New Page 1

THE CREECH COMPARISON

We did not live in High Gables when the Creech litigation began, although we did rent a home here while building our home and we knew it was going on. I remember receiving a copy of a letter from the Creech family that I brushed aside and I also remember making a conscious effort not to care anything about the dispute because it did not involve me - something that sounds all too familiar to me now. Even after learning more about it, however, I determined that regardless of the facts, the litigation seemed like a big waste of everyone's time and money. Just to see what I would be dealing with after I was served with my own lawsuit, I made copies of all of the pleadings filed in the Creech action, and my basic understanding of the Creech matter is the following.

The Creeches wanted an aluminum or cast iron type fence and the only types of fences that are specified in the High Gables covenants are split rail. At first, I found it puzzling that this would even be an issue, since the fence the Creeches installed was arguably much nicer than the typical split rail fences authorized by the covenants. Nevertheless, the Creeches apparently got sideways with their neighbors when they tried an end run around the ACC and the covenants and I saw where they even attempted to confirm the fence approval by making a notation regarding same on their HOA dues check.

The Board at that time apparently felt that since this was the first violation of the covenants and a direct challenge to its authority, it had to address the issue in a decisive manner. Doing so would set a precedent regarding the HOA's willingness to enforce the covenants and the HOA decided to make an example out of the Creeches and their handling of their fence approval. After all, the covenants were the covenants, and the failure to enforce them could be a sign of weakness that would lead to others seeking to circumvent them. It also appears that matters were made worse as a result of some personal dislike between the Creeches and some HOA Board members and that the Creeches escalated matters unnecessarily by filing a counterclaim for a dog bite by the then HOA President's dog.

The same lawyers now representing the HOA were involved and the two sides went to war. I am certain both sides thought they were doing the right thing at the time. Things between the parties got nasty and expensive fairly quickly.

I noticed some pleadings regarding the depositions of the Creeches and that Ms. Creech's deposition apparently took 5 hours and was subject to a request for a protective order by her counsel. The lawyers had a field day working on this one and before it got going really good, but sides had incurred substantial attorney's fees (I understand in the tens of thousands each, but do not really know), and the parties learned the hard way that principles are not always worth the costs to fight for them.

In any event, the matter was settled voluntarily by the parties, presumably to avoid further unnecessary expenses. I understand the Creech family no longer lives in the neighborhood and I believe the President of HOA at the time the litigation was instituted also moved. I do not know if the moves had anything to do with the litigation, although I am certain that things were quite unpleasant for all involved as they saw each other at the pool, on the playground and at neighborhood functions.

We are not the Creeches. It cannot be argued that we ever attempted to circumvent the HOA's "authority" or that we were trying to get away with anything. If you have not bothered to do so, take the time to read the Answer, Counterclaim and Third Party Complaint I filed, my views and other information I have posted on this web page. We obviously never intended not to pour our driveway and in fact had made arrangements to have it done within a week or two of moving in. It is true that I did not come to the HOA Board "hat in hand" once I realized I had more than I had bargained for with respect to the site issues, but most people would have handled this matter the same way.

I did not file a frivolous counterclaim (as contended towards the end of Mr. Pontrelli's December 30, 2005 letter to me) and I am not going to involve anyone who does not deserve to be involved. I have not yet made claims against any of the HOA Board members individually and I have not determined that I will use my ability to enforce the covenants myself to go after those of my neighbors who are not in compliance with the covenants. I sincerely believe that the anonymous letter was sent to me by a past or present member of the HOA Board and that its content is defamatory if it was published to others in the neighborhood besides me. I further believe that the letter from the HOA to the residents regarding the filing of the suit against me was untruthful and defamatory. I also want to know if the HOA Board circulated a petition requesting permission to sue me (as my son was told by his buddy) and what statements were made about me at that time.

Anyone who knows anything about our home construction project knows that we worked on it very long and hard, and please understand that when it came time to making a decision of whether we should move in what we believed to be a week or two before pouring our driveway, I was not interested in having a committee determine what was best for us to do under the circumstances. We were more than capable of making that determination for ourselves and I believed that involving the HOA Board would only have led to fines and litigation sooner rather than later. My feeling is that such belief was confirmed by the HOA's poor handling of this matter from the outset, and I know the HOA contends that it is my attitude and handling of this matter that is the real cause of the problem. All you need to know to understand where I am coming from, however, is that the HOA indicated in its settlement counterproposal to me that it wants me to pay its attorney's fees of $7,000.00 and to keep silent about my disagreement with it. What sense can that possibly make?

High Gables Main