Category Archives: lawsuit

Tell Someone You Love, They’re Stupid

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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)

President – James Jarboe 
Vice-President – Gary Yates
Secretary – Graeme Woodbrook 

While no direct emails could be located, the general email address for the HOA is: bayheadlanding01@gmail.com

 

Huh? There’s Jews In The Neighborhood?

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Anti-Semitism is vile wherever it pops up. If you’ve read my book, Neighbors at War, you’ll read how the modern HOA movement was started in 1964 just months after the Civil Rights Law was enacted. In other words, Homeowners Associations were started as ‘private clubs’ to keep Jews, Negroes, and Orientals out of white neighborhoods. The language of those whites-only sentiments can still be found in millions of real estate deeds across the country. 

Keeping minorities out of ‘private clubs’ worked pretty well for a few decades. One of the heroes of the anti-HOA movement will never know the huge impact he had on the history of civil rights and HOAs. It was Tiger Woods’ victory in the Jerry Pate golf tournament that got the PGA scrambling to make sure it didn’t inadvertently schedule national tournaments in whites-only country clubs.

Back to discrimination against Jews, the latest fascinating court decision comes to us from Dallas. The Highlands of McKamy Homeowners Association tried to stop an Orthodox Jewish congregation from gathering in their neighborhood. And of course, the apparent timing was aimed at getting them tossed out before Passover. That story is linked below.

Ah, Passover. I have an incredibly personal story aimed for the coming Easter weekend, but in the meantime this article from North Dallas really ought to be read by all those who respect and revere the Jewish people. 

(link to Dallas story)

 

Board Members Sell Out And Get Out!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings
  
What do Walt, C.J., Bill, Molly, Pat, Porter, Vern, and Tom have in common? They were all HOA board members. Shortly after serving on the board or while on the board they sold and got out!  Could that be because they had access to records and information about lawsuits that the ordinary HOA “pariah” didn’t?  Could it be because they saw the “light” on this dilapidated HOA and all of it’s failed plans and programs?  Or is it because of the million dollar debt?
 
Whatever the reason, it does make a difference when you have access to “insider” information.
 
When a “pariah” wants to see HOA records they must make the request and pay by the hour to examine them.  A “pariah” has to pay additional copying fees for each page.  They don’t know how many lawsuits the HOA has filed or how many have been filed against the HOA.  They don’t have a say in whether the board borrows $1,000,000 on a line of credit… and then agrees to pay the property manager 10% of it as some sort of “finder’s fee” or “management fee” on top of the hundreds of thousands per year he’s already collecting.
 
What seems to have been “brushed under the rug” in a majority of HOAs is the fiduciary duty that a board member has to the homeowners.  What happened to that?  Is it just some unheard of and forgotten obligation that board members routinely ignore?
 
And how have these board members managed to get thousands of dollars worth of work done on their units before selling them?  While the neighborhood “pariahs” have work orders that collect dust for years.
 
I’m going to offer up this piece of advice for whatever it’s worth to our readers. If your board members are heading out the exit…you should, too.  Pay close attention to the real estate listings in your HOA.  Check the addresses against your county records for owners’ names.  Board members’ properties listed for sale could be a sure sign something is rotten in the HOA!!!
 
“Pariah” was used in an HOA newsletter by the HOA president to describe homeowners who insisted the dues be used to repair their wood rotted houses as opposed to having the clubhouse completely redone.  Since the clubhouse is rarely rented anyway, that project made no sense when the exterior of the houses was rotted so severely there is frame damage.  But the board president decided to self-deal the clubhouse redo through her personal “decorating” company. And the HOA newsletter (it was learned in court) is printed by her “publishing” company!  Which was how she justified pocketing all the advertising dollars from the ads that paid for the newsletter…and the profits became hers, too.  Another one of her self-dealings!  Her “pariah” newsletter was presented in front of a judge and jury…it most definitely helped the homeowner win all counts of the lawsuit.  Hooray!  Just another reminder you just can’t fix stupid!
 
Oh yes, and imagine this…the state has NO RECORD of her owning a decorating or publishing company. How many 80 year olds do you know who have the energy to own and manage two flourishing businesses that “cater” to the HOA while being president of the HOA? Since she’s been exposed she uses her middle finger to express her displeasure to her neighbors.  Nope, she’s not even a classy old lady!

Guts in California, No Guts in Florida

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If an award could ever be given to the most irresponsible organization in America, top consideration would have to go to CAI, the Community Associations Institute. The institute has essentially clawed its way to the top of the political food chain, deceiving thousands of Legislators and millions of homeowners into believing it’s a benign organization meant to benefit homeowners. In reality, it’s a massively wealthy parasitic lobbying industry which is sucking the lifeblood out of 335,000 American neighborhoods. CAI is no friend of homeowners. But it, along with other huge lawyer referral agencies like Senator John Carona’s Associa, are throwing billions of dollars into the fight to keep legal control of the HOA racket.

In California, a state which is facing an epic drought and the stark reality of looming food shortages, the simians at CAI have tried to argue that the Legislature has no business ordering homeowners to obey emergency drought restrictions. No, those HOA homes have lush green lawns while the state’s Central Valley is no longer able to supply the food needs of the nation.

Thank God that there’s a God. Because the California Assembly has overwhelmingly voted to ignore the ranting of the CAI primates.

Things are much more difficult in Florida, where it appears the attempt to reign in the horrible abuses of homeowners has again been quashed in the Legislature.

On second thought, maybe critics like me should begin to admire the sledgehammer lobbying tactics of the HOA industry. After all, it takes some talent to disembowel and skin an animal after a deer hunt. Those chops aren’t learned easily.

(link to Associated Press story on drought)

(link to death of Florida legislation)

 

Nasty, Nasty Duck Dynasty!

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A&E’s TV series, Duck Dynasty, is truly one of the most remarkable shows on television. Yes, it’s been controversial at times, but members of this West Monroe, Louisiana family appear fearless as they deal with personality differences, and walk viewers through the intricacies of their lives.

I also know, after a lifetime of working in television, that almost all of these ‘reality’ shows are heavily choreographed and orchestrated. Sorry if that pops your bubble, but those are the facts of life.

Still, there are some things that can’t be faked. Many of us saw a Duck Dynasty episode a year ago when the Robertson family showed up at their HOA board meeting after being dinged for owning chickens and for burning leaves. The faces in the room are priceless. The vacant far-away, shell-shocked expressions among homeowners should be given some kind of acting award. The matriarch’s repeated statement that she brought a casserole to the HOA meeting had me rolling in laughter. Faked or not, this episode was hilarious.

If anyone among our readership has contact with the Robertson family, or their producers, or the many actors and technicians who work on their set, please let me know. I want to send them some copies of Neighbors At War!

(link to Robertson family’s HOA appearance)