[Vision2020] Magar to pay nearly $300K in settlement . . . Many Syringa residents unhappy with payout

[Moscow Cares]

Some background information . . .

“Syringa Speaks”
http://www.moscowcares.com/Syringa_Speaks_012918

Courtesy of today’s (February 13, 2018) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Magar to pay nearly $300K in settlement
Many Syringa residents unhappy with payout

Magar E. Magar, owner of Syringa Mobile Home Park east of Moscow, will pay a total of $282,000 to current and former park residents for enduring 93 days without clean water from 2013 to early 2014 and for other damages residents sustained in recent years.

A settlement was reached in November with Magar's daughter, Shelley Magar, who is effectively in control of the park. The lawsuit was filed four years ago.

Latah County Judge John Stegner approved the settlement Monday morning at a fairness hearing in which some Syringa residents attended and detailed what they described as the suffering they have endured as a result of the park owner's unfair treatment.

Shannon Musick, 19-year park resident and former employee, was one of the Syringa residents who shared her story and contested the settlement since she believed it would not fairly compensate her for her suffering.

"I've lost everything working for this company when I quit, and now I'm losing my home and I get $1,000 out of something that my kids only know as their home," Musick said. "I don't think it's fair. I don't think it's right and (my mobile home is) too old to move, so it sits there. I get nothing."

Michael Wilder, a University of Idaho law intern representing residents in the class action lawsuit, said he and his fellow representatives wanted to force the park owner to pay residents some money now as opposed to potentially more money a few years from now.

“That’s essentially what we tried to accomplish with this settlement conference is to get the residents something,” Wilder said.

Some residents expressed their desire Monday for not only more money, but for a little more time to leave the park.

Wilder said Magar E. Magar intended to close the park in early May, but Wilder said he and the UI legal team were able to push the move-out date to June 5 so residents have more time and opportunities to find housing on the Palouse as more housing opens up in May when university students leave for the summer.

“I want to say how terrible I feel about this and that we have worked really hard for the last four years, and Magar was very difficult to deal with,” said Maureen Laflin, UI professor of law.

Laflin, who turned around to address Syringa residents, said when she discovered the park was closing, she knew residents desperately needed money to move out.

“Did we get as much as we hoped for?” Laflin said. “No, we did not. The thing that we really got was the idea that before the deadline of moving out occurred we would have some money for residents.”

Laflin said the residents deserved more money than what is outlined in the settlement.

“It was as much money as we could get to allow people to move out,” Laflin said.

Laflin said Magar E. Magar is not complying and his attorney and Shelley Magar are not responding to communications.

Laflin said she and her legal team are scheduled for a March 6 hearing in a bankruptcy court in which they will ask for the appointment of a trustee to take over the management of the park and for residents to receive their settlement money immediately.

Stegner said his options were to approve or reject the settlement, and recommending more money be added to the settlement or extending the deadline to vacate the premises were not in his power.

“If I decline to approve the settlement, then I think all bets are off,” Stegner said. “There’s no assurance that you’ll get any money whatsoever.”

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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