A long-simmering sewage and billing fight at Sartell Mobile Home Park has ended in a court-approved truce that forces the owner to finally fix the place up. A federal judge has signed off on a settlement that requires the park’s owner to repair failing sewer lines, clean up billing problems and roll back hotly contested lease changes, according to court filings and lawyers for the residents. The agreement resolves a class-action dispute that residents say grew out of years of raw-sewage backups, inaccurate water charges, and aggressive new lease terms, and it leans on injunctive relief, focusing on sewer remediation and soil testing rather than a blanket cash payout to every tenant.
According to a press release from Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota granted final approval of the class settlement this week. The suit names Gemstone Communities and its Sartell MHC subsidiary as defendants and alleges that residents were exposed to raw sewage, overbilled for utilities and pressured to sign illegal lease agreements. Court records show the complaint was filed in October 2024, with multiple reports of sewage backups, meter issues and billing disputes described in the document available through Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid.
What the settlement requires
The settlement agreement filed with the court spells out a checklist of repairs and oversight that the Gemstone defendants must now carry out. They agreed to complete sewer remediation work recommended in engineering reports, conduct regular sewer inspections, perform camera scoping at least every four years and carry out soil-contamination testing at playgrounds and other sites. The deal also calls for water-usage reconciliations and refunds where overbilling is found, and it requires Sartell Mobile Home Park to allow residents either to remain on month-to-month leases or to sign a uniform park lease while certain park rules are re-drafted.
Class counsel will monitor the work, receiving reports and inspection video from the park operator as part of the injunctive relief. The detailed list of commitments is laid out in the settlement document available from Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid.
Residents and lawyers react
Residents and their attorneys are calling the deal a meaningful step, even if it is not a big payday. Anne Lockner, a partner at Robins Kaplan, said, “For too long, our clients felt unheard,” and added that the firm will keep working to secure compensation for residents.
Longtime park resident Cheryl Skaj sounded relieved but wary about what comes next. “I’m just wanting things to run smoother and not have to worry about this in the long run,” she told reporters, in comments reported by KNSI.
Legal implications and next steps
The settlement is structured primarily as injunctive relief rather than a cash fund for the full class. Class counsel will ask the court to approve service awards and attorneys’ fees, and the agreement releases Gemstone from sewage-related, water-billing and certain lease claims only up to the settlement’s effective date.
Under the deal, class counsel will request service awards capped at $5,000 per named plaintiff, along with attorneys’ fees and costs up to $15,000, figures that are set out in the settlement agreement. Because the relief is injunctive, the settlement document states that class members will not have an opportunity to opt out or object, and the court will retain jurisdiction to enforce the remedies over time.
The legal terms are explained in detail in the settlement document available from Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, while the original complaint describes broader claims against Impact and other defendants that remain in play. Those allegations appear in the court filing accessible through Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid.
