AN elderly woman is being evicted from her apartment in retaliation for presenting a list of complaints to her landlord.
Linda Crane, 75, lived at the Prairie Villa Senior Apartments in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, until she received at least four eviction notices last month.
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Crane was at the Kenosha County Courthouse last week and was joined by many of his neighbors and his attorney Anne Gonring of Wisconsin Legal Action.
Gonring said the eviction was in retaliation for a letter Crane and other residents wrote listing grievances against the Michaels Organization.
This new company has taken control of the building, however, many say the organization has been antagonistic to residents.
Crane’s case went to court but was quickly dismissed by the plaintiff due to a technicality, however, Gonring believes there will be another eviction case in the future. future.
Laura Zaner, vice president of corporate marketing at Michaelssaid in a statement that the evictions were due to “harassment by management, telling potential tenants that they should not live at Prairie Villa Senior (Apartments), and disorderly conduct in common areas, such as yelling at the manager and telling other tenants that they need to go although”. the manager fired.”
Michaels took control of Prairie Villa Senior Apartments in April 2023 and several residents, including Crane, drafted a letter to management on September 19, about five months after the acquisition.
Residents listed several issues, including maintenance and cleaning, which Michaels denied it several times.
Crane’s address was used as the letter’s reply mailbox and just a few weeks later, after an alleged confrontation with the venue manager, she received her first eviction notice.
In Wisconsin, an eviction notice is not a court document, but rather a warning to the tenant that they could be taken to court if they don’t move.
However, they cannot be removed from homes without a court order and homeowners cannot attempt to physically remove them.
Several residents, including Crane, appeared before the Pleasant Prairie Village Board twice to express their concerns.
However, village staff and leadership said their power was limited due to public safety concerns inside the building.
These concerns have already been addressed or are in the process of being resolved.
Village Trustee Mike Pollocoff told the Wisconsin State Journal that the state limits the authority of municipalities to dictate most tenant and landlord matters.
“Consequently, these questions end in court without any administrative procedure analysis to help resolve issues before an eviction notice is issued,” he said.
Pollocoff added that he didn’t know much about the case against Crane, saying he “would be surprised if it was a financial issue.”
He said he believes it’s more about “how the landlord is treating the tenants or specific tenants.”
“When problems in an apartment building turn into personal attacks, they are difficult to resolve,” Pollocoff said.
“Solving the problem by evicting an elderly person seems like a problem that should be mediated between the parties involved, rather than sending someone out onto the street.”
Crane and the other residents expressed their thoughts about negative interactions with the facility’s management in the past, alleging coercive and hostile behavior.
Crane believes management was trying to intimidate her and other residents, despite “having done nothing wrong.”
“The whole thing is about my eviction notices and my treatment,” she said.
“It’s elder abuse, pure and simple.”
Several residents have contacted Wisconsin Legal Action, Gonring said.
“This is a very rare situation, having multiple customers in one building,” she said.
“They are a vulnerable group, so it is particularly harmful.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
