Tag Archives: Federal investigators

A Handicapped Youngster? Screw ’em!

      4 Comments on A Handicapped Youngster? Screw ’em!

Great guest post by Dave Russell yesterday, good enough that I’d like to add to it.

Around the country, Homeowners Associations continue to wildly discriminate against families with handicapped youngsters. They’re shunned, they’re fined, they’re labeled ‘bad people’ who aren’t allowed to use the common areas. These stories are as disgusting as they are endemic. And they should serve as a warning to any potential home buyer that HOA property is fundamentally diseased, unfit for Americans who believe in human rights.

Yes, H.U.D. occasionally comes to the rescue on behalf of a damaged family. But these federal lawsuits are so rare they can, at best, be described as ‘show trials’ similar to the massive HOA racketeering case now being conducted in Nevada. A show trial is exactly what it sounds like. The feds ride onto the scene like rodeo cowboys, crack a few whips, and hope that other criminals across the country will be deterred from committing similar crimes. They never are.

The only solution to human rights violations by the HOA system is federal fines massive enough to stagger the imagination. Under the current system the feds win an occasional lawsuit, the HOA insurance company pays for the lawyers and fines, and the homeowners never have a hint about what really happened.

How to solve the problem? When an HOA commits an ongoing violation of federal law confiscate the entire neighborhood under public nuisance laws. Every house, every family gets evicted without compensation.

Outrageous, you say?

Impossible and illegal you say?

Hey, just look at a 2006 Supreme Court decision called Kelo. The government essentially confiscated an entire neighborhood simply for the crime of “not looking nice enough.” Actually, there was some underlying corruption there. A pharmaceutical company wanted the neighborhood for a construction project and the state gave it to them. The irony is that the drug firm decided they didn’t really want the land after all. Now this former neighborhood is just a field of weeds.

Maybe what this country really needs is a few more weeds.

(link to story on cerebral palsy family driven from Kentucky neighborhood)

 

Laughably Unconstitutional

      No Comments on Laughably Unconstitutional

Lots of HOAs have tried to ban expressions of Free Speech. Some have discovered, to their chagrin, how expensive it is to flout the Constitution by forbidding campaign signs, religious symbols in windows or Mezuzahs on door jambs. In one famous case an elderly gentleman who stopped on his lawn to talk to two elderly women was cited for holding an unlawful assembly. Cases like that go to the Supreme Court where the lawyers make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

All that being said, you have to wonder at the idiocy of city leaders in South Pittsburg, Tennessee who decided to forbid all city employees from making negative comments on social media about other city employees, or about the city itself. Criticize your government? Go to jail!

Last night I was repeatedly brought to tears by a movie called American Violet. I would recommend it to every American of every race and religion. As a TV reporter I’ve been on many police raids and I’ve (not often) but occasionally seen physical abuse of suspects that troubled me. I’ve been in courtrooms and have seen plea bargains that greatly troubled me. This movie showed me why I had reason to be troubled.

An attorney friend of mine once told me, “A right not exerted is a right soon lost.” He wasn’t the originator of the quote. But we all should claim that quote as the guiding principle of our lives. We live in a great country. Memorize your rights. Get it clear in your mind who grants you those rights. And shout your rights from the mountaintops.

(link to story about banning Free Speech in Pittsburg, Tennessee)

 

Bombshell Lawsuit in Nevada

      6 Comments on Bombshell Lawsuit in Nevada

You’d think developers and Homeowner Association boards would think twice about harassing anyone with a Brooklyn accent. If a kid grows up on the mean concrete streets playing stickball with a broom handle and a pink Spaulding ball, you’d think he’d be a good person to stay away from. Make nice. Don’t be a jerk.

Jonathan Friedrich, now a homeowner in Nevada, has filed a humdinger of a lawsuit. It’s got lots of twists and turns, so I won’t attempt to describe it. But here’s his lawsuit for your reading pleasure.

(copy of Friedrich lawsuit)

 

Another Delicious HOA Indictment

      No Comments on Another Delicious HOA Indictment

I suppose it’s bad manners to dance on someone else’s grave, but if I had good manners I would never have started this website. But this one is too good not to note.

Another woman has been indicted in the federal racketeering case against a dozen Nevada Homeowners Associations. There’ve been about forty federal indictments already, with most of the suspects pleading guilty in exchange for their testimony in court. Stephanie Liane Markham has the honor of being the latest to be indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. Seems she’s accused of lying to the feds about the fact she only had a one percent interest in a condo at the time she ran for a seat on the board.

A number of other suspects in the federal case were planted onto boards so defect mitigation money could be siphoned away from homeowners into the pockets of crooked lawyers, police officials, politicians and businessmen. And I’ll never let a story like this slip by without noting that a prominent attorney and three other suspects in this investigation committed ‘suicide.’ At least two of them were highly suspicious deaths, Las Vegas style.

The federal HOA case is going to trial in February. It’s long been my contention that a nearly identical criminal investigation could be launched in 49 other states.

(link to Stephanie story in Las Vegas Review Journal)

 

HOA War In North Carolina

      5 Comments on HOA War In North Carolina

North Carolina is certainly a state where the HOA system has gotten way out of control. Fortunately, outspoken advocates like Ole Madsen (HEAR4NC.org) are articulating the insanity that’s disrupting the lives of so many homeowners around the country.

When you buy into an HOA, you’re essentially pledging all your personal assets to a group of partners, most of whom you’ve never met. Your assets become the de facto assets of a non-profit corporation which is potentially subject to liability lawsuits, damage from natural disasters, poor workmanship by developers, frivolous legal actions by overreaching board members, embezzlement by board officers and management companies. That’s a crazy kind of partnership, but it’s one that tens of millions of Americans have blindly accepted. And it’s one where HOA law firms are bathing in the mythical pot-of-gold.

In many HOAs homeowners are beginning to realize that they’ve entered a vortex that is spinning downwards, threatening property values and life savings.

The TV story linked below is worth watching. But as you do so, just be aware this isn’t an isolated incident. The HOA system in America is so badly broken it can never be fixed. It’s built to reward criminal behavior and those who bully their way to the top. When there’s a record of bad behavior by HOA officials and management companies, how do you persuade a potential buyer to take over your mortgage?

(link to WWAY TV story on missing HOA money)