Category Archives: Home Assoc

An Amazing Lawsuit Filed in Arizona

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It’s long been the opinion of this blogger, that the American Homeowners Association Movement is destined to collapse under the weight of its own corruption, deceit and abuse of power. That day is still in the future. In the meantime, an amazing lawsuit against illegal activity among that state’s HOAs has been filed in court. What a relief! There may be some lawyers admitted into Heaven after all! The law firm’s press release is below:

The Law Offices of J. Roger Wood, PLLC 1628 East Southern Avenue, Suite 9-310 – Tempe, Arizona 85282, (602) 324-7126 –

For Immediate Release:

Class Action Lawsuit Filed by Arizona Homeowners Against

Arizona HOA Management Companies Alleging Millions of Dollars of Damages for Violations of Federal Debt Collection Laws and Arizona Law

(Phoenix, Arizona – September 20, 2012)

– Two Arizona homeowners, have filed a class action lawsuit against twenty-seven Arizona community association management companies (“CAMs”).

There are thousands of Homeowners Associations and Condominium Associations in Arizona. A majority of those HOAs contract with management companies to assist the HOA and its Board with the day to day operations of the Association. In addition to the every day tasks, some Arizona CAMs also have made agreements to assist HOAs in collecting past due homeowner assessments.

The complaint alleges that these CAMs, acting as third-party debt collectors, have engaged in unlawful activities in their attempts to collect past due assessments from Arizona homeowners. The plaintiffs allege that the CAMs have and continue to pursue Arizona homeowners by charging collection costs and related fees that are not authorized by law. Public court and county property records show that CAMs have wrongfully filed and recorded thousands of liens, lawsuits and judgments in violation of the federal Arizona Court Rules, the federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, the Arizona Constitution and Arizona’s wrongful lien laws.

The plaintiffs allege that the CAMs’ collection activities violate Arizona’s rules regarding the unauthorized practice of law. The public record shows that CAMs sign and record liens, file lawsuits, negotiate the legal rights of third parties, appear in Court and collect fees for these services. Arizona law does not allow non-lawyers to act on behalf of a third parties in legal matters. Such activities require a law license and these violations trigger liability under federal debt collection laws. The CAMs’ unlawful fees for these activities have cost Arizona homeowners millions of dollars.

The lawsuit seeks to end these unlawful practices and also seeks an award of damages for the named homeowners and the thousands of other Arizona homeowners who have been victimized by these CAMs and their unlawful collections activities.

The Law Offices of J. Roger Wood represents Arizona homeowners who have disputes with their Homeowners Associations or Condominium. Watters and Watters are trial lawyers representing Arizonans in civil litigation, including employment issues or toxic tort exposures. The firms are working together on this case, seeking to right these serious wrongs. They can be contacted at

info@jrogerwoodlaw.com or legalhelp@watterslaw.com or at the telephone numbers listed above.

Watters & Watters, PLLC P.O. Box 65147 – Tucson, Arizona 85728

How the Lowly Honeybee Could Impact Your Life

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We are alive on this Earth because of the lowly honeybee. Without it, our crops couldn’t be pollinated, and much of today’s food production would virtually vanish.

So a legal case is developing in Tennessee over whether an HOA member could keep some honeybees.  Even better, there are profound implications on whether HOAs are de facto governments, as most of us believe they are. Better people than I are blogging about this right now, including Arizona’s homeowners champion, George Staropoli. It’s an important read!

http://pvtgov.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/hoa-principalities-to-bee-or-not-to-bee-one-government-under-the-constitution/trackback/

Feds Claim Lawyer Amesbury Killed Himself

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That’s the official conclusion of investigators looking into the death of Nevada Lawyer David Amesbury. He used to run the ever-popular CourtHouse Restaurant. His wife was a former Clark County Prosecutor. Earlier he had pleaded guilty to criminal wrongdoing and taking a small part in a massive scheme to make a faked buy of homes inside of Las Vegas gated neighborhoods.

The scheme required the fake neighbors to become fake board association members to take fake votes to send fake construction remediation work to fake construction companies all overseen by Las Vegas attorney Nancy Quon, who it turns out was the queen of all fakes, herself. She faked a drug overdose, she faked a fire in her home supposedly to commit suicide. But she was pulled from the flames just in the nick of time. “Whew! that was close!” A bit later, Quon chose some better drugs and some bath water to do the trick.

Sure, Amesbury was a little embarrassed to get caught up in this mess, but he was about to get a huge break.  A lighter sentence and maybe some traveling money to rat out some low level racketeers. You don’t commit suicide for that. you commit suicide because someone is scaring you so badly that you feel there’s no way out. That could be the prosecutors. Or it could be his low-life former business partners.

Of the first ten people invited to plead guilty in the Federal Grand Jury investigation, four of them committed suicide. Now think about this: four high ranking police officials and two rich attorneys pleaded guilty in exchange for their testimony against a couple of low-lifes?   Is something just not registering in the minds of Las Vegas residents? Aren’t there a few too many “fakes” in this story? The basic plot line just doesn’t fit “Tthe 100 Monkey Test.”

In David Amesbury’s case, he’s found lying on his face behind the gates on one of those gilded neighborhoods, he’s beaten to a pulp, his pants are yanked down below his ankles. and his knees are broken backwards. Yet we’re to believe this brutalized 56 year old man had the strength to climb to the rafters in his brother’s barn and hang himself?  it’s a good story but his family doesn’t buy it. They public may not be buying it, either.

Ward Lucas, author of Neighbors At War! The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Second Man Dies After HOA Shootings

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A former doctor is now facing a second murder charge after the death of a man he wounded Thursday night.

The second man, 69-year-old Marvin Fisher, died Sunday. He was a member of the HOA board of directors and a past president.  The other victim who was killed instantly Thursday night was the current HOA president, David Merritt. The suspect, 51 year old Mahmoud Hindi had a longstanding dispute with the Homeowners Association. The HOA had repeatedly demanded he remove a fence and a driveway which were not built according to rules and regulations of the community.

Ward Lucas, author of Neighbors At War! The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Let’s Brainstorm

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Let’s suppose you are King of the World, and it’s your job to re-write the rules governing Homeowners Associations. Let’s also make the assumption that some kind of neighborhood controls are necessary to ensure that property is kept in good condition. Possibly another assumption is that many homeowners would continue to be apathetic about neighborhood governance. The goal, here, is to build a friendly neighborhood, not one that scares people and drives them into their caves. How would you change the current system to avoid corruption, abusive board members, making liens rare, and making liens fair?

I’d love to hear your solutions, no matter how wild.