Frustrated customers plan to take previous Bend storage facility owner to court

Class-action suit sought after ODOT acquisition without their knowledge

(Update: Comments from customers)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Customers of Lucky Horseshoe Storage on the north end of Bend say they plan to file a class-action lawsuit against the former property owner, having just learned in recent weeks ODOT acquired the facility through court action and that they must move their belongings to make way for a road project.

“There just has to be enough people to file the suit together, to qualify for a class-action suit," Jason Richburg said Wednesday.

Lee Cameron rented a storage unit at the facility in December, unaware that same month, the Oregon Department of Transportation acquired the property through eminent domain for a North Highway 97 Corridor Improvement Project.

He is one of many tenants who say he was not made aware of the change in ownership or that he would only have a few months to remove their property.

“This company doing business as Lucky Horseshoe Storage -- no indication, 'Hey, we can rent it to you, but only for two weeks before the state takes over' -- like, that would be disclosure you would expect from a business owner, right?" Cameron said.

In addition, customers said they continued making payments after the ODOT acquisition.

"The office manager called me on Jan. 3 to try and get payment for January, when they didn’t even own the place," Cory Haines said.

Haines said he can’t access his storage space two to three times a week for his work, like usual. He has to make an appointment with ODOT's Right-of-Way Office to get access.

"Having to put off jobs or phases of jobs has really been a pain," Haines said.

Customers are still searching for answers after ODOT purchased the facility, as they scramble to find a new place to store their property.

ODOT stated that the previous owner refused to provide them with a list of the customers so they can be notified. Without a direct way to reach customers, ODOT has posted notifications on the fencing around the property and published legal notices.

Frustrated with how the previous property owner handled things, customers are calling it bad business and are banding together to file a class-action lawsuit against him.

"We were supposed to be notified six months prior to Jan. 7 (ODOT's acquisition date). Coincidentally, if you back track six months from February or January, that’s when rental increase happened," former customer Nathan Ulrich said.

Haines added, "He almost doubled mine (rent). I don’t know if there’s a set standard on that for storage units like rent- he raised it like 80 percent."

All customers with property locked in storage will need to make an appointment with ODOT's Region 4 right-of-way office to pick up their belongings. They will have until early May to remove the items before ODOT moves them to a temporary holding warehouse, then eventually auctions them off. 

There are about 400 customers who have been storing property at the facility. They must find a new place, which is proving to be limited these days in Bend.

Some customers have simply thrown their belongings over the fence and left them there.

Richburg said he's had no luck finding available storage units near by.

“This is quite a bit of chaos injected into my life," Cameron said.

We have reached out to the previous owner, but calls have not been returned.