Tag Archives: HOA Nightmare Stories

The Drugging of an HOA

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There’s a new high rise luxury condo on Mission Street in downtown San Francisco. Built in 2009 with every classy aesthetic feature, it was high-priced and all the units on its 22 floors sold out quickly. It’s called The SOMA Grand. It’s governed by an HOA, of course.

Residents of the new building say almost immediately after they bought in, they started having problems with flooding during rainstorms, cracks in walls, and failures of sealant joints. The HOA has scrambled to get into court to sue everyone connected with the construction. “Going for the deep pocket”, as lawyers say.

The HOA is suing for four million dollars. And millions of bucks will be spent by both sides in legal fees. These brand new HOA residents will find their monthly dues are going to soar. If they win the suit, the biggest chunk will be taken by the lawyers. And if the residents get anything back, it’ll be pennies on the dollar.

The SOMA Grand.

You’ve gotta love the name.

What is SOMA?  It’s a high powered drug. It’s a drug that leaves you stoned and stupid. Then again, half of San Francisco is already stoned and stupid. And San Francisco sits on one of the largest earthquake faults in the country where they’re all waiting for ‘the big one.”

Soma.

Yeah, I do love the name.

http://tinyurl.com/laq5yp8

original source:

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/05/soma-grand-homeowners-file-lawsuit.html?page=all

 

A Pretty Poopy Idea

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A number of Homeowners Associations across the country are demanding that all dog owners have their pooches’ cheeks swabbed so the HOA can have a DNA database to catch homeowners who fail to pick up poops. The doggie DNA thing is ludicrous on its face. It’s expensive and too easy for the lawn Nazis to abuse the system.

A town in Spain has come up with a much better idea. A number of volunteers in Brunete, twenty miles west of Madrid, are walking the streets watching for violators of the dog cleanup rules. They scoop the poop and mail it back to the dog owners in a package labeled “Lost Property.” Such a lovely idea. The town now reports a drop in doggie doo of 70 percent. Here’s the link: But keep reading. There’s more!

http://tinyurl.com/n4gnpdo

original source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/10098430/Spanish-town-posts-dog-mess-back-to-offending-hound-owners.html

Paris has an awful problem with poopie dog people. A walk in the park is sort of like the game of Hop Scotch, jump here, jump there.

But now, two Parisian students have come up with an app for just that problem. It’s called Poople Maps. The smart phone user maps offending poo and emails Paris authorities about ‘problem areas.’

Oh, American HOAs will continue using their expensive DNA tracking systems simply because it allows them to assess fines and legal expenses which pump up their budgets in some very poopy ways. But if you really want a nice neighborhood, you should take some lessons from our European neighbors.

http://tinyurl.com/cagbdj6

original source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9961554/Paris-students-launch-Poople-Maps-dog-mess-app.html

 

“Utopia: Kill All The Lawyers” -Shakespeare

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After more than 40 years as an investigative reporter, I’ve sat in hundreds of courtrooms and watched thousands of lawyers up close and personal. And I have many friends and two family members who are lawyers. But I make no secret of the fact that the legal practice is in desperate need of reform. Over the four decades I’ve watched defense attorneys lie their butts off in the courtroom. And I’ve seen the same thing from prosecutors. Sure, the Constitution guarantees that each accused suspect gets to have the best possible defense. But if that defense is an outrageous and provable lie, then something is fundamentally wrong with the American legal system.

F. Lee Bailey claims in his book, The Defense Never Rests, that he has never defended a guilty man. “If they’re guilty, I plead them out,” he says. “But when I take their case they’re all innocent.” OK, OK, I get that. Every suspect is innocent until proven guilty, but that begs the point. The entire world knew that O.J Simpson was guilty as sin. But through manipulation, distraction, and lies, Bailey and his phalanx of fellow attorneys got the contemptible Simpson off of his murder charge.

The civil arena is just as corrupt. How else could lawyer Senator John Edwards earn 40 million dollars in his pharmaceutical malpractice case? That forty million bucks came right out of the pockets of the common man who has to buy prescription medicine. It led pharmaceutical companies not to release new medications which could have saved thousands of lives.

