The Buena Vista Mobile Home Park owners, Toufic and Eva Jisser, are claimed to have violated the statute of limitations after filing a lawsuit last November in a federal court. Thus, the Palo Alto City asks the court to dismiss the said case.
Mercury News reported that Palo Alto called the lawsuit a 'baseless suit.' It further said that not only did the Jisser family violated the statute of limitation, but they also failed in seeking remedies at local and state levels, which are the requirements stated by the law before filing a lawsuit in a federal court.
As for the Jissers, the reason behind them filing a lawsuit is that the city required them to pay $8 million in providing tenant relocation assistance to around 400 residents who would be displaced once the Buena Vista closes. This act of the city was something illegal for the home park owners as they view the condition to be a transfer of their property to tenants, violating the 'takings clause' of the Fifth Amendment, according to Palo Alto Online. The said clause prohibits property from being taken for the purpose of using it in public without the right amount of compensation.
However, what is ironic is that the tenant relocation assistance as well as most of its benefits were proposed by the Jissers themselves, which the family suggested upon filing a Relocation Impact Report during the closure-application process. The benefits comprised of the cost of each mobile home, moving costs and rent subsidies for a year.
Breitbart News stated that if the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the federal district court side with the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park owners, that might be the end of it. But if not, then the case could still go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Palo Alto's motion to dismiss will be heard on May 26 in a U.S. District Court. From there, people would just have to wait and see what happens.
