News and Events

Mark Alpert, one of Hart, King & Coldren’s Manufactured Housing Industry Group leaders, has been appointed as an advisor to the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association’s (WMA) Committee to Save Property Rights (CSPR). The mission of the CSPR is to recommend and oversee the pursuit of strategies designed to strengthen, protect and preserve the basic constitutional property rights of mobilehome park and manufactured housing community owners and operators. Mark has been very involved in the issues that affect these communities and is honored to have the opportunity to assist WMA as an advisor to the Committee to Save Property Rights.

HKC Legal Briefing
Doubletree Club, 7 Hutton Centre, Santa Ana, CA 92707
June 18, 2013

8:30 am. – Registration
9:00 am. – 11:00 a.m. – Program
Clients – Free / Non-clients – $35

This is an interactive forum. Our Manufactured Housing Industry Group leaders will discuss the following topics:

• The Safe Act
• Long-Term Leases – Why Bother?
• Arbitration/Mediation – Is it Still a Viable Alternative to Litigation?
• Should You Buy Homes in Your Park?
• ADA/FHA Issues
• Subdivisions and Closures
• Rule Violations – To Evict or Enjoin
• Insurance – Maximize Your Coverage / Minimize Your Cost
• Property Rights Protection

For additional information, please contact Barbara Ericson at 714.432.8700 or email hidden; JavaScript is required.

California Mobilehome Parkowners Alliance (CMPA) Symposium
Treasure Island Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
June 2-3, 2013

HKC is a Silver Sponsor of CMPA’s 2013 Parkowner Symposium. This event is specifically targeted to the manufactured housing industry, and will cover a wide range of topics such as: Dealing with Changing Resident Demographics / Insurance Issues – Obamacare and its Impact on Your Business / Interesting Lawsuits / Financial Issues – Practical Solutions / Utility Issues.

For additional information, please contact Barbara Ericson at 714.432.8700 or email hidden; JavaScript is required.

How Sweet it is…HKC Attorneys Boyd Hill, Bob Dickson and David Baker serving up some sweet treats to the most amazing administrative staff in town!

Hart, King & Coldren is a proud sponsor, exhibitor and presenter at the upcoming MHI 2013 National Congress & Expo at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, NV from April 16-18. This trade show was specifically created for the factory built housing industry and is considered to be the largest gathering of industry leaders. We hope you will stop by and visit us at Booth No. 200.

Thursday, April 18, 10:15 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. “Ask the Attorneys” – Prominent industry attorneys will offer their best advice on issues affecting community owners, retailers and others in the industry. Bring your questions regarding compliance with new regulations and your business operations. This workshop is designed to help you understand your legal obligations and minimize risk in your business. HKC Partner, John Pentecost is a panelist.

As you may know, the MHI National Communities Council (NCC) represents the interests of manufactured home community owners, operators, managers, developers, lenders and suppliers. The NCC Forum is a daylong seminar that serves with an intense focus on manufactured home community issues – it is all about communities, communities, communities! This Forum is held on Tuesday, April 16–the day before the actual Congress & Expo begins. The fee to attend the NCC Forum is $150, a tremendous value when you see the session descriptions and the caliber of participants. There is something for every size community owner or operator.

Click here for a link to the 2013 Congress & Expo event page.

Hart, King & Coldren Partner John Pentecost is participating as an industry expert at CalARVC’s “Ask The Expert” Roundtable on February 26, 2013.

Please visit this link for additional information: http://lnkd.in/FVwjXG.

Huntington Beach Mayor and City Council Members and City Attorney Face Trial For Contempt of Court For Continuing to Fight Mobilehome Conversion

The City of Huntington Beach has relentlessly fought the effort of the owners of Pacific Mobile Home Park to convert from a rental mobile home park to resident ownership, but their latest action in ignoring a court order has resulted in the City Council Members and City Attorney facing a trial on criminal contempt charges. On December 10, 2012, Orange County Superior Court Judge Luis Rodriguez issued an order barring the City of Huntington Beach from reconsidering the conversion, but a week later, six of seven City Council members voted to affirm a prior vote authorizing reconsideration, with the encouragement and support of elected City Attorney Jennifer McGrath. Only City Councilman Matthew Harper voted against reconsideration. As a result of that vote, on January 8, 2013, Judge Rodriguez granted Pacific’s application to set a trial on contempt charges against the City, McGrath and Mayor Connie Boardman, and City Council members Joe Carchio, Jill Hardy, Jim Katapodis, Joe Shaw and Dave Sullivan.

