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| The Grove at Orono, Maine |
Residents at The Grove in Orono, Maine, have complained about mold, broken water pipes, power outages, faulty appliances, inadequate heating units, and more. Town officials vowed to investigate the problems and held a closed-door meeting with Campus Crest officials in late January. According to press reports, more than a dozen students are considering legal action.
How might UMaine students fare in a court battle with Charlotte-based Campus Crest?
Well, we know that CEO Ted Rollins belongs to one of the nation's wealthiest family--the folks behind Orkin Pest Control and parent company Rollins Inc. in Atlanta--and he has a history of using the justice system in an abusive fashion. That's what he did in the Rollins v. Rollins divorce case, which produced a grossly unlawful final judgment here in Shelby County, Alabama, and led to Ted Rollins' ex wife (Sherry Carroll Rollins) and two daughters (Sarah and Emma Rollins) winding up on food stamps. Based on a report I received yesterday afternoon, utilities had been turned off at the Rollins household in Birmingham.
We also know that Ted Rollins has a history of treating young people like punching bags--literally and figuratively. In the literal sense, Rollins was convicted for assault in the vicious 1995 beating of his 16-year-old stepson, Zac Parrish, in Franklin County, North Carolina. Under relevant state law, the beating constituted an act of child abuse, although Rollins never was charged with that. He was, however, investigated in 1993 for child sexual abuse involving the same stepson, based on a citizen complaint.
Speaking figuratively, we know that Ted Rollins has heaped ongoing abuse upon Sarah and Emma Rollins--his own flesh and blood, who now are ages 18 and 15, respectively. A judge in Greenville, South Carolina--where Sherry Rollins initiated divorce proceedings--issued a bench warrant for Ted Rollins' arrest, based on failure to pay child support. Court records show that Ted Rollins was a deadbeat dad for more than two years.
Once the girls were forced to flee with their mother to Alabama--because Ted Rollins failed to pay court-ordered mortgage and insurance payments on the marital home--the financial abuse got even worse. Here in Shelby County, Ted Rollins filed a child-support affidavit claiming he made $50,000 a year working at a mortgage company in Brentwood, Tennessee--and that was his only source of income. Perjury on the sworn document, called a CS-41, could not be more clear, public records show that Ted Rollins owned multiple private jet craft and held ownership stakes in at least two companies when the affidavit was signed. But Ted Rollins never has been held accountable for lying under oath, and the cheat job cost his daughters hundreds of thousands of dollars in support, to which they were legally entitled over the course of their childhoods.
A number students at the University of Maine want out of their leases at The Grove and say they are willing to go to court. Do they have valid legal claims? Our research indicates the answer is yes, and we will be taking a closer look at the UMaine problems in upcoming posts.
Does that mean the students are likely to prevail in court? Not necessarily. Our reporting has shown that all too many court cases around the country are decided on issues that have nothing to do with facts or laws. They often are decided by virtue of one party's willingness, and ability, to gain unlawful favor with a judge.
Before UMaine students file legal claims against Campus Crest Communities, they might want to give Sherry Carroll Rollins a call in Birmingham, Alabama. She was married to the company's CEO for 14 years and knows what it is like to fight him, and the Rollins family resources, in a court of law.
Learning about Sherry Rollins' experience has been quite an education for me. It should be required reading for all college students who have, or are thinking about, signing a lease with The Grove.
(To be continued)
24 comments:
I read the University of Maine newspaper today; you should read the comments and watch the video. The students at this university seem smarter than say, in Texas, where the balcony fell. I don't think they are going to stop until their treatment at these apartments is remedied. From the comments it seems that there are many reasons for lawsuits. The students should just get together and find a classaction law firm. Corporations like this should not be allowed to take advantage of young people who are working toward their futures like this. This is deplorable. Thank you LS for sniffing this company out.
How's Paula J. Poskon & Robert J. Venable gonna help Uncle Ted slide out of this one?
Ted will Weasel out of this one as he has pretty much everything else! Would expect that he has had attorney's on it from day 1 ! They didn't become super wealthy by being non aggressive in this and all other matters financial!
If the judge has common sense they will
I'm starting to think Campus Crest apartments are utter crap.
