Political scientists and public opinion organizations are looking to the judiciary to fulfill its constitutional role as a separate and equal branch of government, and to establish justice in HOA-land. Others argue that the independence of the judiciary, in general, has been tainted over the years, and justice with respect to legal principles is tainted by the personal preferences of the judges themselves. Why else is there the highly controversial debate on the selection of new Supreme Court Justices? America is no longer a land under the rule of law, but a land under the rule of the men in black and their political leanings; where the doctrine of stare decisis, itself, falls victim to the preferences of the judges.
Stare decisis is the rule of law that imports the aura of legitimacy on the judicial process by holding future decisions to be bound by prior decisions that serve as “precedent.” The doctrine of stare decisis
Based on the above, it is not too difficult to understand why court decisions have, in general, favored homeowners associations over homeowners. State public policy is replete with HOA protectionism, which has an influence on the judges, and there’s a long history of HOA favorable decisions to serve as precedent. The negative precedent history is a direct result of the adhesion nature of the HOA governing documents and the state laws that deny, by commission and omission, homeowner protections. In short, no wonder the odds are against the restoration of individual liberties and freedoms.
For more, see Judicial precedent and HOA bias.
We also fell victim to a judge who “didn’t like our position” in an HOA-initiated lawsuit. Although we clearly prevailed in our lawsuit against the rogue HOA that exists at Tone Ranch Estates (Gilbert, Arizona) a judge awarded our HOA their fees. Yes…. We won AND we had to pay their fees. Welcome to life in an HOA, where you won’t win even if you win!
All this after a two year legal battle where:
a) Our HOA VP, John Calleja threatened to kill my husband–which was witnessed by several, including other neighbors. This after his deranged wife attempted physical, forcible entry in to our home, terrorizing our three young children. (Maria Calleja was still on our property when police showed up!)
b) Same HOA VP (and his wife!) were slapped with two consecutive years of Injunctions Against Harassment which were both subsequently kept in place even after they complained about them with the assistance of an HOA-funded lawyer during the second year.
c) Same HOA VP began using the Gilbert Police to “anonymously” harass us when we were legally parked on the public street and convinced at least one of his idiot friends to do the same. He did this while under his injunction that forbade him from harassing us.
d) Same HOA VP commited perjury in a court of law when confronted with the very recordings of his own voice (as provided to us by the Gilbert Police Department) and denied knowing anything about it. The recordings of the court proceedings are just HYSTERICAL.
e) Same HOA VP solicited neighbors to testify against us in the pending court case while he was under an injunction against harassment. Interestingly, not ONE neighbor would testify. The star witnesses of the HOA case were the HOA VP and his wife who by then collectively had threatened murder, trespassed our private property multiple times and each had two years of an injunction against harassment. He even sent the solicitation email to those neighbors to and/or from his place of business at Jansen Aircraft Systems Controls in Tempe. So, am I to assume that Harvey Jansen approves of illegal activity taking place at a business where he is Founder and CEO? Or perhaps he just didn’t know about it? Either way, I genuinely feel sorry for Harvey Jansen.
f) The Gilbert Town Prosecutor, Lynn Arouh has had our HOA VP’s name paraded across the desk at least three times for breaking the law but has so far refused to go after him on any charges. Incredible.
The moral of the story is this:
If you are on an HOA Board you can and will get away with everything short of murder.
I suppose all of this would be so unbelievable if it weren’t for the HUNDREDS of police reports, photos, videos, phone call transcriptions, emails from our HOA VP and court recordings that back up every inch of what is said in this lengthy comment. How these people can live with themselves is beyond me….
That being said, we still have our RV and we can legally park it in our driveway or on the street. We also successfully petitioned the Gilbert Town Council to improve and clarify existing Town of Gilbert parking ordinances and they passed with flying colors. We did this to benefit any other Gilbert residences that might fall victim to our horrible HOA or other HOAs that attempt to control publicly owned streets over which they have NO JURISDICTION.
Comment by Lynette Carrington — June 9, 2009 @ 4:57 pm |