“Ordering a contempt trial is extremely rare, particularly against public officials” stated Pacific’s attorney, Mark Alpert, a partner with the law firm of Hart, King & Coldren, “but Judge Luis Rodriguez apparently felt he had no choice where elected City Officials were disregarding a court order.” Judge Rodriguez, who has served as a city attorney in the past, indicated it was a separation of powers issue — elected officials, cannot ignore court orders.

The City’s actions are the latest in a series of questionable tactics undertaken by the City in an effort to block the conversion of the subdivision. The City initially sought to block the conversion because of the existence of an unused sidewalk right of way that had been recorded decades ago, with the City never taking any steps to actually build a sidewalk. Despite this, the City filed a cross-complaint seeking to immediately physically eject the residents who owned homes in the claimed right of way. Judge Rodriguez reversed the City’s decision to deny the tentative tract map based on the right of way, but the City persists in seeking ejectment of the residents, apparently believing the threat of residents losing their homes gave them some kind of bargaining leverage with the park owner.

The reason for the City’s opposition to this conversion is not clear and Pacific is continuing a legal use of the property and the conversion is supported by a strong majority of residents who would like to own the property under their home. It is disturbing to see this kind of heavy handed abuse of power by elected officials, who have such broad authority to impact the rights of private property owners. This case demonstrates the important role of the courts in curbing such abuses.

On February 8, 2013, the City of Huntington Beach Council members and City Attorney, will have to answer to the Court for their disregard of a duly issued Court Order.

Hart, King & Coldren announced today that Boyd Hill has been admitted to the firm as a Partner. Mr. Hill, who has been with the firm since 2008, has wide-ranging litigation experience in the areas of real property, land use and environmental, including CEQA, water, eminent domain and commercial law.

Mr. Hill has represented developers, entertainment companies, property owners, waste haulers, retail supermarkets, trucking companies, private lakes, investors, hospital groups, cities, water agencies and other special districts. He routinely appears in California state and Federal courts and has represented clients in numerous administrative hearings before California state and local agencies.

“Boyd is a strong addition to our team and we are pleased to welcome him as our Partner” said Senior Partner, William Hart.

2012 Award Recipients Announced for
Manufactured Housing Community Owners
CMPA Symposium
June 3rd & June 4th
Bellagio, Las Vegas

Robert Coldren, Hart, King & Coldren
“Advocacy Fighter Award”
“This is well deserved for all the time you personally have put in on behalf of your clients and the industry. Without your efforts over the years, this business would not be what it is today- THANKS!!” Richard Bessire

Richard Bessire, Bessire & Casenhiser
“Freedom Fighter Award”
“Dick and I have worked together for 30 years, ever since he was a property manager for Fox and Carscadden. He is a true treasure to our industry. This award is a terrific acknowledgement of Dick’s efforts and hard work.” – Robert Coldren

In January, the Fourth District of the California Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s ruling that the residents of a Huntington Beach mobilehome park did not meet the legal requirements to bring a class action for a myriad of alleged violations against the current and prior owners of the park.

The plaintiffs sought damages resulting from the growth of mushrooms, standing water, insomnia, falls, backed up plumbing, soft spots in the floor and even “extreme rhinitis” experienced by a household dog. Faced with such disparate claims, the Court of Appeal concluded that the Superior Court had correctly denied the residents’ request that the claims be tried in a class action. The plaintiffs then filed their unsuccessful appeal.

The Court of Appeal upheld the arguments made by HKC at the trial court level that the individual plaintiffs bringing the lawsuit lacked the requisite elements of a community of interest, numerosity and a commonality of claims. The Court further found that common issues of fact did not predominate over individual claims of property damage, personal injury and emotional distress, adding that there was no likelihood that the Court or the parties would substantially benefit from proceeding with the case as a class action.

In California, class certification is governed by the Code of Civil Procedure, Section 382 which provides, in part, ‘[W]hen the question is one of a common or general interest, of many persons, or when the parties are numerous, and it is impracticable to bring them all before the court, one or many may sue…for the benefit of all.’ (See, Arenas v. El Torito Restaurants, Inc. (2010) 183 Cal. App. 4th, 723, 731.

The Court of Appeal followed Fireside Bank v. Superior Court (2007) 40 Cal. 4th 1069, 1089, which held that “Class certification requires proof (1) of a sufficiently numerous, ascertainable class, (2) of a well-defined community of interest, and (3) that certification will provide substantial benefits to litigants and the courts, i.e., that proceeding as a class is superior to other methods. …In turn, the ‘community of interest requirement embodies three factors: (1) predominant questions of law or fact; (2) class representatives with claims or defenses typical of the class; and (3) class representatives who can adequately represent the class.”

