The story is tragic. An 83 year old woman is killed by an alligator in the Landings Homeowners Association.
Gwynth Williams’ body was found in a lagoon in an exclusive community in South Georgia. Her family is suing the HOA, saying it was negligent for not removing the gator. The HOA and its golf course say they’re not responsible for controlling wild animals that roam the area.
Those are the raw facts, but the behind-the-scenes story will probably not get told by the mainstream media. Win or lose, millions of dollars will be spent on this case. Perhaps the HOA will be punished by a large jury award. That seems to be par for the course in today’s atmosphere of tort law.
The real story is where those millions of dollars will come from and where they will go. They will come from the pockets of homeowners who bought homes in The Landings Association. They will go into the bank accounts of lawyers who represented Williams or who represented The Landings Association.
It’s a tragedy, of course, for the family of Gwynth Williams. It’s a double tragedy for the American system of justice.
Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association
