A class action complaint has been filed in which it is alleged that Datacomp—the nation’s largest provider of manufactured and mobile home data—and several large owners of manufactured home communities that use Datacomp’s reports conspired, in violation of federal antitrust laws and common laws, to unlawfully coordinate their prices by sharing non-public, competitively sensitive information about manufactured home lot rental prices and occupancy, among other things, throughout the United States from at least August 31, 2019 to the present.

The manufactured home communities at issue are run by:

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc.;

Hometown America Management, L.L.C.;

Lakeshore Communities, Inc.; Sun Communities, Inc.;

RHP Properties, Inc.;

YES! Communities, Inc.;

Inspire Communities, L.L.C.;

Kingsley Management, Corp.; and

Cal-Am Properties, Inc.

This antitrust class action lawsuit has been brought on behalf of a nationwide Class of all similarly situated persons and entities who paid rent for a manufactured home lot located in a manufactured home community referenced above between August 31, 2019 and the present.  It is alleged that because of Defendants’ violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act and common law, Plaintiffs and members of the Class were injured by paying significant overcharges on manufactured home lot rents throughout the United States.

Presently, we are awaiting a ruling on Defendant’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs' complaint. As background, in March 2024, Plaintiffs filed a memorandum of law opposing Defendants’ motion to dismiss the case. In early April, Defendants filed their replies. Discovery is still paused until after Judge Valderrama’s ruling on the motion to dismiss.

Additionally, you may look up the case on PACER, which is a government website that provides electronic public access to federal court records.

Case Name: Hajek v. Datacomp Appraisal Systems, Inc. (a.k.a. In re Manufactured Home Lot Rents Litigation)

Docket Number: 1:23-cv-06715

Court: Northern District of Illinois (N.D. Ill.)

Judge:   Honorable Franklin U. Valderrama

You can access PACER via this link: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/.

If you would like to learn more about this matter, you are encouraged to contact us at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085.