Testimony during a civil trial against the owners of the Broadmoor Valley mobile home park in Marshall continued on Monday. Jurors heard testimony from witnesses including a park resident, park employees, and an investigator with the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.

MARSHALL — The civil trial in a lawsuit against the owners of the Broadmoor Valley mobile home park continued into its fifth day Monday. Jurors heard testimony from several different witnesses. However, at the end of the day, an attorney for park owner Paul Schierholz moved to strike part of the testimony given by an investigator with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

District Court Judge Tricia Zimmer said she would consider the motion, and announce a decision today.

If the testimony is stricken from the record, members of the jury will not be able to consider it when deciding on a verdict.

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office sued Broadmoor Valley owners Schierholz and Associates and Paul Schierholz in 2021. The Attorney General’s Office alleged the owners failed to maintain the park to state standards, charged unlawfully high fees for late rent, and retaliated against park residents.

Jurors heard testimony from a few different witnesses during Monday’s court proceedings. The witnesses included a Broadmoor Valley resident, and two employees of the mobile home park. Jurors also heard additional testimony from investigator Nina Grove with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Last week, Grove explained a spreadsheet of information she compiled about late rent fees charged to Broadmoor Valley residents.

On Friday, Grove testified that the spreadsheet information came from Broadmoor Valley’s transaction data from 2015 to 2022. She said instances of residents being charged late fees of more than 8% of their rent continued all through the time period the data was collected.

On Monday, defense attorneys cross-examined Grove, asking questions about the data and how she determined which renters were charged late fees of more than 8% of their rent. Among other questions, attorney Alethea Huyser asked about inaccuracies in the data Grove spoke about, including examples of incorrect dates, an incorrect address for a resident, and a mobile home owner marked down as a renter.

During cross-examination, Huyser also asked if Grove was aware that Minnesota law did not place an 8% cap on late fees on homeowners renting lots at a mobile home park. Grove answered that she was not aware.

Defense attorneys objected to two exhibits containing the spreadsheet data being entered as evidence in the trial. Zimmer said the objections were sustained, and neither exhibit was received as evidence by the court.

After the jury had been dismissed at the end of the day’s proceedings, defense attorney Kevin Riach moved to strike the part of Grove’s testimony where she talked about late rent fees. The motion would not strike the cross-examination portion of her testimony.

Judge Tricia Zimmer said she would consider the motion.

Some of the other witnesses jurors heard Monday included employees of Broadmoor Valley. Hilary Giebner and Gary Westberg each answered questions about how maintenance and operations were handled at Broadmoor Valley. In response to questions from defense attorneys, Westberg and Giebner each said they thought more improvements could have been made at Broadmoor Valley if it were not for the ongoing lawsuit.