Silver Lakes resident files lawsuit
- By HAROLD J. ADAMS on Monday, December 15, 2003
Source: Silver Lakes resident files lawsuit

Some residents of the Silver Lakes mobile home community in Clarksville say they've had enough of flooded yards, faulty sewage connections and dangerous electrical wiring.

One of them has filed suit in Clark Superior Court against the California owners of the property.

The mobile home park, which has 332 lots off U.S. 31, has been cited repeatedly for numerous violations by the Indiana State Department of Health over at least the past 15 months. The department threatened in June to call an enforcement hearing after an inspector listed 35 violations at Silver Lakes.

The violations included sewer connections that leaked or were otherwise faulty, numerous electrical problems such as exposed live wires at electrical junction boxes, and poor drainage that caused water to form ponds around and under the homes.

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is Katrina Embry, who has lived in Silver Lakes with her boyfriend and two children for more than four years. Embry's father, Wallace Pezzullo, who owns the home but does not live there, also is a plaintiff.

Embry and her lawyer say park management has done nothing to address her complaints.

But the general manager of Tower Management, which is based in Pasadena, Calif., and owns Silver Lakes, says things have improved in recent months after a change in management at the park. And a health department official agrees that most of the violations have been addressed satisfactorily, while adding that major problems remain.

Poor drainage is one of them. On Wednesday, Embry showed standing water in the grassy areas between homes on her side of Primrose Lane as a result of overnight and morning rains.

The aluminum skirting around the bottoms of many homes is marked by rust holes and mossy green growth. The same was true for homes on the other side of the street, where Shannon Hubbard has lived with her 9-year-old daughter for six years.

"We complain and they don't do anything," Hubbard said.

Inside, she showed how the tilt in her trailer requires her to use a string attached to a pushpin on a wall to keep the door to her son's room open.

Darryl Shain, Embry's boyfriend, complained about potential health problems connected to the wetness. "We've got a boy with asthma, and I know mildew and mould can't be good for him," said Shain.

Hubbard said that "if they just fix the flooding problem that would be a major improvement."

Attorney Matthew Lemme, who filed the suit against Silver Lakes on Nov. 26, said he has since been contacted by a dozen or more residents who want to join the litigation.

The suit seeks an amount of money, to be determined at trial, for damage allegedly caused by the conditions. A judge must rule on Lemme's request for the suit to be certified as a class action, representing the interests of all Silver Lakes residents.

Alex Boggs, the general property manager for Tower Management, said the company had not yet seen the suit. Boggs said the company became aware of problems at Silver Lakes only when it was contacted directly by the health department after the June inspection.

Boggs said an on-site manager of Silver Lakes, who has since been replaced, "was not communicating with us ... at least in a timely manner." The health department had previously dealt only with the on-site manager.

Michael Hoover, director of the state health department's environmental health section, wrote a Nov. 12 letter that said in part, "With the progress made in bringing the park into compliance ... and the willingness of the new managers to work to achieve compliance, enforcement action is being delayed."

Yesterday, Hoover noted that an inspection in November showed 12 violations at Silver Lakes, down from the 35 cited in June.

The remaining violations centered on the poor drainage and continuing electrical problems. The inspection report gave Silver Lakes until Jan. 5 to correct the problems or face unspecified civil penalties.

Boggs said yesterday, "If there's a problem and we can remedy it, we will.