Homeowners test the power of their own association
Here is a detailed account of the Twin Rivers case, and thanks to Dianne McCarthy for forwarding it. The case was argued in the court of appeals just last Tuesday. This could be a blockbuster if we win (I served as expert witness for the plaintiffs, the Committee for a Better Twin Rivers, who are seeking to bring the HOA under certain limits of the New Jersey Constitution).
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The lawsuit filed by a handful of Twin Rivers residents seeks to subject community associations to one of the biggest checks on the power of municipalities: the risk that a court can declare its actions unconstitutional. It is the latest in a long line of cases to pit the rights of property owners against those of individuals. When fundamental rights are at stake -- particularly rights of free speech -- courts have required the property interests of company towns, farm owners, private universities and regional shopping malls to yield. So far, however, no court has protected homebuyers against restrictions imposed by associations. A major issue in the Twin Rivers case is whether homeowners voluntarily accepted restrictions by purchasing their homes. They are required to sign contracts agreeing to pay their association fees and abide by association rules.
3 comments:
Recently I forwarded to the originator of this Blog a memorandum dealing with aspects of traffic law enforcement in territorial common interest communities. The memo examines constitutional law issues with respect to a limited, but important, issue in CIC life. I will be happy to share this research with interested persons who may have concerns about the use of private police forces to affect the civil liberties of HOA members and their guests. Tom Schornhorst
Emeritus Prof. of Law
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
schornho@indiana.edu
lndlaw@gulftel.com
Tom:
Thanks for this comment. It would be good to see your memo circulated to some of the activists.
The issue of whether HOAs should be subject to constitutional limitations of their powers continues be analyzed in a backwards manner. One cannot logically modify the constitutional limits the framers intended to regulate government to make them apply to private entities.
Rather, in order to achieve constitutional jurisdiction, the private HOA entity has to be governmentalized as a special district or annexed into an existing local government.
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