What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Colorado
This is quite a sticky situation, and different from others I've read in the forum. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I've lived in a town home I bought brand new about 10 years ago. I've received my share of violations, but I've been harassed the entire time I've lived here. I've let it go for the most part. Last year flooding issues in the Common Area in front of my building (4 units to a building) were getting worse, causing more damage to the interior of all the units. Roof water was not properly directed, and I had my own private lake out front of my building on the grass. Also they were watering too much, and every night when it would rain. The water would build up out front of my house, and get under my tile and carpet... I'm sure there's mold everywhere. I have an estimate for nearly $14k in damages by a disaster restoration company.
I started communicating with the management company by email back in April of 2010. I stated there were problems, and too much sprinkler watering and that it was money out of our pockets... money wasted. She said she'd look into it. They sent out a contractor a couple weeks later, and said it'd get fixed. Meanwhile I continued to contact the management company and ask the status. By the end of June I had had enough, and said I needed to know the status or I would get an attorney. The property manager told me not to contact them again about it. I sent another email in July about another flood, with no response. Finally in September of 2010 I sent a letter via certified mail stating the problems. With this, I had officially put them on notice.
Then came May 2011 when I found out we had a new property manager (not management company). I called and spoke with her, and she was of coure oblivious to it. I sent her my stuff, and she started looking into it and took it to the board. I attended the June 2011 board meeting and brought them a copy of the letter. By this point, they knew I was planning to file suit. They denied ever receiving the letter I sent, and said this was the first they had heard of the problem. Suuuuuuuuuuuuure, I thought to myself. My neighbors were in attendance, and I got the whole meeting recorded.
Finally, on July 29th, 2011, after a serious amount of work and research on my own part, I filed suit against my association in County Civil court, without an attorney, for breech of contract and negligence. They clearly violated a section of their CC&R's, and are liable for damage to my unit from the flooding.
Two weeks after filing, I received communication from their attorney, attempting to settle. I think they thought it would be a walk in the park to settle with me, but I'm not that easy. They want me to settle with prejudice for an amount of money to fix the inside. They have already taken steps to fix the Common Area, although I don't feel they are sufficient. We've been going back and forth trying to agree on a number, and they decided to send out their own estimator. We have continued this case for 2 weeks already, but I think we can reach an agreement within that time.
Now that I've told my story, on to where I need advice:
I have a new board member that has been a neighbor of mine since we moved into the new buildings. I don't talk to this guy, as he rubbed me the wrong way when I first met him, so I stay away from him. He's been on the board since April 2011. The rest of the 3 board members are 3 old ladies who live close to each other and violate so many rules it's ridiculous. I cannot get them to comply to the rules they enforce.
This guy who lives within a hundred feet of me, has started harassing me in the last 3 weeks. Yelling at me from across the way, telling me I'm doing things wrong, targeting me, basically what I'd call stalking. It's clearly retaliatory because of my suit against the Association. He's made it personal, which I just don't understand. He's not targeting anyone else.
Yesterday was the last straw. I was in my garage for a minute grabbing something out of my car, about to leave the house. This guy drives up tailgating my neighbor, and slows way down in front of my place, staring at my garage door (we have a rule that garage doors are not to remain open). I walked out of my garage staring at him just watching to see what he's doing, and if he's targeting me. My neighbor comes up to me and says "Jesus, did you see him tailgating me?", so I start talking to her about it all, and suddenly this guy yells at me from across the road "What did you say to me?"... I asked him 3 times because I didn't hear him. Then I said "I surely wasn't talking to you". He says "Sure... I just want to make sure I catch every word you say to me, so I can get it alllllll down". Like WTF? I am doing absolutely nothing to this guy, he's never targeted me for the 10 years we've lived here. Suddenly I file suit against my HOA, and he's personally upset about it. I'm getting to the point where I'm becoming emotionally distressed because every time this happens, I have to research and figure out what's the next step and how I can go after them for it, since I have no attorney.
I have a little advice from my cousin who is an attorney in another state, and my father who has been officers on many HOA boards. But this adds a whole new aspect to the mix, and I'm not sure how to get it to stop.
The only thing I've been able to come up with is tonight I plan on calling an officer out to the house, and having him accompany me to this board member's house. That way I can confront him directly and make it clear that I feel that he is harassing me through stalking. As stated in CO law, stalking is when a person "Repeatedly follow, approach, contact, watch, or attempt communication with someone, a member of their family, or someone they have a relationship with in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to suffer serious emotional distress and does cause someone to suffer serious emotional distress".
At this point, I'm becoming so stressed out that I have other people making comments to me about my attitude, and how lost I am in this battle, and that I cannot focus on anything else. It is affecting my work, and my home life. I have made every effort to live by the rules since filing my suit, but this guy is making every effort to draw me into harassing him, or trying to find any rule I could be violating. I was smart enough to file a suit in County Court against my association, by myself, without ANY formal legal training, and be offered a settlement. I'm not stupid enough to be drawn into me harassing them.
Sorry for the long story, but it's all important stuff. I just want the harassment to stop.
