DISTRICT COURT Campbell pair's lawsuit alleges illegal eviction

The plaintiffs also say police threatened them during the eviction.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Campbell couple has sued a landlord, the city of Youngstown, its police department and at least two officers, alleging their rights were violated when they were forced from their home earlier this year.
Stephanie and Thomas Powell, who now live on Sixth Street, filed the suit through their lawyer, Gilbert Rucker III of Warren, in U.S. District Court here. The case is assigned to Judge Peter C. Economus.
In July 2003, the suit says, Stephanie Powell entered into an agreement to lease a home at 214 S. Bruce St., on Youngstown's East Side, from Juan Geraldino of Byron Street. The lease said Stephanie and Thomas Powell and her three children would live in the residence.
The rent was $200 a month. The Powells lived in the home until March 2004. The suit says they made all monthly payments and were never delinquent.
Specifics
On March 12, 2004, however, Geraldino used police officer Jose Morales and another unnamed officer to forcibly evict the Powells "without any eviction procedure and without any legal justification," the suit says.
The suit says Geraldino conspired with the police officers to handle the eviction and breached his contract with the Powells; the city violated the Powells' constitutional rights to due process by failing to give them notice of a hearing before their eviction; and the city failed to train its police officers to recognize the limited circumstances that make an eviction without a hearing permissible.
Thomas Powell maintains he suffered physical injuries during the eviction, caused by the officers, and Stephanie Powell said she felt threatened when officers began yelling at her. The Powells have asked for an unspecified amount in damages.