Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) (referred to herein as
“we,” “us,” and “our”) announces that, as we disclosed on April 15,
2014, a jury in the California Superior Court for Santa Clara County,
Case No. 109CV140751, entered a verdict of compensatory damages in the
total amount of $15.3 million against our operating partnership in favor
of certain plaintiffs who are current or former residents of 42 out of
the 418 total sites at our California Hawaiian manufactured home
property located in San Jose, California (the "Property"). Yesterday,
that same jury entered an additional verdict against our operating
partnership of $95.8 million in punitive damages.
Marguerite Nader, our Chief Executive Officer, emphasized that: “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.
This press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
When used, words such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “believe,” “project,”
“intend,” “may be” and “will be” and similar words or phrases, or the
negative thereof, unless the context requires otherwise, are intended to
identify forward- looking statements and may include, without
limitation, information regarding our expectations, goals or intentions
regarding the future, and the expected effect of our recent
acquisitions. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous
assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to:
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our ability to control costs, real estate market conditions, the
actual rate of decline in customers, the actual use of sites by
customers and our success in acquiring new customers at our properties
(including those that we may acquire);
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our ability to maintain historical or increase future rental rates and
occupancy with respect to properties currently owned or that we may
acquire;
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our ability to retain and attract customers renewing, upgrading and
entering right-to-use contracts;
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our assumptions about rental and home sales markets;
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our assumptions and guidance concerning 2014 estimated net income, FFO
and Normalized FFO;
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our ability to manage counterparty risk;
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in the age-qualified properties, home sales results could be impacted
by the ability of potential homebuyers to sell their existing
residences as well as by financial, credit and capital markets
volatility;
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results from home sales and occupancy will continue to be impacted by
local economic conditions, lack of affordable manufactured home
financing and competition from alternative housing options including
site-built single-family housing;
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impact of government intervention to stabilize site-built single
family housing and not manufactured housing;
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effective integration of recent acquisitions and our estimates
regarding the future performance of recent acquisitions;
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the completion of transactions in their entirety and future
transactions, if any, and timing and effective integration with
respect thereto;
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unanticipated costs or unforeseen liabilities associated with recent
acquisitions;
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ability to obtain financing or refinance existing debt on favorable
terms or at all;
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the effect of interest rates;
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the dilutive effects of issuing additional securities;
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the effect of accounting for the entry of contracts with customers
representing a right-to-use the Properties under the Codification
Topic “Revenue Recognition;”
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the outcome of the case currently pending in the California Superior
Court for Santa Clara County, Case No. 109CV140751, involving our
California Hawaiian manufactured home property; and
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other risks indicated from time to time in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
These forward-looking statements are based on management's present
expectations and beliefs about future events. As with any projection or
forecast, these statements are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and
changes in circumstances. We are under no obligation to, and expressly
disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking
statements whether as a result of such changes, new information,
subsequent events or otherwise.
We own or have an interest in 379 quality properties in 32 states and
British Columbia consisting of 140,333 sites. We are a
self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (“REIT”)
with headquarters in Chicago.
Copyright Business Wire 2014