Equity LifeStyle Announces Punitive Damages Jury Verdict In California Lawsuit

(RTTNews) - Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc. (ELS) announced Wednesday that a jury in the California Superior Court for Santa Clara County entered a verdict of compensatory damages in the total amount of $15.3 million against the company's operating partnership in favor of certain plaintiffs who are current or former residents of 42 out of the 418 total sites at the company's California Hawaiian manufactured home property located in San Jose, California.

Yesterday, that same jury entered an additional verdict against the company's operating partnership of $95.8 million in punitive damages.

Marguerite Nader, Chief Executive Officer, said,"We could not disagree more strongly with the jury's verdicts. We will vigorously seek to overturn them in the trial court or on appeal, including but not limited to asking the trial judge to grant a new trial and to reduce the grossly excessive damages."

With respect to compensatory damages, no evidence was presented that any plaintiff suffered any physical injury requiring medical attention, and the documentary evidence of repairs to plaintiffs' homes or property totaled less than $3,000 collectively for all plaintiffs.

In addition, approximately 75% of the compensatory damages verdict was awarded as compensation for emotional distress even though there was no evidence that any plaintiff had sought or received attention from any healthcare provider of any kind for emotional distress.

California Hawaiian was developed in the 1960s, and is 100% occupied. The plaintiffs' complaints included among others various utility outages, which are not uncommon in properties of similar age, which were remedied.