Hey LS, if University of Maine students try to sue Campus Crest and Ted Rollins, do you think he will get the cases moved to Shelby County, Alabama?
The students in Maine should be thankful they don't have balconies that collapse like the one at The Grove in Denton, TX.
Does this say they have heating problems, and we are talking about Maine here--in the middle of winter? Geez, no wonder these kids are pissed off. They are freezing their asses off!
If it's that cold in Maine, the residents at Grove shouldn't have to worry about bugs. Here in the South, Grove locations tend to be infiltrated with bugs. I know from firsthand experience at U of South Alabama in Mobile.
BRADLEY MANNING. He more than likely would blow the whistle on the GROVE.
Teddy would choose the proper wording, BUT of course: GROVE!
All the cultists running the USA into the lowest level of hell ALL hob nob at the GROVE, "Bohemian."
Campus Crest's grove is a mixed bag of learning how to be pre-modern, too.
Our FIVE ELEMENTS are filled with poisons [skies / air, water / we're 98% H2O, dirt / food, fire / cooking etc., metal / vital necessary organic chemical].
What large corporation more than likely holds the eugenics card on this "grove" of sharing and caring?
Until the chemicals - gotten from a large American corporation - get stopped, then the Rollins family cannot be stopped.
Lunatics. Spraying their own families to kill all the families that compete with their families.
What does a thinking human expect from the Grove Campus Crest realities?!
MUST ALSO NOT FAIL BRADLEY MANNING BECAUSE HE DOES NOT GET TO BE ENROLLED AT THE GROVE
Bradley Manning blew the whistle on HILLARY CLINTON and others, WHO AND WHOM ALL MEET UP AT THE BOHEMIAN GROVE.
This was a death sentence to him so we MUST sign the petition to protect his conscience for our future in the immediate now
http://www.bradleymanning.org/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/we-must-not-fail-wikileaks-whistleblower-bradley-manning/5325285
I clicked on one of your links, and it says Campus Crest installed heat pumps at these apartments--in frickin' Maine! Are these people serious? Heat pumps barely keep you warm in Alabama!
I have to agree with Dog Day. The kids in Maine should be thankful they don't have to fight roaches the size of battleships.
Didn't they have a riot when The Grove opened in Maine? If you survived that, I guess you "earned the right" to freeze your ass off over the winter.
Sounds like Ted Rollins' lawyers from Bradley Arant need to be packing their cold-weather gear for a few trips to Maine.
I wonder if some of those kids at Maine are thinking, "Damn, I wish I could live in a cinder-block dorm that was built in the 1930s. At least those have heat!"
Mike Hartnett, Ted Rollins' right-hand man, is a graduate of UMaine. Imagine how badly the residents would be treated if a UMaine alum was not high on the Campus Crest food chain.
Tell me again how private enterprise is more efficient and effective than the public sector.
Did any of these universities do a criminal background check on Ted Rollins before signing up with Campus Crest Communities?
They probably do background checks on anyone who is a job candidate, right? So why wouldn't they check up on Ted Rollins?
He's a CEO, so he can't have ugliness in his background, I guess.
Perhaps some of the newspapers in Maine would like to contact Sherry Rollins. She knows probably better than anyone how Ted Rollins treats young people.
@ 12:06,
Campus Crest is public not private!
Anon at 1:15--
I will speak up for @12:06 here. Campus Crest is a publicly traded company, but it is a private enterprise. I feel certain @12:06, by public sector, was referring to government entities, supported by taxpayer dollars. In the past, state entities have overseen the construction of student housing at taxpayer-supported universities. Campus Crest and other private entities now are trying to take over much of that activity. That's the key point. Campus Crest is private enterprise; state universities are the public sector.
Just because Campus Crest is traded on the NYSE does not mean it is part of the public sector.
I wouldn't let my kids live at the grove. Better yet, I wouldn't let my dog live there! And I saw some bad reviews about the grove in Jackonville, AL
James:
We have four Groves in Alabama--Jacksonville State, Troy State, U of South Alabama, and Auburn. Outside of Texas, we are one of Campus Crest's prime stomping grounds.
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