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.
Just like a social disease that keeps coming back, some Homeowner Associations never let a patsy out of their grip.
The latest “sucker” is some poor fellow in The Times Condominium At Sweetwater Del Webb Master Homeowner’s Association (Whew! Where do these names come from?)
Anyway, resident Larry Murphree thought he knew what was meant when GW Bush signed the “Freedom to Display the American Flag Act” in July of 2006. Muphree planted two little flags in flower pots outside the door of his condominium.
Along comes the HOA and starts whacking him with fines of a hundred bucks a day, liens, threats of lawsuit and foreclosure.
Residents of the Laural Hills Condominum on Tennessee’s Renegade Mountain have been arguing over the price of water for the past six months. The property association, not the homeowners association controls the water. But those danged hillbillies up at Laurel Hills kept up the argument.
Now the property owners association has raised the ante. They just flat-out turned off the water to 84 homes. Turned it off! And that, my friends, is against the law.
Monkeying with someone’s water is almost a shootin’ offense. In fact, a lot of people have been shot during the water wars of the past three hundred years.
Increasing numbers of homeowners associations across the country have learned there’s profit in being confrontational. Lots of profit. HOA attorneys advise their clients to attack every violation of the covenants with a vengeance. Insignificant fines often turn into tens of thousands of dollars in fees, fines, collection costs and attorneys’ expenses. Some of those confrontations defy common sense.
Ted Faraz of Irving, Texas, found that out the hard way. He installed some solar panels on his roof. His intent wasn’t malicious. He wasn’t doing it to intentionally anger his HOA. He actually invested $15,000 in an effort to be more environmentally responsible.
When the American Disabilities Act was approved in the 1990’s, it was designed to help disabled people have access to the same amenities as non-handicapped people.
But the big laugh, at the time, had nothing to do with the disabled. It was that the new law was a full-employment plan for lawyers.
Now comes the Jeffrey and Judi Weiss family of Palm Beach. Several years ago their son was paralyzed. His only moments of joy were when his family took him to the beach. So his family bought a condo right on Palm Beach just a few steps away from the ocean.
