LANSING – An attorney for Homeless Angels said she plans to file a motion asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the group by the owner of a south Lansing hotel where the nonprofit once housed Lansing-area homeless families and individuals.Attorney Denise LaFave Smith, who represents the nonprofit, said it has limited financial resources and no intention of paying anything to Alvin Peh, who owns the Magnuson Hotel on South Pennsylvania Avenue.

Peh announced in August he was closing the hotel for “renovations” and gave residents less than two weeks to leave. That prompted Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero to declare an  emergency housing crisis  and file a lawsuit against Peh requesting that a judge issue a temporary restraining order and grant a 120-day injunction to prevent the hotel’s immediate closure.

At the time, nearly 100 people were living there with the assistance of Homeless Angels. They have since been placed in alternative housing. Homeless Angels has established a new “homeless hotel” at the Burkewood Inn in Lansing Township.

The hotel closed Oct. 28, and Peh filed a lawsuit that month against the City of Lansing; Bernero; Joan Jackson Johnson; the city’s human relations and community services director; and Homeless Angels.

Peh’s lawsuit alleged the city violated his constitutional rights by forcing his hotel to operate as a “temporary homeless shelter” without compensation. The lawsuit also alleged that officials from the city and Homeless Angels “maliciously defamed” Peh and the Magnuson.

Peh’s suit asks a judge to award him compensation and damages that his attorney, Joanne Gurley, said already exceed $25,000.

Both the city and Homeless Angels have filed responses to the lawsuit refuting the allegations, and, in October, Bernero said he was “confident” a judge will “dispose” of Peh’s claims.

LaFave Smith said Homeless Angels founder Mike Karl never “defamed” the hotel or Peh.

Gurley declined to comment on Homeless Angels’ intention to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed.

She did say that Peh would likely settle the lawsuit “as long as the expenses that were incurred during the time the restraining order was in effect” are paid.

“I’m sure that he would be open to that,” Gurley said.

But in a response to Peh’s lawsuit filed by Homeless Angels last month, the nonprofit claims it invested thousands of dollars and volunteer resources into the hotel’s continued operation during the three years the group housed clients there.

The group spent over $3,000 on a “bed bug machine” to exterminate bed bugs in 20 rooms at the Magnuson and another $1,100 to buy a “door card machine” at the hotel, according to its response to Peh’s lawsuit.

The group also bought “linens, furniture, and draperies” to be used at the hotel and “arranged for contractors, electricians and plumbers to donate time and materials” to fix the hotel’s fire suppression system, according to the response.

According to its reply, Homeless Angels also donated a washer and dryer to the hotel and purchased other items, including door knobs, light bulbs and plumbing supplies, for the building.

“I don’t know what they’re hoping to accomplish by suing the Homeless Angels,” LaFave Smith said. “All of their resources go to the homeless. It’s not like they have a big pot of money sitting around that anyone can tap into. They don’t even receive federal grant funding.”

For more information, please visit the source link below.