Article Courtesy of St. Petersburg Times

By Scott Barancik

Published February 3, 2007

The beauty of America's civil courts is that they don't discriminate. All lawsuits are entertained, no matter how small the stakes.

Consider Lisa Guyer's suit over a $1.96 dispute.

An Indiana snowbird, Guyer handles the bills for her mother's Sarasota County condo. When the Quail Lake Homeowners' Association fined Mom $1.96 last year for not paying quarterly dues, Guyer mailed the association a receipt indicating that her bank had indeed sent a check.

"This seems VERY unprofessional and archaic," Guyer scrawled atop the receipt. She demanded the association erase its $1.96 penalty and issue a credit for the purchase of a postage stamp. Instead, Quail Lake hired an attorney, and Guyer flew twice to Florida to try to resolve things. By the time a settlement was reached in December, the disputed sum exceeded $1,000

The tiff's not over. Guyer and her Tampa lawyer, Frederick Vollrath, sued the association and its law firm last month for allegedly flouting debt-collection laws. Attorney Sharon Vander Wulp, a defendant, calls the suit "spurious."

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