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Title: Temporary injunction bars man from lighting up inside his Washington home after neighbors sue
Source:
FoxNews
URL Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/03/1 ... ide-his-washington-home-after/
Published: Mar 10, 2015
Author: Associated Press
Post Date: 2015-03-10 17:42:54 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 10518
Comments: 68
A temporary order by a Superior Court judge is keeping a man from smoking inside his home in the District of Columbia. WJLA-TV (http://bit.ly/1BrlPLl ) reports that Edwin Gray's next door neighbors in northeast Washington have filed a civil suit claiming they're being harmed by smoke that sneaks into their home through a hole in the basement. They are seeking an injunction and $500,000 in damages. A judge issued a temporary injunction last week saying neither Gray nor any family or guests may smoke in the home the family has owned for 50 years. Gray's sister, Mozella Johnson, says they will fight. In court filings and a statement, the neighbors say they tried to work with Johnson and Gray, and filed suit when mediation attempts failed.
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#4. To: cranky (#0)
Nuisance theory. You can do what you want on your property, but not if it creates a nuisance for your neighbors. In this case, it sounds like a complete breakdown of communications between warring neighbors. If smoke is coming through a hole in the basement, then the hole needs to be plugged, obviously. They went to mediation, but apparently could not agree on it. It's not hard to guess why: Gray and Johnson have been living there for 50 years, are older, and come from an era when cigarette smoke was not considered a nuisance. Times have changed, and now it is, and they're not going to get "grandfathered in" on it, because it's a recognized health issue. They almost certainly took the: "our home, we've been there, we don't have to do anything, too expensive to plug, unreasonable to ask us" approach. They would have certainly won the case 50 years ago, or 30, or 20. But today? No. Today, cigarette smoke is considered a carcinogen, and those who are generating it will be found to have the abatement responsibility. Gray and Johnson have already lost, and they'll keep on losing here. My own personal opinion? The obvious answer: Johnson and Gray should remediate by plugging the holes, at their expense. An objective third party tester should conduct tests to ensure the remediation is effective, and then that's that.
I've dealt with this bullshit, often. Most people like this hate each other and any kind of communication or reason is fruitless. This complaining neighbor must feel that his neighbors deed must dictate no smoking, for his benefit. How arrogant.
The court should be wise enough to force both parties to pay for plugging the holes. My guess is the court will want to intervene to punish any smokers and to lay down precedents for further regulation of homes by courts. BigGov wants inside your front door. Where are all the libs screaming about the government in their bedrooms? Apparently, that doesn't count when they don't want it to. Of course, it's a craphole Blue dominion so they'll go for intrusiveness. It would be a different story in most Red states.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong,but don't stacked boxes like that have Homeowners organizations that collect monthly dues to do repairs to common areas?
Not all of them. They look like post-war row houses to me.
I'm guessing that the kind and loving yuppie that filed this complaint to strike a blow for communal living everywhere (once we get rid of the darkies,of course)will soon be organizing his fellow trust fund explorers who are moving in to create one. I would live in a tent in the woods before I would have a Home Owners Committee of busy-body airhead lefties dictate to me how I have to live and think at home.
Many of these homeowners only lack the swastikas to qualify as Nazis. Very heavyhanded. Now and then, you see a few victories against these petty tyrants. My favorite is the one with Rick Perry, a comedy goldmine when he struck back at these busybodies over the small Jewish mezuzahs on doorposts, a very ancient Jewish custom. A 26-inch-long stone box—about six times bigger than the kind Jewish families typically use to affix a tiny Torah scroll to their doorframe—is being marketed as a Texas-sized “Rick Perry mezuzah.” The Rick Perry mezuzah and a regular one. (Mezuzah Store) Earlier this summer, the Texas governor signed a law protecting religious displays outside homes, inspired by the case of a Jewish couple in Houston asked by their homeowners association to take down their small mezuzah. MezuzahStore.com is honoring Perry by naming their largest mezuzah after him, designed to be just longer than the 24-inch allowance given by the new Texas law and costing $999. The store clarifies they do not endorse Perry, now a presidential candidate, but support the law and want to poke fun at the bigger-in-Texas stereotype. Mezuzot fulfill the Torah’s commandment to display God’s teachings on the doorpost of your homes. Perry topped off this feat by hosting a little Hannukah party where he held hands and danced with other dudes around the governor's desk a month later to celebrate on 9/27/2011. Gotta love how Texas increased the allowed mezuzah size to a whopping 24" and the Jewish mezuzah suppliers promptly introduced a 26" model named after Perry. Witty.
