A land dispute is forcing families out of their homes.
Ashlee Clark, a mother of four, is one person who finds herself caught in the middle of the legal battle.
“I don’t know when they’re coming and take my kids’ clothes and throwing them in a dumpster,” Clark told us. “Their toys and stuff like that. Stuff that we’ve worked hard for.”
Her family has only lived in the trailer for about four months, but they’re already packing up boxes.
It’s nothing they’ve done wrong. Their rent has been paid on time, every month.
“I have probably had a total of five hours of sleep in the past two nights because I know time is counting down,” Clark said.
Turns out, the man her family rents from, Larry Milby and Southern Christian Ministries, owns seven trailers in the area, but not the property.
When the Clark family moved in, they didn’t realize there was a five-year legal battle between the two parties. It’s all because Milby didn’t want to sign a written lease.
“This situation is a case study of what happens when contracts are not in writing,” Michael B. Cohen, the attorney for Larry Milby and Southern Christian Ministries, said. “When the lease was finally in writing it didn’t match up to what the terms of the verbal lease was.”
Now families are being evicted and needing to find new homes. However, with no money saved, Clark is afraid of what’s next for her kids.
“I want them in their beds at night, tucked in their warm pajamas and wake up and eat breakfast with their parents,” Clark said. “I don’t want them rushed in a motel room waking up, eating pop-tarts and running to go to school.”
An appeal has been filed. Part of that includes a petition of stay for the families caught in the middle of the mess.
If that isn’t approved people will have to be out by September 17.
There was also a question about back pay, but Cohen, Milby’s lawyer, said his client always paid the rent.