By Jim Young
A lawsuit has been filed in federal court against the City of Crossville and numerous city employees over the closing of the Village inn in July of 2022 and the eviction of all residents. A request to make the case a class action suit has also been made in the filing.
The suit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against all defendants, in amounts to be proven at trial, Recovery of costs, including reasonable attorney fees, and all other relief to which they may be entitled.
In addition to the City, others named in the lawsuit are Police Chief Jessie Brooks, Fire Chief Chris South along with city employees Koby Wilson, Zach Young, John Doe 1-10 who are officers with the Crossville police department, Danny Thurman, Casey Worsham, Thomas Smith, Terry L. Poter, and Jeremy Mangas.
The lawsuit alleges that those defendants unlawfully seized the plaintiffs' apartments, evicting them from their apartments and depriving them of possession without any due process. Plaintiffs allege that in a very coordinated effort, employees of the City of Crossville, Tennessee systematically wrongfully seized plaintiff’s apartments wrongfully evicting them from their apartments without any notice or court order. Working in concert, Defendants forced the Plaintiffs to vacate the apartments that they rented, without cause or notice or judicial order, despite the fact that City had attempted to evict the residents several times in the last few years only to be denied an order signed by judge; this time, the City employees came to the apartment complex forcibly evicting all residents of the complex with no notice or court order. The Plaintiffs claim that these officers' conduct violated clearly established rights protected by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Tennessee law and without any objectively reasonable grounds for doing so.
During the course of a narcotics investigation, conditions of the building and safety concerns were found which required Fire Safety inspections and codes compliance checks. The result of the inspection led to the power to the entire facility to be pulled and an immediate habitation ban to be issued. Immediately noticed were areas of overhead walkway concrete deterioration and missing/falling concrete were observed. Handrails and support posts were found broken, loose and hanging. Water standing in the floor of an occupied unit, required residents to walk on boards to stay out of the potentially hazardous water.
The lawsuit against the city has been filed by Livingston Attorney John Nisbet who represented numerous victims of former County solid waste director Mark Harvel in a suit against Cumberland County that netted some $1.1 Million.
Village Inn residents listed as plaintiffs in the suit include Christopher Duff, Starlene Gilbert, Boyd Alan Kearley, Jackie Laesch. John Lewis, Domenica Palmer, Weldon Bruce Palmer II, Wanda Rupe, Brandy Nicole Story and Sharon Williams, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated.
Early this year the City bought the Village Inn and appears to have plans to tear down the building.
Crossville City Attorney Randy York was unavailable for comment when his office was contacted. We will report any comments if they are received.