This is quite a sticky situation, and different from others I've read in the forum. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I've lived in a town home I bought brand new about 10 years ago. I've received my share of violations, but I've been harassed the entire time I've lived here. I've let it go for the most part. Last year flooding issues in the Common Area in front of my building (4 units to a building) were getting worse, causing more damage to the interior of all the units. Roof water was not properly directed, and I had my own private lake out front of my building on the grass. Also they were watering too much, and every night when it would rain. The water would build up out front of my house, and get under my tile and carpet... I'm sure there's mold everywhere. I have an estimate for nearly $14k in damages by a disaster restoration company.
I started communicating with the management company by email back in April of 2010. I stated there were problems, and too much sprinkler watering and that it was money out of our pockets... money wasted. She said she'd look into it. They sent out a contractor a couple weeks later, and said it'd get fixed. Meanwhile I continued to contact the management company and ask the status. By the end of June I had had enough, and said I needed to know the status or I would get an attorney. The property manager told me not to contact them again about it. I sent another email in July about another flood, with no response. Finally in September of 2010 I sent a letter via certified mail stating the problems. With this, I had officially put them on notice.
Then came May 2011 when I found out we had a new property manager (not management company). I called and spoke with her, and she was of coure oblivious to it. I sent her my stuff, and she started looking into it and took it to the board. I attended the June 2011 board meeting and brought them a copy of the letter. By this point, they knew I was planning to file suit. They denied ever receiving the letter I sent, and said this was the first they had heard of the problem. Suuuuuuuuuuuuure, I thought to myself. My neighbors were in attendance, and I got the whole meeting recorded.
Finally, on July 29th, 2011, after a serious amount of work and research on my own part, I filed suit against my association in County Civil court, without an attorney, for breech of contract and negligence. They clearly violated a section of their CC&R's, and are liable for damage to my unit from the flooding.
Two weeks after filing, I received communication from their attorney, attempting to settle. I think they thought it would be a walk in the park to settle with me, but I'm not that easy. They want me to settle with prejudice for an amount of money to fix the inside. They have already taken steps to fix the Common Area, although I don't feel they are sufficient. We've been going back and forth trying to agree on a number, and they decided to send out their own estimator. We have continued this case for 2 weeks already, but I think we can reach an agreement within that time.
Now that I've told my story, on to where I need advice:
I have a new board member that has been a neighbor of mine since we moved into the new buildings. I don't talk to this guy, as he rubbed me the wrong way when I first met him, so I stay away from him. He's been on the board since April 2011. The rest of the 3 board members are 3 old ladies who live close to each other and violate so many rules it's ridiculous. I cannot get them to comply to the rules they enforce.
This guy who lives within a hundred feet of me, has started harassing me in the last 3 weeks. Yelling at me from across the way, telling me I'm doing things wrong, targeting me, basically what I'd call stalking. It's clearly retaliatory because of my suit against the Association. He's made it personal, which I just don't understand. He's not targeting anyone else.
Yesterday was the last straw. I was in my garage for a minute grabbing something out of my car, about to leave the house. This guy drives up tailgating my neighbor, and slows way down in front of my place, staring at my garage door (we have a rule that garage doors are not to remain open). I walked out of my garage staring at him just watching to see what he's doing, and if he's targeting me. My neighbor comes up to me and says "Jesus, did you see him tailgating me?", so I start talking to her about it all, and suddenly this guy yells at me from across the road "What did you say to me?"... I asked him 3 times because I didn't hear him. Then I said "I surely wasn't talking to you". He says "Sure... I just want to make sure I catch every word you say to me, so I can get it alllllll down". Like WTF? I am doing absolutely nothing to this guy, he's never targeted me for the 10 years we've lived here. Suddenly I file suit against my HOA, and he's personally upset about it. I'm getting to the point where I'm becoming emotionally distressed because every time this happens, I have to research and figure out what's the next step and how I can go after them for it, since I have no attorney.
I have a little advice from my cousin who is an attorney in another state, and my father who has been officers on many HOA boards. But this adds a whole new aspect to the mix, and I'm not sure how to get it to stop.
The only thing I've been able to come up with is tonight I plan on calling an officer out to the house, and having him accompany me to this board member's house. That way I can confront him directly and make it clear that I feel that he is harassing me through stalking. As stated in CO law, stalking is when a person "Repeatedly follow, approach, contact, watch, or attempt communication with someone, a member of their family, or someone they have a relationship with in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to suffer serious emotional distress and does cause someone to suffer serious emotional distress".
At this point, I'm becoming so stressed out that I have other people making comments to me about my attitude, and how lost I am in this battle, and that I cannot focus on anything else. It is affecting my work, and my home life. I have made every effort to live by the rules since filing my suit, but this guy is making every effort to draw me into harassing him, or trying to find any rule I could be violating. I was smart enough to file a suit in County Court against my association, by myself, without ANY formal legal training, and be offered a settlement. I'm not stupid enough to be drawn into me harassing them.
Sorry for the long story, but it's all important stuff. I just want the harassment to stop.