violation of the Senior Consumer Protection Act.

The company paid $51,093 in consumer restitution. An additional civil penalty of $29,000 has been suspended under the terms of the settlement. If in two years Blue Lake does not have any subsequent complaints filed against it, the suspended penalty will be canceled and considered paid in full.

“With this settlement, we have concluded a case in which we obtained a measure of justice for dozens of our fellow Hoosiers who were left in a frightening predicament through no fault of their own,” Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said in a news release.

The consent agreement does not constitute an admission by Blue Lake of any violation of Indiana’s deceptive consumer sales statutes, Indiana Code § 24-5-0.5-1 et seq.

In the complaint filed Oct. 9, 2019 – State of Indiana v. Blue Lake, Inc. d/b/a I-70 Mobile Home Park, 49D05-1910-PL-042379 – the attorney general called Blue Lake’s actions “unfair, abusive and deceptive.”

The residents of the mobile home park were given notice in August 2019 that the facility would be closing Oct. 15 of that year, according to the complaint. They were told either to move their manufactured homes from the premises or leave the units for disposal.

Each month, some residents were making two separate payments – one for rent of the land on which their mobile home was parked and the other for the purchase of the mobile home itself, the complaint stated. But Blue Lake failed to provide valid titles to the consumers who had purchased their units.

In addition, several residents were paying personal property taxes on the mobile homes even though they did not have the title and the tax bills from the Marion County treasurer were sent to the attention of I-70 Mobile Home Park, according to the complaint. Moreover, Blue Lake did not obtain a Mobile Home Permit from the Marion County treasurer before selling the units to the residents.

As a result, the residents were not able to get the required permit from the county treasurer to move their mobile homes because they did not have the titles. The complaint noted that some of the units residents had to leave behind were vandalized.

The attorney general was able to obtain a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to keep the park open so residents could obtain their titles and have more time to find a place to live. Also, the residents were given until February 2020 to move from the park.