/usr/web/www.marshallindependent.com/wp-content/themes/coreV2/single.php
×

Court hears testimony on Sunrise petitions

MARSHALL — A Lyon County District Court judge heard testimony from both Sunrise Court apartment residents and an HVAC inspector during a hearing Monday afternoon.

While there wasn’t an immediate resolution to the tenants’ calls to have the heat turned on in their apartments, the judge said she would rule on the matter as soon as possible.

Monday’s hearing combined testimony for three different petitions from residents of Sunrise Court against Jeff Huston and Gabe Olson, managers of Suite Liv’n. Suite Liv’n, a Willmar-based business, took ownership of the Sunrise Court apartment complex in September. At the time, tenants received letters saying problems with the complex’s heating systems could not be fixed before winter, and tenants had a month to vacate the apartments.

Tenants Jessica Thovson, Olawale Alabi, and Austin Payne and Shamar Brown were all seeking emergency relief under the Tenant Remedies Act. The three petitions were asking the court to order the building owner or manager to fix the heat at Sunrise Court.

Attorneys for the petitioners argued that under residents’ leases, the building owners were responsible for providing heat. But Huston and Olson’s attorney argued the apartment complex’s boilers could not be safely turned on, and he interruption of heat was beyond the new owners’ control.

The petitioners, Huston and Olson were all present in court on Monday.

Thovson, Alabi, and Payne each testified that there is currently no heat in their apartments.

“It’s a lot colder than it’s ever been,” Thovson said.

Both Thovson and Payne testified that they had received letters from Suite Liv’n asking tenants to vacate Sunrise Court. Alabi said he had been out of town for three weeks, and didn’t learn about the heat not being turned on in the apartments until he came back on Oct. 5. In response to attorneys’ questions, Alabi said it was possible his roommate could have received the letter from Suite Liv’n, but he wasn’t told about it.

Each of the petitioners also said they had contacted or tried to contact building management about the lack of heat before filing a petition for emergency relief. In response to attorneys’ questions, the tenants also said they had leases that went past October. Alabi said he had an 18-month lease. Thovson’s lease went until Jan. 31, and Payne said he and Brown’s lease went until July.

At one point in the hearing, Matthew Duffy, the attorney representing Huston and Olson, also asked Thovson about her boyfriend Josh Prine not being on her apartment lease.

“He was added” to the lease, Thovson said. She said a $150 check to add Prine to her lease was cashed. “That transaction went through right before the notice of sale (to Suite Liv’n),” she said.

However, most of the testimony and arguments at the hearing focused on the condition of the boilers at the Sunrise Court complex. David Richter, an HVAC contractor with Bullet Proof Mechanical Service, said he inspected the heating systems on three occasions — once in August, once two weeks ago, and once together with a state boiler inspector last week.

“The boiler systems are in very poor shape,” Richter said. He described a “rat’s nest” of wiring with no wiring diagrams, safety systems that were bypassed, and other problems among the boilers in the apartment complex. Richter said one boiler had an exhaust system that was smaller than the boiler manufacturer said it needed. Turning on the heat would put building inhabitants at risk for carbon monoxide poisoning, he said.

Richter said the state inspector found boiler violations, but it appeared the inspector focused only on the boilers, and not the wiring or exhaust systems.

Bradley Junkermeier, an attorney for the tenants, argued that the property owners needed to uphold tenants’ leases, and had a legal duty to make the complex habitable. The tenants’ leases also said the owners were responsible for providing heat, he said.

Duffy argued that the interruption of heat in the apartments was beyond the current property owners’ control. It wouldn’t be safe to turn the apartments’ heat on, and it wasn’t certain if fixing the problems with the heating systems would be feasible, he said. The current condition of the heating systems was also caused by previous neglect, he said.

District Court Judge Tricia Zimmer said she would take all three petitions under advisement. She would consider the petitions and arguments, and issue a written order as soon as possible.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today