WINFIELD – A Putnam County couple who operate an assisted living home and another man say a neighboring garage continually blocks the right of way to adjacent property.
Pamela and Tim Dolan with James Qualls filed their complaint against John Gill and Gills Garage in Putnam Circuit Court. The Dolans operate Angel Avenue Assisted Living Residence in Hurricane.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs claim Gills Garage parks cars and trucks in the right of way area and leaves them there for days and weeks at a time, causing difficulty for anyone trying to get to Angel Avenue and Qualls’ home.
“Mr. Gill has more cars at his shop than he has room to park without encroaching onto the right of way for AAAL and Mr. Qualls residence,” the complaint states. “Mr. Gill has no area for his customers or vendors to park. Therefore, they park in the right of way … This is the only entrance and exit available to Angel Avenue Assisted Living and to Mr. Qualls home.”
They say Gills’ customers and delivery trucks also use their driveways to park and turn around, causing traffic problems and damages to their properties, such as rutting, creating mud and mudholes and displacing gravel. They also say Qualls is very ill and makes frequent visits to doctors, but he sometimes is blocked from getting out of his driveway.
The 16 residents of Angel Avenue and their families often are blocked, the complaint states. Some Angel Avenue employees have said they are late for work because they’re blocked from getting to work on time, and some say they have to wait to leave work when they’re blocked. Some hospice workers and visitors sometimes have parked on neighbor Kylene Dunlap Brown’s property and walked across her yard to get to the home.
The plaintiffs seek to have an understanding that their right of way isn’t blocked and their properties aren’t used as a “delivery dock, parking lot or turn around for Gill’s Garage.” They also seek court costs.
The plaintiffs are representing themselves, and the case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Phillip M. Stowers.
Putnam Circuit Court case number: 15-C-210