Mass trial begins for hundreds of mobile home owners facing eviction in Miami-Dade
Dressed in white, hundreds of residents of the Li’l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater filed into the Miami-Dade County Courthouse in downtown Miami on Thursday morning.
They’re among the roughly 210 defendants that CREI Holdings, the mobile home park’s owner and the plaintiff in this case, is suing to evict.
In November, Li’l Abner’s 3,000 or so residents received notices to vacate their trailers by May 19. CREI Holdings, which intends to develop the land beneath the trailers to build a multi-family housing complex, offered a $14,000 buyout to those who left the park by the end of January. Those who left by April or May were entitled to $7,000 and $3,000, respectively.
The mobile home owners, many of whom paid multiple times that maximum buyout figure for their trailers — which are cemented into the ground and not particularly mobile — argue those sums, and the time they were given to find alternative housing, were insufficient.
Representing the remaining residents in a class action, lawyers David Winker and Erik Wesoloski argue that the park’s ownership didn’t comply with Florida law governing mobile home park evictions. The park’s owners dispute that notion.
Thursday’s mass hearing, unfolding before a panel of five judges, is the first in what could be a series that will determine the fate of the park’s hundreds of remaining residents.
And ahead of those hearings, the defense lawyers hope to secure a stay for their clients, essentially asking the court to pause any further evictions. A ruling could take several months, noted Winker. If the mobile home owners are evicted before a verdict is issued, even if it’s in their favor, that would constitute irreparable harm, he argued.
The panel did not rule on a stay during Thursday’s hearing, kicking the matter to a future, yet-to-be-determined date.
The mobile home owners are hoping to present their case before a jury, while the park’s ownership prefers a bench trial, where a judge or judges would make the decision. They’ll hash out that question on Aug. 28.
What the residents are saying
Clasping her hands together, Yolanda Lopez milled about the edge of a crowd of her neighbors, who opined on the morning’s proceedings. She was a little nervous at the day’s open, she said, but by midday was feeling optimistic. This trial would yield “justice,” she declared. It had to.
Enrique Zelaya agreed. “I want to fight for justice,” he said.
Zelaya was incensed. He reported having paid $170,000 for his double-wide trailer just four months before receiving the notice to vacate. The $14,000 buyout offer — less than a tenth of what he paid for his unit, which he said was too old to move — just didn’t cut it.
“I just want my money back,” Zelaya lamented.
A 67-year-old security guard, Zelaya’s knocking on retirement. The eviction notice has plunged his future into uncertainty.
“I think I’ll die working,” he chuckled wryly.
This story was produced with financial support from supporters including The Green Family Foundation Trust and Ken O’Keefe, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 10:05 AM.
