John Potter, a 92 year old veteran of World War II is trying to stay in the house he built for himself 56 years ago. It only appraises for about $50,000. Several years ago, Potter signed over his Power of Attorney to his daughter Janice Cottrill. Now she wants him gone even if she has to evict him.
Potter’s granddaughter went on an internet crusade and raised more than $140,000 to shut her mom up. But even though that’s nearly three times the value of the house, Cottrill is going through with the eviction. She wants the old man on the street.
I have a lot of sympathy for Chris Gilson, a homeowner in the Brandermill Community Association in Chesterfield County Virginia. But I also have a prediction. He’s about to lose his home and his life savings.
After years of unsuccessful attempts to plant a lawn in his rocky front yard, he planted a vegetable garden, which has grown quickly. Now his HOA is fining him ten bucks a day until he removes it. The HOA says it’s going to assess that fine each day for 90 days. Gilson says he’ll be glad to pay $900 for the privilege of keeping his garden. But the poor fellow just doesn’t get it.
Disobey a mindless demand from your HOA and you’ll be fined, of course. But the HOA doesn’t like being scorned. So what’s waiting for Gilson at the end of those 90 days is a lien on his home, massive new fines, legal fees, debt collection costs, a lawsuit, and eventually the foreclosure and sale of his home at auction. His house, of course, will be auctioned for just a few thousand dollars. The most likely buyer will be a friend of a board member or a buddy of the lawyer that brings the lawsuit. That ‘buddy’ will then kick back some money to the board member or the lawyer, and the home will quickly be sold and resold through a series of quick transactions. Those quick sale transactions are designed to make it impossible for Gilson to ever get back his home.
It’s the same kind of scam that cost Captain Michael Clauer his home while he was deployed in Iraq. His home was sold and re-sold in several transactions designed to make it impossible for him to get it back. The foreclosure against a serviceman deployed overseas was a blatant violation of federal law. So in Clauer’s case, a judge ordered a secret settlement that allowed Clauer to partially recover what he had lost.
Chris Gilson doesn’t have that kind of protection in the fight over his garden. He will lose. He will lose big time. With a scam as well-entrenched and as profitable as the HOA scam, very few if any people win. The one percent, or so, who actually win in court against an HOA end up with a massive net loss once the legal bills are paid.
Chris Gilson? Get out. Leave the neighborhood. This HOA will forever slander you, harass you, and vandalize you. Your daughters will be tormented by schoolmates. Anonymous calls will be made to your employer demanding that you be fired.
Well, I’ve been predicting for months that George Zimmerman would never get convicted in the murder of Trayvon Martin. At the most, I’ve been predicting a hung jury.
Folks, now I’m not so sure I was right. It turns out that Zimmerman’s defense attorney is dumber than a box of rocks.
From many media sources quoting the opening statements, Zimmerman’s lawyer started with the following knock-knock joke:
“I know how this may sound a bit weird in this context under these circumstances. But I think you’re the perfect audience for it as long as you — if you don’t like it or find it funny or appropriate, that you don’t hold it against Mr. Zimmerman, you can hold it against me. I have your assurance you won’t? Knock, knock. Who’s there? George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman who? Alright, good, you’re on the jury.”
The jury didn’t laugh.
Zimmerman, I’m telling you now. Your attorney is the biggest loser on the block. You’re facing second degree murder charges, my friend. You’re facing years in the slammer. The facts may ultimately show that you were actually on your back defending your own life when you fired that gun, killing Trayvon Martin. But the jury won’t remember any of those facts. They will, however, long remember that knock-knock joke. Zimmerman, my man, fire your lawyer and start representing yourself. You couldn’t do much worse.
Homeowners Associations everywhere should be trembling at the thought of the kinds of lawsuits they’re going to be facing. If Zimmerman is convicted, it’ll be a national symbol of the disgrace known as Homeowners Associations. It’ll be a symbol of the reality that people living in those precious gated communities are living under a false pretense of security. Zimmerman’s HOA has already paid out at least a million dollars to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.
If Zimmerman is found not guilty, he’ll have all the excuse in the world to sue his own HOA for not supporting him in his time of need. After all, he was the neighborhood watch captain. If he’s found guilty, then every HOA in the country will become a magnet for lawsuits.
Regardless of the outcome of this case, it’s going to be a grim time to be a member of a Homeowners Association.
The initial news was stunning. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer had just signed a campaign finance bill that radically changed the powers of Homeowners Boards and HOA managers. That little contradiction should raise your eyebrows. A campaign finance bill that allows untrained HOA managers to appear in Small Claims and Administrative Law Courts playing like make-believe lawyers on behalf of Homeowners Associations? A Campaign Finance bill that regulates whether Homeowners Associations can have on-street or off-street parking?
The story behind the story is that the Community Associations (CAI) Institute is in every Legislature in the land, constantly lobbying to increase the powers of HOAs, and weaken the Constitutional powers of average citizens. This organization has done a stunning job to radically transform our government. In the process, billions and billions of dollars have been sucked away from homeowners in these gated communities and funneled into the pockets of lawyers, property managers, favored vendors, and in many instances into the pockets of board members themselves. So there’s a steady stream of proposed HOA laws constantly flowing over the desks of confused lawmakers.
Arizona Representative Michelle Ugenti, a cute young thing, thought it would be a great idea to jam all these individual HOA proposals into a single package, House Bill 2371. It was defeated.