This perspective leads me to link you to a recent story from the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. The writer wonders about the rash of Kentucky lawyers who’ve committed suicide in recent months. Although suicides are rarely tallied by profession, the reporter discovered that since 2010 fourteen lawyers in that state took their own lives. And across the country, the number of lawyers who kill themselves is way above the national average among all other occupations.

Suicide is tragic. It will always be tragic. But one wonders if some of the guilt and depression among those in the law might be eased if all lawyers honestly believed their profession was always ethical and above reproach.

http://tinyurl.com/161

original source:

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130602/NEWS01/306020065/Rash-of-Kentucky-lawyer-suicides-concerns-colleagues?odyssey=underbox%7Ctext%7CHome&nclick_check=1

 

Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman

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George Zimmerman goes on trial this week for the killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman was the security watch captain for the Retreat at Twin Lakes Homeowners Association when he reported that Martin was taking a late night walk through his gated neighborhood in February 2012. A police dispatcher told Zimmerman not to get involved, but a few moments later Zimmerman fired a handgun and killed Martin, who he said had attacked him. Zimmerman had multiple abrasions on his face which appeared to back up his story of being attacked by Trayvon Martin.

The judge in the case has ordered that the defense may not introduce photos from Martin’s cell phone that show him smoking dope and flashing a handgun a few days before he was killed. The judge has also disallowed testimony that Martin had been involved in previous fights. Some of those facts may still find their way in front of the jury. Finally, Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law supports those who use deadly force when they’re afraid of death or serious bodily harm.

A few observations from this longtime investigative reporter: I’ll be roundly criticized for this, but I predict Zimmerman will not be convicted. The jury will either be hung or it will find Zimmerman not guilty. Yes, the Retreat at Twin Lakes Homeowners Association recently forked up a million dollars in a settlement with Martin’s family, but that was just a routine and legal extortion scheme which essentially ensures that all the lawyers get paid. Trayvon Martin’s family won’t see much, if any, of that settlement money.

If I’m wrong about any of these predictions, I’ll go off and sulk in a corner of my bedroom. And I won’t even complain about the chastisement that will surely follow. But folks, if you really want to analyze how the average HOA court case resolves itself these days, just look at the craziest of all possible outcomes. It’s a sad fact of life, but more times than not, in our current legal system, that’s what you’ll inevitably see.

George Zimmerman: Not guilty.

And homeowners in the Retreat at Twin Lakes HOA have yet to see the massive special assessments they’ll be hit with to pay for this debacle.

Wanna buy a home in the Retreat at Twin Lakes HOA?

Me neither.

There goes the neighborhood.

more information:

http://tinyurl.com/kxswtns

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/07/18832092-jurys-look-into-trayvon-martins-past-has-its-limits?lite

 

More Legislative Good News

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Yes, the tide is turning. On October 1st, a new Maryland law takes effect to prevent predatory Homeowners Associations and Condo Associations from artificially running up legal bills in order to lien and foreclose on homeowners over petty matters. Why any decent or honest lawyer would advise his HOA clients to run up fake legal bills of $200,000 over a fine of $225 is astonishing. That’s a lawyer who shouldn’t just lose his license, he should be taken to a nearby field and shot!

The practice of law in this country is sullied with a dark black stain and is in desperate need of radical reform. “Out, out damned spot!” And as a tormented Lady MacBeth discovered,  some stains can’t be removed except by burning. Is there any question that a certain coterie of lawyers in this country seem to be trying to burn down their own profession? Whatever happened to ethics?

Priests take a vow of poverty when entering the ministry. Why not lawyers? Predatory lawyering in America is astonishing to other countries around the world. It’s a national embarrassment.

Enough of my rant. Linked below is the new Maryland law.

http://tinyurl.com/lqdjujw

original source:

http://www.marylandhomeownersassociation.info/Site/Condo_HOA_News.html