MARSHALL — Jurors returned a verdict in the civil trial against the owners of the Broadmoor Valley mobile home park, after roughly three hours of deliberation Thursday evening.

The jury found that Schierholz and Associates had failed to keep the park in clean, orderly and sanitary conditions since August 2019, but that company president Paul Schierholz did not knowingly participate in that failure.

The jury’s verdict came down in Schierholz’s favor in four other claims in the lawsuit. Jurors found that the roads at Broadmoor Valley do permit normal travel by residents. Jurors also found that Schierholz and Associates did not charge renters late fees in excess of 8%, and did not prohibit free expression at Broadmoor Valley. Finally, jurors found that Schierholz and Associates did not take actions that would constitute consumer fraud, like knowingly providing residents with false information.

“The jury delivered a clear message that case should never have been brought,” said attorney Kevin Riach, who was representing Schierholz at the trial.

Riach said Schierholz was feeling “relieved” by the verdict, and that his concern for the community, Broadmoor Valley and its residents had not changed.

The jury did not consider a sixth claim, that Schierholz took retaliatory actions against Broadmoor Valley residents. District Court Judge Tricia Zimmer struck the claim before the jury started deliberations, in connection with concerns over statements made in the closing argument given by the lead attorney from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

The trial came to a close Thursday, after eight days of court proceedings. It has been more than three years since the Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that the Attorney General’s Office was suing Paul Schierholz, and Schierholz and Associates, over conditions at Broadmoor Valley and other claims.

Thursday’s trial proceedings started out with testimony from the trial’s final witness, a member of the Minnesota Housing Finance Authority. Testimony was followed by closing arguments from Riach, Alethea Huyser, who was representing Schierholz and Associates, and Bennett Hartz of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

Outside the presence of the jury, Zimmer and defense attorneys raised concerns about Hartz’s statements during closing arguments. Attorneys said the argument included misstatements, and references to parts of testimony that had previously been stricken from the record. Zimmer said she was also concerned that the argument made misstatements about the legal standards the jury would need to consider.

After a short recess, Zimmer said she would strike one of the claims on the verdict, about retaliation against residents, from the list of questions jurors would need to deliberate on. She also struck Hartz’s closing argument from the record, and instructed jurors to use their own recollection of the testimony and evidence in the trial when reaching a verdict.

The jury began deliberations around 5 p.m., and returned their verdict after 8 p.m.