Then a few nights ago, while Legislators were debating Senate Bill 1454, the Campaign Finance bill, Michelle Ugenti, the cute young thing, sneakily slipped her failed HOA bill into the Campaign Finance bill which was passed amidst a slurry of other legislation.
Sneaky, underhanded, and exactly the kind of legislative dirty tricks that generate voters’ contempt for lawmakers.
Governor Brewer, faced with a mountain of bills to sign, signed off on the Campaign Finance bill. The process is eerily reminiscent of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s comment during the jam-down of the national health care law. “We have to pass the bill so we can all see what’s in it,” Pelosi said. Again, it’s the reason lawmakers are so despised.
The future of this fundamentally dishonest Arizona law is still up in the air for at least a couple of days. It becomes law this Wednesday, June 26th. But in the Arizona Constitution there’s a well-known rule that demands that the major content of a bill be reflected in the bill’s title. There’s nothing in the HOA reform montage even remotely connected with the title of the bill.
Blondie Brewer has every reason and responsibility to veto this bill and order the cute young thing to start being honest with the voters. They’re both Republicans. Brewer should show some leadership.
Not a word from CAI during this whole scam. They’re collectively holding their breath, of course. But if Brewer doesn’t catch on, there’ll be a hundred thousand champagne corks popping.
I recently spent eight long days in Wichita at the federal courthouse observing the pre-trial hearing of an HOA lawsuit where a Homeowners Association board member attacked and severely beat a homeowner with a crow bar! These six photos, taken at the hospital, show the viciousness of the attack.
It seems the homeowner discovered work being done on a neighbor’s condo that also happens to belong to the mother of an HOA board member. While others had been on a long waiting list to have their work orders completed, the board member opted to make his mother’s condo top priority over everyone else. The homeowner took his camera and phone to the nearby common area and proceeded to document this “special treatment.”
The board member saw him taking pictures while looking out his condo window, grabbed a crowbar from his garage and started clobbering the camera holding homeowner. The homeowner did not fight back. Obviously, one man was taken to the hospital by ambulance and the other went to jail!
Surprisingly, the District Attorney declined to press charges. The injured homeowner proceeded to file a civil suit in federal court. And as bizarre as this sounds, the HOA members, not their insurance company, are paying all the legal bills because the board member claims his actions were part of his “official duties” as a board member. The legal bills are already estimated at more than $200,000 and the case hasn’t even gone to trial yet!
The homeowner who was beaten began sending emails expressing his anger and frustration with the board of director’s conduct. He did not send any to the defendant. He admitted to the judge that it wasn’t one of his better moments when he attached the somewhat crude “Revenge Song” by Miles Betterman. The HOA board’s legal team actually played that YouTube song in the courtroom, claiming it amounted to a “death threat” to a board member. Give me a break!
The board is seeking a court-ordered injunction to take away this HOA member’s First Amendment rights to communicate with his neighbors. The board also created an HOA “no call” list and they fine this homeowner $100 for every email he sends. The U.S. Constitution be damned!
The community is divided with supporters and haters on both sides. This community has been plagued with lawsuits causing property values to plummet. Even more dramatic, the HOA members have installed security cameras aimed at every nook and cranny of this neighbor’s condo. They even have them installed in their cars!
One other interesting note: While being interrogated about life in this Kansas Homeowners Association, the board member on the stand was asked about a suicide committed by a female resident of the HOA. The woman reportedly had told neighbors she could no longer take the harassment from this particular board member. She hanged herself from a tree right next to the entrance sign to this HOA. I was stunned: When questioned under oath about this tragedy, the board member chuckled.
Dear Readers, let me take you by the shoulders and shake you until you totally understand the madness that’s happening in American HOA neighborhoods!!! “Love thy neighbor” is a completely dead commandment when it comes to life in an HOA!
Insanity!
I cringe to think of the special assessments these HOA homeowners are going to have to fork over when the dust clears. If this homeowner wins a sizeablelawsuit over the crowbar beating or the invasion of his privacy….put a fork in it…this HOA is done!
This story is so sickening, that I’d like to close with the only amusing part of the pre-trial hearing. It involved the HOA attorney and happened on Day 2.
The HOA attorney is very large with a girth that rivals that of Governor Chris Christy. Can you envision that image? While standing at the lectern and questioning a witness his suspenders came loose letting his pants drop down to the floor on one side while he was gripping the other and still questioning the witness. The judge didn’t see it, but those of us in the gallery sure did! Priceless! I nearly burst my lungs trying to keep from laughing out loud!
(Editor’s note:)
Please help this story go viral. Every homeowner in America should read it. Send it to everyone on your email list and ask them to do the same. Send it to your friends, and make the same request to keep it moving throughout our country.
I’m including a link to the song that was actually played as evidence in this Federal Court of law in the case described above. If you are easily offended DO NOT click on the link. If, however, you do listen to the song, just keep in mind that it was introduced into the U.S. District Court record by a well-known Kansas Homeowners Association and its attorneys and is now part of the official court record. Actually, this song could eventually become the national anthem for the anti-HOA movement. Bizarre.
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Potter’s granddaughter went on an internet crusade and raised more than $140,000 to shut her mom up. But even though that’s nearly three times the value of the house, Cottrill is going through with the eviction. She wants the old man on the street.![3p1[1]](http://neighborsatwar.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/3p11.jpg)
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