‘Lawyer destroys HOA’: New HOA feels entitled to beach property of preexisting HOA, board president gets his after losing two lawsuits and going bankrupt

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Sep 8, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

I never thought I'd be writing about an HOA battle. The battle of the big man and the little man, if you will.

Even though HOAs can often be evil in disguise (or not really in disguise at all), there's nothing like a story where an HOA's enemy is a large, more sinister HOA. If you're wondering who you should root for, simply based on the fact that you think associations such as these have no redeeming qualities, it should definitely be the smaller one in this story. According to some commenters, you never thought you'd be rooting for a lawyer, either.

In this Reddit post, the original poster (OP) is recalling a lawyer friend of his and how they were called in by a small HOA to sue a larger, newer HOA. The new development assumed that the smaller HOA had easement rights to a beach property when only specific individual properties actually had legal rights to it. The newer HOA wanted their properties to also have easement rights, and they attempted to sue the smaller HOA under false assumptions. This resulted in multiple homeowners having to chip in for legal fees as a result of the lawsuit.

After this spiel, all you need to know is that a lawyer who knows what he's doing counter-sued on behalf of the smaller HOA, resulting in a second lawsuit, and the HOA president getting kicked out of the neighborhood and going bankrupt.

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    Cheezburger Image 10400211712
    via Prince James
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    Lawyer destroys HOA!
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    One of my friends is a land use attorney who told me this story about a case of his. Originally, there existed a small HOA with about a dozen houses in a coastal region. About half of these houses (individually, not as part of the HOA) had easement rights through a neighbor's property, to use a private road to access a nearby beach.
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    The problems started with a new development adjacent to the existing HOA, with over one hundred new houses. The president of this new development's HOA somehow got the idea that the smaller HOA had easement rights to access the beach (it didn't) and proposed merging the two into a new, larger HOA that he thought would inherit these easement rights for everyone.
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    Well the neighboring property owner got sick of hundreds of cars, which had no right to be there, tearing up his private road. So, he dumped some giant logs across the road and blocked off access for everyone. The president of this new HOA then sued the property owner on
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    behalf of the entire HOA, forcing all homeowners to pay an assessment to cover the legal costs. Enter my lawyer friend who was hired by one of the original homeowners with legitimate easement access.
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    He wrote up a letter to the HOA president. This thing was about 50 pages long. It included maps, diagrams, county filings, easements, along with pointing out all the relevant laws and case laws. Any possible arguments against his points were also brought up, along with the reasons why those arguments
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    would fail. In short, this was a completely ironclad explanation that what the HOA president was doing was incorrect. The main points were: 1. It was a handful of the original houses that had individual easement access 2. The original HOA itself did not have any easement access rights
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    3. Merging the new larger HOA with the original HOA does not mean the new houses inherited any rights 4. Spending the HOA's money on this lawsuit is illegal, because it doesn't benefit all of the homeowners equally (some of the original houses had actual easement rights and therefore should not have to pay for any lawsuit)
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    5. The manner in which the new HOA was formed was never done properly in the first place, and could be dissolved by the courts What did the HOA president do? Ignored all of this and continued with the lawsuit.
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    This ended up with another lawsuit against the HOA president personally by the original homeowners, who also filed to dissolve the HOA completely. This meant none of the houses could be assessed for legal bills, making the HOA president personally liable for all the legal bills for both lawsuits, which he lost.
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    As a result, the (former) HOA president went bankrupt and was forced to sell his house and move out of the neighborhood.
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    myprecioussssss... . 16h ago Aw, I love stories with a happy ending!
    via mypreciousssssssss
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    JustMePatrick 15h ago That attorney knew he had this guy by the Showed him how he had him by the bus and yet the guy resists till they pop off. Wow.
    via JustMePatrick
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    CdnPoster 15h ago Will the HOA president ever pay his bills???
    via CdnPoster
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    rando7651 · 4h ago . Who would play lawyer in this movie? I picture Danny McBride as the HOA president
    via rando7651
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    Level-Coast8642 • 15h ago They'll sometimes do that. My story of defeating an HOA (with an attorney) is not this glorious but I sure hoped it would be. To with people who think they own whatever they can see/want.
    via Level-Coast8642
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    Smooth_Security4607 OP • 10h ago . I have personally dealt with some very stupid HOA board members and some very stupid lawyers. They don't always get what they deserve in the end, but it's satisfying when they do.
    via Smooth_Security4607
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    Feisty_Donkey_5249 • 16h ago And they all (but one) lived happily ever after. 48 Reply ... . abtij37 2h ago HOA president severely suffered from an inflated ego obviously.
    via Feisty_Donkey_5249 / abtij37
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    BodybuilderOk5202 • 14h ago Only a story about an HOA can make a lawyer the hero. 24 ☐ Reply ... Rule556 . 13h ago Or maybe r/treelaw
    via BodybuilderOk5202 / Rule556
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    Smooth_Security4607 OP • 10h ago A good lawyer is worth every penny.
    via Smooth_Security4607

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