Million-dollar suit targets Bowman mobile home park

A former resident at the Bowman Mobile Home park in Auburn is suing for $1 million over issues including security deposits he said aren?t returned and tenants not provided copies of leases.Paul Moffat said he didn?t get his $1,000 deposit back after moving out of the park last October and that he was subjected to emotional distress.The landlord breached the agreement to provide peaceful premises, said attorney Herb Whitaker of Legal Services of Northern California, which represents low-income and elderly clients.?That?s the reason he moved out,? Whitaker said. ?He felt he was driven out.?Moffat?s lawsuit is aimed in part at getting management to treat all tenants fairly, Whitaker said.J. Scot Donald, the attorney listed in papers filed at the Historic Courthouse in Auburn as representing the mobile home park, did not return phone calls seeking comment on the lawsuit.Moffat had also sought a temporary restraining order against the mobile home park manager last September, contending he was the subject of gay-bashing ? a claim the manager denies.She stated in a document filed in connection with the restraining order request that she has no problem with a person?s sexual preference and that allegations she engaged in gay-bashing are false. Statements of other park residents will correct such false accounts, the manager said.She declined at the mobile home park Wednesday to comment on the matter. Statements filed by several mobile home park residents in connection with the restraining order request said that the manager treated Moffat the same as she does other tenants. The residents said they had never heard or seen her engage in gay bashing against Moffat.Letters signed by more than a dozen residents also praise the park and its management.?I chose to live here because the manager is the best I ever had,? one reads.Dennis Erwin, 31, a truck driver who lives at the park, said Wednesday that Moffat wasn?t picked on and that ?management did its job.? Arik Burgess agreed, saying park management has performed well.Moffat contends that the manager in May 2002 accused him of making sexual advances toward a male neighbor.?This type of harassment, intimidation and gay bashing has continued on a regular basis since then,? he said.Moffat filed a separate complaint last year with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing contending he was discriminated against based on sexual preference. Attorney Whitaker said gay bashing allegations are not stated as an issue in the civil case set Monday for a jury trial in September 7 in Placer County but that they ?may come into it in some form or fashion.?Efforts to resolve the dispute over tenant issues at the Bowman Mobile Home park without filing a lawsuit were unsuccessful, he said.Moffat has also contended that rent on the space for his home was increased $50 a month for not maintaining the grass in front of the unit. He said he mowed the lawn weekly.He also complained that it was not possible to plant flowers on his land at the park ?as the owner?s rabbits run free and eat the plants.?