Background
Parma Estates MHP filed an eviction action against Samantha Pickering and her former husband for unpaid rent at a manufactured-home park. Pickering, identified in the lot lease as an approved occupant rather than a signatory tenant, asserted counterclaims under Ohio’s Manufactured Homes Act, alleging unlawful lease terms, attempted collection of attorney fees and taxes, and rent increases without the required notice.
The eviction claim was dismissed after Pickering became current on rent. The housing court granted Parma Estates summary judgment on Pickering’s lease-related and declaratory-judgment counterclaims, reasoning that she was not a party to the lease. It then found that Pickering had waived her jury demand by filing only a punitive-damages instruction rather than a complete set of proposed jury instructions, and, after a bench trial, entered judgment for Parma Estates on the remaining claims.
The Court’s Holding
The Eighth District affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. It held that Pickering qualified as a “tenant,” and therefore a protected “resident,” under the Manufactured Homes Act because the lease expressly entitled her, as an approved occupant, to occupy the lot. The statute does not require a person to sign the lease or be designated as a resident in it to qualify. The trial court therefore erred in entering summary judgment against Pickering’s first counterclaim challenging the lease and her fifth counterclaim seeking declaratory relief.
The court affirmed the jury-demand waiver. The housing division’s rule requiring the demanding party to file a complete set of jury instructions seven days before trial was a moderate and reasonable regulation of the jury-trial right. Pickering filed only an instruction on punitive damages and could not rely on Parma Estates’ submissions to satisfy her own obligation. The court also upheld the bench-trial judgment on her remaining claims, deferring to the trial court’s credibility findings and concluding competent evidence showed that Parma Estates did not evict her for attorney fees or taxes and gave the required written notice of rent increases.
Key Takeaways
- An approved occupant entitled by a manufactured-home-park lease to occupy the lot can be a statutory tenant even without signing the lease.
- A party demanding a jury may waive that demand by failing to comply with a local rule requiring complete proposed jury instructions.
- Credible evidence that disputed attorney fees were removed, taxes were not charged to the tenant, and rent-increase notices were timely mailed supported judgment for the park operator.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that manufactured-home-park operators cannot defeat statutory protections merely by labeling a resident an “occupant” rather than a lease signatory. The remand leaves Pickering’s challenges to the lease and her related request for declaratory relief for further proceedings.
At the same time, the ruling underscores that litigants must follow local jury-trial procedures and that an appellate court will generally defer to a trial court’s credibility determinations after a bench trial.