FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Todd Hallidy
Phone: (302) 577-8314
Date: September 27, 2001
 

COURT RULES MOBILE HOME PARK CAN'T BLOCK OIL DELIVERIES

(Wilmington, DE) - Attorney General M. Jane Brady today announced that the Consumer Protection Unit of the Attorney General's office has successfully secured continuing deliveries of heating oil to residents of the Maple Square Mobile Home Park, located at 3 Maple Drive in Newark. Superior Court Judge John E. Babiarz, Jr., granted the State's motion this morning which requested an end to impediments to the deliveries, production of documents, and payment of costs related to the filing of the motion.

The Consumer Protection Unit had received between six and ten complaints from tenants during the past several weeks indicating that Maple Square, and owner Harry R. Messick, had blocked oil deliveries intended for tenants living there, ostensibly requiring that the tenants convert their mobile homes to propane heating. Conversion to propane heating can cost in excess of $1,000, and many of the tenants are retired and living on fixed incomes. According to Deputy Attorney General Patricia Dailey, "This requirement would not only have been a financial hardship for these tenants, it would have been a violation of their leases. Today's court order protects the interests of the tenants while the legal proceedings go forward."

The court order also directs the defendants to pay $250 to the Consumer Protection Fund to compensate for the State's costs.

-30-