The parents of a Pittsburgh boy who has health aversions to sunlight are suing their homeowners' association for permission to add a retractable awning to the front of their home.
Dan and Jaime Snyder's federal lawsuit says an awning would provide a shady place for 18-month-old Jonah to play. But the Summerset Neighborhood Association says awnings don't fit the designs of single-family homes in the plan.
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Awnings are popular on Pittsburgh area homes. In another less litigious time, a case like this would have been unimaginable.
1 comment:
"In another less litigious time, a case like this would have been unimaginable."
So true.
It used to be that people kept their word and honored the contracts they signed. If they agreed to abide by certain rules in exchange for preserving their property values, it was unimaginable that they would sue the other party to receive special treatment.
By filing this federal lawsuit against their neighbors, Dan and Jamie Snyder are contributing to an already overlawyered * society where expensive litigation is imposing increasing costs and burdens on consumers.
What is needed to put an end to frivolous actions like this are tort reform ** , and contracts that require arbitration and prohibit natural persons from exercising their 7th amendment rights.
Only then will homeowners who take pride in following the rules they agreed to be free from having to fear people like the Snyders from disturbing the communisty lifestyle they have chosen.
* The term "overlawyered" does not include rapacious collections attorneys, such as the ones who represent Communisty Associations when malcontent homeowners don't follow the rules and deadbeat homeowners don't pay their assessments, or any arbitrary fine or fee imposed on them.
** By "tort reform," we mean make it practically impossible for individuals to sue corporations (such as HOAs), but not the other way around.
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