Category Archives: Free Speech

Being an HOA Board Member Could Get Dicey!

      1 Comment on Being an HOA Board Member Could Get Dicey!

There’s a case awaiting a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that could increase the risk for individual HOA board members and property managers. It involves passive and overt discrimination against certain protected classes. Overt discrimination needs no explanation. But passive or indirect discrimination, which often happens when no one intentionally means to discriminate, can lead to huge lawsuits and massive judgments against individual board members and homeowners. More and more protected classes have been filing lawsuits based on easier-to-prove passive discrimination.

If the Supreme Court declines to narrow the scope of federal discrimination laws then Katy bar the doors. Passive discrimination happens all the time in Homeowners Associations and it can only encourage more plaintiffs to make such claims. Insurance companies usually won’t pay for legal costs or judgments under federal or state discrimination laws.

When they begin to realize their personal liability HOA board members all over the country might start fleeing like rats from the Titanic. And many neighborhoods may decide to dissolve their HOAs forever.

The article linked below explains it far more intelligently than I did.

(pending Supreme Court decision)

(link to a prime example of the kinds of lawsuits that could start flying)

 

A change of heart for one HOA President?

      1 Comment on A change of heart for one HOA President?
guest blog by Deborah Goonan

Every once in a while, the unexpected happens.

Remember David Schneider, the former president of McKamy HOA, Dallas, Texas? He was the one who sued a small Jewish congregation and the owners of a home in the HOA, arguing that using the home for Jewish religious services was against HOA restrictions. The local judge dismissed that case about a month ago.

Then the City of Dallas sued the Congregation, citing city requirements to make $200,000 worth of improvements to the property in order to obtain a certificate of occupancy. Without the Certificate of Occupancy, the Congregation faces steep fines, and may be forced to find another location for worship after all.

The following day, someone painted swastikas on the Rabbi’s vehicle and a fence, and that was deeply upsetting to the Rabbi and his followers.

Well, now the HOA, apparently led by Schneider, is offering a $1500 reward to help apprehend those who painted the hateful symbols.

Could it be that Schneider has truly had a change of heart?

(link to story on TheBlaze)

Shocking Nastiness in Arizona HOA

      4 Comments on Shocking Nastiness in Arizona HOA

A regular reader of our Neighbors At War blog sent along this link about how a certain Arizona HOA does business. They use HOA funds to hire a well-known character assassin to ruin the reputations of homeowners who oppose board members or policies of the board.

As you read this, just recall that Arizona is the same state where a frustrated homeowner once gunned down members of his HOA board.

http://www.ahwatukee.com/opinion/article_52193ac4-c751-11e4-b1a4-2364a670117b.html

 

 

 

The Problem With Private Police

      2 Comments on The Problem With Private Police

Last year I ranted and railed about the Illinois Supreme Court allowing Homeowners Associations to hire untrained security guards who are allowed to make traffic ‘arrests.’ It was an idiotic decision because it put no limits on the police powers given to these ‘wanna-be’ cops. Anyone who’s covered news events for as many decades as I have knows that untrained guards cause many problems, not the least of which is unlimited liability to their employers.

Legitimate police officers are in constant training, their skills are always being honed, they’re repeatedly learning new law enforcement techniques, going to legal seminars and qualifying at the shooting range. Under the Illinois decision any 18 year old punk could put on a uniform, badge and gun, and even brandish an AK-47 if he so wished. There are no rules!

Now we read that it’s common practice in Homeowners Associations in Virginia. Fake cops there can even ‘invent’ fake police departments. After a number of incidents involving private cops, the Virginia Legislature is trying to give them some mandatory training.

But imagine the liability to the individual homeowner! A sex assault, a car accident during a chase, an accidental discharge of a weapon and a multi-million dollar lawsuit could be filed against the HOA that hired the fake cop. All those homeowners could be hit with special assessments to cover legal fees and liability judgments.

Very scary.

(link to Washington Post story on Virginia’s private cops)

 

Sewage backups a problem for St. Cloud condo complex, trailer community

      No Comments on Sewage backups a problem for St. Cloud condo complex, trailer community
guest blog by Deborah Goonan

There is a national misconception that HOAs are all prestigious gated communities or luxury condos for the wealthy. That’s just not the case. The vast majority of HOAs across the country are home to people of all income brackets.

Florida, like many other states, has its share of “affordable” and low-income housing in Associations. Most of these are multifamily arrangements such as low-rise condos and townhouses, or trailer parks where residents lease lot space.

But in St. Cloud, FL (Osceola County), owners in Palm Gardens condominium complex and Floridian RV Park have something to make a big stink about – literally. They’ve got sewage backing up when it rains, and bubbling up from the street and into yards. Their children cannot safely play in contaminated areas. The stench is terrible, and owners and residents are frustrated.

Florida DEP and Osceola County have been slow to respond. Palm Gardens condo owners have been told they will each have to come up with $3000 to rebuild the entire system, but few can afford that much money. They already pay $165 per month maintenance fees to the condo association.

It is unclear who will pay for repairs in both of these low-income residential neighborhoods, and perhaps that’s part of the reason these issues have festered so long.

This is another shining example of what can go wrong when public works are privatized: poorly built infrastructure, no regular maintenance or inspections of the system, finger-pointing and blame-shifting when inevitable problems come to the surface. Local governments say that the owners in the private community should pay for repairs. Owners say that building inspectors and code enforcement should have been doing their jobs all along. HOA and Condo Boards, with little guidance and oversight, have been allowed to underfund reserves or squander money over the years, and now owners cannot come up with hefty special assessments. They wonder, “Where did all our money go?”

Where indeed.

Palm Gardens condo complex

Floridian RV Park, WFTV Video coverage