Woman, mobile home park reach settlement

The dispute began when the woman's daughter and son-in-law stayed in her home while she recovered from a stroke at a nursing home.

[Times photo: Douglas Clifford] Kurt Beauchamp consoles wife Alana Marcel in November as Marcel moves the belongings of her mother from her mobile home.

By SHARON TUBBS

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 6, 2000

CLEARWATER -- An 82-year-old woman has settled a months-long dispute with a mobile home park that threatened to terminate her lease while she recovered from a stroke.

It all started in November when Bay Aristocrat Village hand-delivered a letter to Helen Tankersley at the nursing home where she has lived since 1997. The notice said her long-term lease at the mobile home park would be terminated.

The problem wasn't money, but rather Tankersley's daughter and son-in-law who were staying at her home to maintain it, said Lynn Cravey, an attorney for Bay Aristocrat. The couple broke too many rules in the park, she said.

Then a senior citizens advocate got involved, and Tankersley's family got an attorney.

Under an agreement reached a month ago, Bay Aristocrat paid Tankersley an undisclosed amount for her share in the park. In return, Tankersley's mobile home and the land it was on reverted back to Bay Aristocrat, Cravey said.

At Bay Aristocrat, shareholders in the park live on the property under a long-term lease that usually extends for a lifetime. Nearly 20 years ago, Tankersley and her husband paid $14,000 for their mobile home and nearly $25,000 for the land as a shareholder in the park.

Cravey and Joseph Perlman, the attorney representing Tankersley, would not say how much the park paid Tankersley, citing a confidentiality clause. Tankersley and her daughter, Alana Marcel, are also bound by the agreement and could not be reached for comment this week.

But Jack Burr, whose non-profit organization conducted an investigation in the case, said the park paid about $25,000 to the Tankersley family. Burr, executive vice president of Seniors Civil Liberties Association Inc., agreed to investigate in November at Marcel's request.

This year, Burr handed over information he had gathered in the case to Perlman, who negotiated the final agreement. Burr is not bound by the confidentiality clause and said the money will go toward a home for Tankersley.

Perlman said his client is still in a nursing home but is coherent and aware of what has happened. "Her intention is to leave the nursing home," Perlman said.

The settlement put to rest months of negotiation.

After Tankersley suffered a stroke in 1997, Marcel and her husband moved into her home to maintain it. Some park residents, however, complained that the couple broke rules by parking a truck in the driveway and putting furniture not intended for outdoor use on the carport, among other things.

Marcel said in November that many of the allegations were untrue or exaggerated. She had paid monthly maintenance fees to the park.

Nevertheless, she and her husband were kicked out of the park in September. But some residents said they saw the couple sneak back into Tankersley's home during the night -- a charge Marcel denied. To get rid of them for good, Bay Aristocrat handed Tankersley a letter at the nursing home in November, indicating her long-term lease would be terminated by a given date.

Cravey said park residents were concerned about Tankersley and had her interests in mind. The goal was to keep Marcel and her husband out of the park, not to get rid of Tankersley, she said.

"Everyone at the park loved Mrs. Tankersley," Cravey said.

But Burr said the mobile home park fought hard against a reasonable settlement for months. "This was a very complex situation," he said, "and we were fought all the way by Bay Aristocrat Village."

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