Securities, Business and Commercial Lawyers

Storage firm held liable in lawsuit.

By Cindy Leise
The Chronicle- Telegram

ELYRIA – A woman won a $410,000 judgment against a storage company for the loss of family photos, personal items and antiques that had been left in a storage unit

A jury deliberated about an hour before awarding Dorlis Ray, of Berlin Heights, $160,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages

She had filed a lawsuit in April 1998 asking for more than $100,000 from Plaza Mini Storage Inc. of Huron, FirstMerit/EST National Bank and Daniel Douglas Anderson of Huron, the owner of the mini storage company

Ray’s suit said she had placed the items in storage in 1991 while she was planning to build a new home. According to the lawsuit, she was current on her rental costs in June 1994 when she saw Anderson removing items from an adjacent unit.

In the lawsuit, Ray said Anderson told her he had purchased the storage facility from FirstMerit/EST, and that he had changed the locks on the units

Anderson refused to unlock her unit and told her that bank officials had removed all the items inside the facility and its contents from the original owner and had no knowledge of Ray’s possessions

The suit said she contacted the bank and was told that the bank had repossessed the facility and its contents from the original owner and had no knowledge of Ray’s possessions

After conclusion of testimony in the case, Common Pleas Judge Edward M. Zaleski dismissed the bank from the lawsuit

After court, Ray said she was pleased with the verdict. To this day, she said she has never recovered any of the items in her storage unit.