Category Archives: Foreclosures

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

 

Solving HOA Problems With A Gun!

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Violence rarely solves a problem. But as Arizona psychologist Dr. Gary Solomon has long predicted, we’ll see ongoing increases in the number of angry HOA members using violence against board members and board members using violence against homeowners.

Thus, you have a homeowner beaten with a crowbar by an HOA board member in Kansas, angry homeowners in Arizona and Kentucky shooting and wounding or killing multiple board members during public meetings, a Colorado homeowner setting fire to a board member’s home, also a Colorado board member’s adult son setting fire to a homeowner’s home (in this case, mine). You have multiple instances of violence in the turbulent HOAs in Florida. In fact, that’s where the latest case happened.

Police in Port Orange arrested 67 year old Ronald Lovejoy for firing gunshots into two homes in his Countryside Homeowners Association. He was in some kind of dispute with his HOA and he apparently discharged his anger along with a few bullets. The homes were occupied at the time, but no one was injured.

Life in a rogue Homeowners Association can be incredibly stressful, and every so often some lunatic uses a weapon to settle the score.

What we really need is a national database of HOA related violence. Not emotional violence, there’s no way of ever accurately keeping track of that.

But physical HOA violence? That might be a little easier to track.

It’s also a reason to avoid life in HOA Amerika.

http://tinyurl.com/l2pmjzl

original source:

http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20130601/NEWS/130609984?Title=Port-Orange-man-shoots-into-homes-after-disagreement-with-HOA-police-say

The Times, They Are A-Changin’

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Bobbie Dylan, you ought to be singing about our movement! Little by little, here and there, laws are slowly being enacted to reign in some of the fascism in rogue Homeowners Associations. Nevada, which was hit by the worst HOA scandal in the country, has just passed a law signed today by the Governor.

Beginning October 1st homeowners who are hit with Nazi tactics by overreaching board members at least have a chance to file for dispute mediation. For 250 bucks apiece two warring parties can have three hours to present arguments in the dispute and an official decision is handed down in just sixty days. Each side has to pay their own legal bills, which should cut down on frivolous fines and crushing liens and foreclosures.

Nevada citizens who’ve lost their homes and retirement savings in the past ten or fifteen years will say it’s too little, too late. Still, it’s a start. This bill doesn’t do everything that’s needed to reign in the HOA scam, but hats off to those community leaders and legislators who got this thing passed.  

http://tinyurl.com/mud5q9n

original source:

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/77th2013/Reports/history.cfm?ID=836

A Fire In The Belly

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D-Day in my family is a day that has always commanded reverence. I have five family members buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and June 6th was the date that marked the major turning point for the Allies in World War II. Ed and Big Matt were best buddies at West Point during the late 1930s, although they ended up in different divisions in the U.S. Army in the invasion of France. Big Matt, my mother’s first husband, came ashore with the 1st Division in the weeks after D-Day. He was among those caught up in the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944. And when the Nazis surrounded Bastogne, Big Matt was killed on Christmas Eve during the American evacuation.

Ed landed in France with the 3rd Division shortly after his buddy, and he commanded a tank battalion under General George Patton. Ed’s tank was blown apart and he was critically wounded by a German bazooka in the town of Kaiserslautern, Germany.

After the war, while he was recovering from his monstrous head wounds, Ed ended up marrying Big Matt’s widow and I was born two years later. But throughout my life, the toughest two days of the year for my parents were D-Day and Christmas Eve. Christmas was always tough on us kids because Mom inevitably retreated to her room and endlessly cried as she re-read all the old love letters that had come through the Army’s V-mail system.

My father always told me, hate the evildoer and have a fire in your belly for rooting out injustice. He hated racial injustice. He hated injustice against the poor, the widows, the handicapped, the religious minorities.

I’ve never gone through the kind of pain and suffering that so badly damaged my family during those years. But it’s probably why I occasionally take up a crusade against the rank rotteness of those who try to abuse their power over others.