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Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Ind. Decisions - "Three Purdue University students who were part of a costly lawsuit over West Lafayette's occupancy ordinance must now foot the bill for more than $52,000 in fines and legal costs"
Sophia Voravong of the Lafayette Journal Courier reports today:
Jill Schuler, Kelly Underwood and Melissa Wood were among five women who lived in a rental home -- owned by Jerry and Patti Weida -- at 112 Sylvia St. during Purdue's 2005-06 academic year.More from the lengthy story:The city's ordinance allows only up to three unrelated people to live together in areas zoned residential.
A lease the women signed holds them responsible for court-ordered fines that came after a 2007 bench trial in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2, according to the Weidas' attorney, William Kealey.
"Those girls stood up in court and said they lied to me," Patti Weida said Monday. "What can I do if I don't know that I'm being lied to? They signed a lease that said if they did anything to violate it, they would be responsible.
"That's why we have it written in there that they have to abide by all city ordinances. That's why we have stickers on the doors."
In April 2006, the city of West Lafayette filed a civil complaint against the Weidas and all five woman at 112 Sylvia St. for violating its occupancy ordinance. Judge Thomas Busch, who presided over the bench trial, found in favor of West Lafayette and ordered the Weidas pay about $46,900 in fines and attorney fees.Here are some earlier ILB entries in this case, including "West Lafayette looks to clarify 'ambiguous' code" from Jan. 10th.It was one of three lawsuits filed over alleged code violations by landlords -- mounting the city's legal fees by tens of thousands of dollars to fight the court battles.
Busch's ruling was upheld in December by the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Late last month, Jim Schrier, a Lafayette attorney who represented the city in the occupancy complaints, sent a letter to the Weidas' attorney, giving them 10 days to pay.
Schrier said Monday that deadline was extended because Kealey was out of town. Kealey is hoping to have it further pushed back so that the Weidas can be paid by Schuler, Underwood and Wood.
"Since it is in the city's interest to send a message to the students that overoccupancy is a serious error, we think it makes sense for the city to be patient while the Weidas collect from the students," he said. * * *
Patti Weida said she and her husband, who own several rental properties in portions of West Lafayette largely occupied by Purdue students, have since started taking further steps to prevent overoccupancy.
Students must now sign a form -- in addition to the city's required occupancy affidavit -- that acknowledges they understand the specifics of the ordinance.
But Patti Weida said the ordinance itself is difficult to enforce and includes few guidelines for rental property owners.
"Where do you begin to step on invasion of privacy? How often do they want us to check? What's the criteria?" she said. "If I have to evict someone, I need something that says for sure what I should do.
"Even after going through all of this, I still don't know what to do exactly."
Those guidelines could soon be in writing.
Though the appeals court found that the Weidas were not diligent in monitoring the Sylvia Street home, Judge Patricia Riley also chided West Lafayette's ordinance for "being poorly written ... in places, highly ambiguous."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 10, 2009 08:11 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions