PORTLAND, Ore. — A Vancouver woman who lived in squalor, with no heat or running water in her rented mobile home, is suing her landlord. Casey Jewell alleges the property owners unfairly tacked on thousands of dollars in back rent and fees before allowing her to move into a new unit.
The lawsuit, filed in Clark County Superior Court, alleges Hidden Village LLC and Home and Parks LLC violated state law by not fixing the mobile home and forcing Jewell to pay extra fees.
“There hasn’t been any accountability for what she’s been through and conditions that she was forced to live in,” said Jewell’s attorney, Carl Snodgrass of the nonprofit Northwest Justice Project.
In February, KGW found Jewell living in deplorable conditions at the Hidden RV and Mobile Home Park, north of Vancouver. At the time, Jewell had a hole in her kitchen ceiling. Six large buckets collected rainwater dripping inside her rented mobile home. There was no running water, the heater was broken and the toilet stopped working.
Jewell and her adult son had complained to management repeatedly, but no improvements were made.
KGW’s story, along with public outcry and an article in The Columbian newspaper, prompted the landlord to find Jewell a new unit, which sat right around the corner from her old mobile home.
It wasn’t a smooth transition. According to the lawsuit, the landlord refused to provide Jewell with a key to the new unit unless she paid $2,000 in back rent, along with a combined $800 in a lot of fees and pet rent — charges that were not included in the rental agreement.
Jewell was desperate to move out and felt she had no choice but to pay, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also claims the property owners violated several state laws by renting Jewell a unit that was unsafe and didn’t have running water for roughly 57 days.
“I hope tenants realize they have rights. You don’t have to live in unlivable conditions. You don’t have to tolerate that,” said Snodgrass.
Hidden Village LLC and Home and Parks LLC are both owned by Denise and Michael Werner of Vancouver. The Werners did not respond to KGW’s request for comment.