Tag Archives: Lawsuit

Sign The Petition, Dummy!

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LOL! Forgive me, but I’m corrupt enough to use any kind of inflammatory headline to get you to read deeper. And no, of course you are not dummies…UNLESS you refuse to consider signing the petition to the White House composed by George Staropoli, a man who is a giant in the world of HOA reason and Constitutionalism.

The left is all abuzz about a few on the right who are proposing seceeding from the Republic because of the results of the last election. First, those well-meaning people have an absolute right to propose secession to express their opinion. Second, secession won’t work, that’s what national elections are all about. If you don’t like it, vote for someone new in the next election. Just change it.

But the third point is a whopper! And it took someone of Staropoli’s clear-headed thinking to come up with it.

Homeowners Associations, as private non-profit corporations, preside over traditional neighborhoods, acting exactly like traditional governments. They impose taxes, create laws that govern private behavior, exert police power or police-like power, levy fines, and often seize and auction the homes of tragic ‘miscreants’ who don’t understand the de-fact powers possessed by Homeowners Associations.

Folks, whether you accept it or not, Homeowners Associations have already seceeded from the Union. That’s right! They constitute a parallel government that often operates outside the confines of traditional Constitutionally controlled government. And that’s scary.

Across the country there are thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of cases where HOAs have taken thuggish legal action against homeowners for no other reason than they are black, oriental, hispanic, gay, single, female or handicapped. Federal discrimination laws be damned!

So, to bring this full circle: George Staropoli is circulating a petition to the White House to try to show the growing movement of homeowners who’ve educated themselves and become concerned about this “Shadow Government.” It is definitely a matter of concern. 20% of our populace now lives in neighborhoods where a member cannot rely on traditional Constitutional protections.

So, Dummy! Click on the link below, and SIGN THE PETITION!

http://pvtgov.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/white-house-petititon-to-defend-us-citizenship-of-people-in-hoas/

 

 

 

Ten Million Dollar Kick In The Teeth!

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The HOA world is buzzing about a multimillion dollar lawsuit filed against the Henderson, Nevada Police Department. It’s a lawsuit that could throw a massive punch in the face of the American HOA movement, especially those which use coersive tactics to intimidate HOA critics.

This really is a wild case. Two elderly residents of Sun City Anthem HOA in Nevada, tried to warn other homeowners that the board was illegally stashing millions of dollars of excess dues instead of returning them to residents. Any organization that doesn’t report such excess collections can face heavy IRS fines.

The board refused to pay attention to the complainants, so the two ‘agitators’ reported the apparent tax fraud to the Henderson Police Department. Keep in mind that a Federal Grand Jury was already prosecuting massive fraud among Nevada Homeowners Associations.

According to the mens’ lawsuit, the Sun City Anthem HOA filed a complaint with Henderson P.D. accusing the two men of filing a false police report. The cops then busted the two men, stripped them, handcuffed the two men to a vertical bar in the city jail, and left them for four hours. The men, one of them a retired Air Force officer, were appropriately outraged.

Their outrage grew as the IRS agreed that the HOA was indeed operating illegally and levied some heavy fines.

Now Col. Robert Frank (ret’d) and Tim Stebbins are suing the City of Henderson for false arrest, false imprisonment and a number of other allegations. The reverberations from this lawsuit could be massive; and massively fun to watch.

Can’t you feel the squirming among HOA board members everywhere?

Solar Screams

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For some odd reason, Homeowners Associations hate solar panels. The hate the idea of solar energy. They hate people who don’t hate solar energy and they’re willing to sue into oblivion any homeowner who dares put solar panels on his house.

In Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed an act permitting solar panels anywhere in the state. But the Azalea Gardens Homeowners Association in Shreveport apparently feels the law doesn’t affect them. They may be right, since they’re considered a private non-profit corporation. HOAs traditionally think that they’re above the law.

In any event, the link below from KTBS TV tells the story and shows video of the TV station being thrown out of the HOA meeting, even though it was an invited guest of homeowner Brian Salvatore.

http://www.ktbs.com/news/Man-Catches-Heat-Over-Solar-Panels/-/144844/17322526/-/dqcmx9z/-/index.html

 

A Half Million Dollar Embezzler

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This blogger has repeatedly said that embezzling in American HOAs is almost universal. There are no controls, and where there are no controls human beings universally drop to their lowest ethical level. Another example popped up in Davenport, Florida.

HOA president David Meadows has been arrested for allegedly stealing a half million dollars from his Homeowners Association. One resident, Danielle Groth, says it’s routine for her HOA to charge $100 a day for such things as cigarette butts on the ground to kids’ toys in the yard or the wrong style of window blinds.

The Florida State Attorney Generals office says a lot of that money ended up in David Meadows pocket.

The Bimini Bay Homeowners Association. Such a lovely place to live!

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_polk/davenport/davenport-hoa-president-accused-of-stealing-500k-from-association

An Amazing Lawsuit Against an HOA

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The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against a Florida Homeowners Association. The issue is whether it’s legal for an HOA to discriminate against families with children. The Federal Government claims in its lawsuit that the Townhomes of Kings Lake HOA have a pattern of violating the Fair Housing Act by harassing and taking action against families with children.

In one such case, the HOA threatened to evict a couple and their six children because the number of children exceeded HOA covenants.  The Justice Department claims by unduly limiting the number of children, the HOA was in violation of federal law.

A statement by Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez says,  “The Fair Housing Act ensures that families with children have an equal right to use and enjoy housing of their choice. The Justice Department will continue its vigorous enforcement of fair housing laws that protect the rights of families with children.”

The statement by this federal official is nothing more than astonishing. There are 302,000 Homeowners Associations in the country. Most of them regularly violate the Fair Housing Act in one way or another. Anyone who signs an agreement to abide by HOA regulations essentially signs away all his or her Constitutional rights. But the thought of this federal agency filing 302,000 more lawsuits is beyond comprehension.