I have a constable that is having repeated mobile home issues arise. As I know close to nothing about mobile home law, I am hoping that someone knows a prosecutor or helpful civil attorney that seems to be an expert in this area that I can refer him to. Anyone?

Just curious, but what kind of criminal issues arise in the mobile home law arena?

I didn't know that there was a specialty niche for "mobile home law". Maybe there is a boutique firm that only handles mobile home litigation...

It's an East Texas specialty!

I have fond memories of my rookie prosecutor job as an Assistant County Attorney in Montgomery County in 1979. About every third or fourth phone call I fielded from a member of the public started with something like "I have this trailer in New Caney" and went down hill from there.

I've been in a trailer once. The "issues" I saw were: 1) no front steps, you had to hoist yourself up onto the front porch, 2) there was a very large hound dog with about 12 puppies nursing in the living room, 3) there was a tower of dirty dishes in the sink -- I tried not to look too closely, 4) there was plastic sheeting dividing the rooms, and 5) the Christmas tree was still up in March. Can I become Board Certified in Trailer Park Law now?

I'm just wondering how a conversation can go downhill from "I have this trailer in New Caney....?

Well......
I hesitate to even weigh in on this topic but....

Since I am a "proud" alum of the New Caney ISD AND I spent a much too long portion of my youth living in a trailer in Splendora - that'd be the next town up Hwy 59 that considered New Caney to be our more cosmopolitan neighbor (they do have a WalMart, you know), I'm embarrassed to say I can speak to this question:

"My red dirt road has done flooded and I can't get out of my trailer to go to the Hot Biscuit"

"My neighbor's drunk again and he's shooting holes in the screened porch around his trailer"

"My baby done fell through the hole in my trailer floor"

Yes, those are all events that actually happened in our fair town. Guess this explains why I get along well w/ East TX juries!

I was thinking of padding my resume with "LL.M. in Mobile Home Law," but luckily I found out this week that doing so would be a criminal offense.

Jane, I think you are an expert, however, I think that expertise is only recognized east of the Brazos river.

I myself will admit to living for 3 months during college in a mobile home. Interesting experience. I could never get over the fact that the AC ducts were in the floor and not the ceiling. Every time a fierce wind blew a certain way (the said trailer was located in central texas on a hill) the exterior walls of the trailer would flex in and out, creating a sound not unlike a baseball bat striking the side of said trailer. It took me a few trips outside the first time this occurred to figure out it was the wind and not some pesky neighbor kids with bats and fast feet.

I grew up in a "trailer house" in the Valley and then outside of Lubbock. You do not qualify for board certification in Mobile Home Law until you've experienced several "manufactured housing" residents (including one's own parents) sitting on what front porch there is shooting at chickens in the front yard. (Before I get hate mail from PETA, I was too young to personally participate.) Here in West Texas, we're sentimental about our mobile home denizens. Without them, where would the broadcast media go for interviews after a tornado (e.g., "It sounded like a freight train. I knew we'z in trouble when the walls started poppin' and I couldn't hear the NASCAR on TV no more.")? Moreover, there are counties in my part of the state in which a mobile home is, in and of itself, probable cause for a methamphetamine search.

In all seriousness, county regulation of mobile home parks (or "communities" as they're more politically-correctly called) is a dicey proposition. Several counties in North Texas (such as Denton) have encountered difficulty doing so, generally in the form of lawyers financed by mobile home manufacturers. They may be a good resource for war stories and possible solutions.

Chapter 94 is entitled "Manufactured Home Tenancies".

A lot of Constable-type, landlord/tenant questions are answered there.

Although I cannot actually claim to have lived in a trailer, at the beginning of my career as a DA I worked in a small county and lived in an addition to a trailer, which I believe is a step down if at all possible. During my time at that office I learned that:
1.A jury will not buy the �I only grabbed her breast because I was falling through the hole in the trailer floor� defense.

2.The combination of living in a trailer and dating a guy with a naked lady tattooed on his arm all but guarantees that you will be coming in to apply for a protective order.

3.The reason the deputies were only able to get 28 cats from one trailer with urine-stained walls was that the other 14 escaped through a hole in the bathroom floor.

4.A well-constructed mobile home can survive two explosions caused by the meth lab in the living room.

My neighbor had two single wides set up end-to-end with four toilets in the front yard (that term is used loosely). He also had two cocker spaniels tied up to a U-Haul type truck parked in the front yard. The truck had sheets of metal propped up against its sides, I guess the idea being that the dogs could stay under there to get out of the sun? How I miss Kemp, TX