I agree that Texas Home Owners Associations often behave like a bunch of jack-booted Nazis, but I don't know if I can honestly describe them as being politically "left wing" or "right wing." Seems to me like their more like sockpuppet employees of whatever real estate developer who built the community. Instead of having any truely elected local government, these petty tyrants settle neighborhood disputes involving loose dogs, junk cars in the driveway, unraked leaves, uncut grass, etc. etc. etc. So a lot depends on how pissy your neigbors are with the lawn ornaments. Some ornamentation is tasteful and blends with the style of the neighborhood, other ornamentation is tacky & tasteless and detracts from property values. And it's up to the unelected, real estate developers hired mignons to settle the disputes.
*I* am NOT responsible for anyone else's property values and future potential profits. If you don't like the way I live,you shouldn't have bought a house close to me. If you did and I offends you,you have a perfect right to buy me out by making it worth my while to move. If that doesn't appeal to you,pack YOUR ass up and move. Please note that I have zero sympathy for people who knowingly bought property controlled by a homeowners organization. They knew what they were getting when they signed on the dotted line,and have no one to blame but themselves. I had a good friend that sold his paid off house in the early 80's,and used the entire amount as a downpayment on a quarter million dollar house in an exclusive neighborhood. I was visiting him one day and we got to talking about tv programs and he started talking about how unhappy he was with the local cable supplier,so I asked him why he didn't just get a sat dish. He told me the homeowners committee had banned sat dishes as well as antennas for esthetic reasons. It was thought they hurt property values. I then told him to just put the damn thing up in his back yard and nobody would know about it because it was fenced off by a tall wood fence in front,and in the back it was facing a lake over a half-mile wide. That's when he told me about his next door neighbor that had put up a clothes line in her back yard because she didn't like clothes driers and liked the way clothes smelled that dried in the sun. One of the alleged people that live in that development spotted her clothesline though the telescope he was using to view and take photos of the backyards of people across the lake from them not only ratted her out,but gave the board photos of the line with clothes on it. Instead of having this yahoo looked up as a peeping tom,they fined that woman and told her the fine would be repeated for every day the line was up starting on a certain date,and that if push came to shove they would force her to sell and move. To be honest I have zero sympathy for her because in MY mind she just encouraged this sort of shit when she signed the agreement so she would have the "privilege" of paying too much for upscale tract housing. I AM outraged that the goober across the lake wasn't arrested for being a peeping tom,though. You KNOW this guy was looking into fenced back yards to look at women and girls sunbathing with no clothes on,no matter how much he claimed he was working as a zoning Nazi in the public interest. IMHO,people whose back yards face a half-mile of open water and whose front and side yards are fenced off have a reasonable expectation of privacy,and that SOB was trespassing and peeping. I kinda pissed my friend off too,when I told him he knew about that crap when he bought the place,so he needed to live with that cable company and quit whining because he was getting what he had paid for.
Hey... maybe I bought my house FIRST and YOU moved next door to ME. The homeowner's association gets pretty pissy about stuff like that... They'll come down on you a LOT harder than just nagging you about getting your lawn manicured properly.
I would not live in a locale where I had to belong to a Homeowners Association.
I lived in one back when I was a working stiff and didn't have time for petty stuff and had no inkling to change my compliant townhome. It worked out fine for me back then, although I've read many horror stories where it didn't for some. I agree with you, now I wouldn't move into one of those HOA communities. But I understand why some people seek them out. One story I remember from a friend who lived in one of those HOA places. One of the neighbors had a classic type pickup truck...1950s model, fully restored and candy apple red...really nice looking vehicle. The problem was his HOA didn't allow pickup trucks in its parking lot with the exception of day workers (not residents). I'm not sure how that worked out for him.
