Tell Someone You Love, They’re Stupid

If you know someone in the Bayhead Landings Property Owners Association in Pasco County,  Florida, do us all a favor. Call them on the phone and tell them they’re stupid. Fundamentally stupid. And they’re going to lose their shirts.

Board members in this HOA are out of their minds. They believe that federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities just don’t apply to them. They’re special, you see. Federal civil rights laws don’t apply to them.

This is a really nasty fight among property owners in this otherwise idyllic Florida neighborhood. Kim and John Whitt bought what they thought was a dream home about five years ago. Problem is that an auto accident left John in a wheelchair. Federal law says a handicapped person MUST BE accommodated. Homeowners Associations ARE NOT exempt from federal law.

The Whitt couple wants to take part in POA/HOA meetings but wheelchair access is supposedly impossible. The Whitts have even offered to host board meetings in their own home, but the board members will have none of it.

This case is convoluted with a wild array of legal schemes to avoid accommodating the Whitts or paying their legal costs. The Whitts appear to have lost at least this stage of the lawsuit. But there’s more coming.

Although a County Judge has ruled against the Whitts, ultimately higher courts are bound to rule that a Property Owners Association MUST COMPLY with federal law. HUD occasionally files lawsuits against Homeowners Associations. But many board members have a special brand of arrogance that allows them to flout whatever laws they don’t like. 

The legal bills are piling up. The resentment is building. When the dust finally settles in this dispute it’ll mean a massive judgment and fine assessed against the entire neighborhood. 

So, if you’ve got friends in Bayhead Landings… tell them they’re stupid. Tell them this is one fight they’re not going to win. Let it go.

(link to Florida story)