The result for the HKC client is that instead of facing a class action that could have included potentially hundreds of residents with a wide-ranging array of claims, the park owners now can defend against the specific claims of a handful of individual plaintiffs.

Congratulations to HKC’s Robert Coldren, James Morse and Rhonda Mehlman for the victory at the trial court and the affirmation by the Court of Appeal.

The 2012 National Congress & Expo for Manufactured and Modular Housing will be held April 10-12, 2012 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. HK&C partners, Rob Coldren and Bill Dahlin will be returning again this year to present at this national trade show created specifically for the factory build housing industry and considered to be the largest gathering of industry leaders.

Both partners have been asked to participate in two educational programs:

Tuesday, April 10, 1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. “Key Legal Issues for Communities”

Find out about the simple steps you can take now to protect your community from potential legal liability problems as panelists provide guidance on a number of key community legal issues. Come join this session to get answers to your most pressing questions.

Thursday, April 12, 11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. “Fair Housing/2012″

Presented by Rob Coldren and Bill Dahlin of HK&C, this workshop will cover the changing landscape of Fair Housing rules and enforcement faced by manufactured housing communities today. Changing a manufactured housing community from “55 and older” to “all age” is a critical and ongoing compliance and “cost of doing business” concern. Come hear the experts discuss the pros and cons of keeping or changing a communities “age based” designation and the questions you should consider. We will also cover issues presented by “testers” and what can be viewed as housing discrimination. Learn about and explore the overlap and distinctions between ADA and Fair Housing compliance for the manufactured housing industry and short-term rental RV parks which are increasingly facing issues that were traditionally long-term residency issues.

For more information, please contact Hart, King & Coldren at 714-432-8700 or visit show website at www.congressandexpo.com.

Hart, King & Coldren is pleased to announce Justus Britt has recently joined the firm as an associate in the manufactured housing group where he will assist with unlawful detainer actions, abandonment proceedings and warehouse liens, among other real estate-related issues.

Mr. Britt specializes in real estate, land use and environmental law. Prior to joining Hart, King & Coldren, Mr. Britt worked for another Southern California firm where he primarily practiced Environmental Litigation and helped participate in a successful defense of a lawsuit by a Fortune 500 company that alleged ground contamination under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. Mr. Britt has also spent approximately two years working as an attorney for the National Rifle Association, helping to protect the use of traditional lead-based ammunition.

Mr. Britt earned his B.A. degrees from the University of Southern California and his J.D. from Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California. He may be reached at 714-432-8700 x. 336 or via email at email hidden; JavaScript is required.

Cavalier Mobile Estates is one of 18 mobilehome parks in the City of Oceanside. The mobile home park owners in Oceanside, including Cavalier, have been suffering under a confiscatory regime of rent control, whereby space rents are half of fair market value.

Cavalier filed an application for a subdivision map so the park could convert to resident ownership. A subdivision allows the park owners to sell the lots to the tenants at fair market value. The law also allows for rents to be raised to market value over time on lots which have not yet sold.

These “conversions” are protected by state law which limits the scope of the local governments’ review of such applications. Sadly, state law has not stopped cities that are politically motivated from attempting to block subdivisions. The Oceanside City Council voted to deny the applications because a majority of residents opposed the subdivision.

Cavalier filed suit in San Diego County Superior Court, challenging the City’s decision. On November 4, 2011, Superior Court Judge Stern reversed the City’s decision and held that the City could not deny the subdivision application based on resident opposition and that the City had to comply with government code.

Cavalier is owned by a large group of family investors, managed by Brian Alex with support of Lillian Chang. These long-time owners will hopefully very soon be able to realize the value of their investment and, in the process, help other owners in Oceanside do the same.

Lillian kindly expressed her appreciation for the work of Mark Alpert and the guidance of Rob Coldren. We appreciate their confidence in Hart, King & Coldren. However, there have been “bumps in the road” to get to this point. We know that progress is only made because park owners are willing to risk precious, limited resources in an effort to protect their property rights. The next time you see Brian or Lillian at an industry meeting, be sure to congratulate them and thank them for their efforts!

For more information please contact myself or Mark Alpert at HK&C at 714-432-8700 or via email at email hidden; JavaScript is required or email hidden; JavaScript is required.