DiCello Levitt, Hausfeld file significant lawsuit against corporate landlords over nationwide price fixing scheme affecting residents of manufactured homes
Washington, D.C., New York (August 31, 2023) DiCello Levitt, Hausfeld, and Myron M. Cherry & Associates today filed an antitrust class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, on behalf of mobile home owners impacted nationwide.
In a case of nationwide significance against nine manufactured home community management companies and one manufactured home market data provider, the plaintiffs allege that they suffered substantial financial losses due to their landlords’ conspiracy to fix, raise, and systematically inflate manufactured home (also referred to as mobile home) lot rental prices at more than 150 locations across the United States.
“With nearly one-third of the 10.3 million adults living in manufactured homes being over the age of 60, the corporate greed of these manufactured home community management companies targeted some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens,” DiCello Levitt Partner and Chair of the Firm’s Antitrust and Competition Litigation Group Gregory S. Asciolla said. “In the face of these significant manufactured home lot rent increases, some manufactured home residents were not only facing severe financial pressures, but even the threat of eviction.”
“These individuals–whose median annual household income is approximately $35,000–were overcharged for what was meant to be affordable housing,” DiCello Levitt Co-Founding Partner Adam J. Levitt added. “Manufactured home lot rental prices were blatantly inflated at a staggering rate of 9.1% per year between 2019 and 2021.”
“Manufactured home parks now comprise one of the largest sources of low-income housing in the country. Many residents are senior citizens, veterans, and people with disabilities,” said Hausfeld LLP Partner Reena Gambhir. “These communities should not be the targets of anticompetitive and coordinated excessive rent hikes.”
The complaint details how the large corporate manufactured home community management companies have bought up these communities across the United States and used competitively sensitive market data provided by Michigan-based Datacomp Appraisal Systems Inc. to exchange pricing information and conspire to systematically devise manufactured home lot rent increases.
The case is Carla Hajek and Gregory Hammerlund v. Datacomp Appraisal Systems Inc., et al. Case No. 23-cv-6715 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. A copy of the complaint is available upon request.
If you live in a manufactured home and are facing drastic rent increases please contact: DiCello Levitt at mhlantitrust@dicellolevitt.com or 646.933.1000 or Hausfeld at mhlantitrust@hausfeld.com or 202.540.7200.
About DiCello Levitt
Chicago-headquartered DiCello Levitt has offices in Cleveland, New York, Washington, D.C., San Diego and Birmingham. The firm’s team of antitrust attorneys expanded by 200% in 2022 and has successfully fought some the most significant conspiracy and competitive practices litigations over the last few years.
At DiCello Levitt, we’re dedicated to achieving justice for our clients through class action, business-to business, public client, whistleblower, personal injury, civil and human rights, and mass tort litigation. Our lawyers are highly respected for their ability to litigate and win cases—whether by trial, settlement, or otherwise—for people who have suffered harm, global corporations that have sustained significant economic losses, and public clients seeking to protect their citizens’ rights and interests. Every day, we put our reputations—and our capital—on the line for our clients.
DiCello Levitt has achieved top recognition as Plaintiffs Firm of the Year and Trial Innovation Firm of the Year by the National Law Journal, in addition to its top-tier Chambers and Benchmark ratings. For more information about the firm, including recent trial victories and case resolutions, please visit www.dicellolevitt.com.
About Hausfeld
Hausfeld is a leading global law firm with offices in Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Düsseldorf, London, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Stockholm, and Washington, DC. The firm has a broad range of complex litigation expertise, particularly in antitrust/competition, financial services, sports and entertainment, environmental, mass torts, consumer protection, and human rights matters, often with an international dimension. Hausfeld aims to achieve the best possible results for clients through its practical and commercial approach, avoiding litigation where feasible, yet litigating robustly when necessary. Hausfeld’s extensive experience with alternative and innovative fee models offers clients a diverse menu of engagement options and maximum flexibility in terms of managing their cost exposure.
Hausfeld is the only claimants’ firm to be ranked by The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a top tier firm in private enforcement of antitrust/competition law in both the United States and Europe. Additionally, the firm has National Tier 1 Rankings in “Best Law Firms” in Antitrust and Litigation-Antitrust. For more information about the firm, including recent trial victories and landmark settlements, please visit www.hausfeld.com.
Media Contact:
Christine Schiffner: (703) 862-5202 or cschiffner@dicellolevitt.com
Lisa Sharrow: (202) 953-8177 or lsharrow@hausfeld.com