There is a woody residential neighborhood near where I used to live that had a total of ZERO houses on it when I was growing up. The "road" was two tire tracks through the woods and dunes. Then it was developed as an exclusive "golf club neighborhood" for retired yankees,and things went all to hell. They even took over the local volunteer fire department when enough of them were members to vote to change the meetings to 1 PM on a weekday afternoon instead of at 7 PM at night,because it was more convenient for the retired people that didn't have to work. They incorporated and got state funds to pave the road and to their houses,and the next thing you know they passed a HOA order that banned pickup trucks. You could own one,but it had to stay parked inside your garage and out of sight or you could be fined 50 bucks for each violation. In the late 70's,early 80,s this was big money. They did make an exception for "contractor trucks" as long as it had commercial tags,signs on the doors,and they left immediately after delivering or repairing what they were there to deliver or repair. They even wrote a regulation against "contractor dogs" being allowed in the community,and the home or property owner would be fined is any were spotted. Lots of construction workers back then took their dogs to work with them,and the dogs mostly stayed in the trucks to guard their tools from other contractors. I went back to visit relatives in the late 80's,and decided to drive through that community instead of the more direct route,just to see the changes. Sure enough,I was stopped by a deputy that wanted to know where I was going and to tell me I was violating the law by driving my new Dodge pu down the paved road. I told him to kiss my big red ass because I was a taxpayer and the taxpayers paid to get that road paved,and I would drive down it any damn time I wanted,and just drove away and left him standing in the road. He KNEW he had no legal authority to prevent anyone from driving down a public road just because of the type of vehicle they were operating,and he knew he had no legal authority to issue a ticket that would result in a fine. He had no choice because the HOA basically paid his paycheck,and they were his bosses. It really is shocking some of the crap that people allow others to pull on them.
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#8. To: Vicomte13 (#4)
(Edited)
In this case, it sounds like a complete breakdown of communications between warring neighbors. If smoke is coming through a hole in the basement, then the hole needs to be plugged, obviously.
#17. To: GrandIsland (#8)
I've dealt with this bullshit, often. Most people like this hate each other and any kind of communication or reason is fruitless.
#26. To: TooConservative (#17)
The court should be wise enough to force both parties to pay for plugging the holes.
#28. To: sneakypete (#26)
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong,but don't stacked boxes like that have Homeowners organizations that collect monthly dues to do repairs to common areas?
#29. To: TooConservative (#28)
Not all of them. They look like post-war row houses to me.
#30. To: sneakypete, redleghunter, Willie Green (#29)
I would live in a tent in the woods before I would have a Home Owners Committee of busy-body airhead lefties dictate to me how I have to live and think at home.
‘Rick Perry mezuzah’ proves Jewish objects are also bigger in Texas
#35. To: TooConservative (#30)
I would live in a tent in the woods before I would have a Home Owners Committee of busy-body airhead lefties dictate to me how I have to live and think at home.
Many of these homeowners only lack the swastikas to qualify as Nazis. Very heavyhanded.
Now and then, you see a few victories against these petty tyrants.
#43. To: Willie Green (#35)
Some ornamentation is tasteful and blends with the style of the neighborhood, other ornamentation is tacky & tasteless and detracts from property values.
#48. To: sneakypete (#43)
*I* am NOT responsible for anyone else's property values and future potential profits.
If you don't like the way I live,you shouldn't have bought a house close to me.
And maybe YOU'RE the one devaluing the neighborhood's property values because YOU'RE the one operating a auto repair shop out of your garage and it's strictly a residential neighborhood.
#53. To: Willie Green, sneakypete (#48)
" The homeowner's association gets pretty pissy about stuff like that
#54. To: Stoner (#53)
#59. To: Fred Mertz (#54)
One story I remember from a friend who lived in one of those HOA places. One of the neighbors had a classic type pickup truck...1950s model, fully restored and candy apple red...really nice looking vehicle. The problem was his HOA didn't allow pickup trucks in its parking lot with the exception of day workers (not residents). I'm not sure how that worked out for him.
Replies to Comment # 59.
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