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Article
Courtesy of The Tallahassee Democrat
By Nic
Corbett
Published
December 4, 2008
The homeowners association of an upscale Tallahassee neighborhood has filed for bankruptcy to get out of paying lawyers’ fees after losing a lawsuit against two of its members, a lawyer for the couple said.
The Rabbit Hill association sued Jack and Kenya Cory because it was unhappy with the couple’s plans for building their home in the community, court records indicate. Rabbit Hill is located off Thomasville Road just south of Hermitage Boulevard.
The association’s then-president, Joan West, wrote in a letter to her neighbors: “If we do nothing and end up with a typical Pennyworth house in the neighborhood, we each stand to lose a significant amount of value of our houses, both for resale and as collateral for loans,” according to court records.
Circuit Judge William L. Gary ruled last year there was no evidence that this was the case. The case was appealed to the First District Court of Appeal, which affirmed the lower court’s ruling. The association was ordered to pay more than $50,000 to compensate the couple for attorneys’ fees, court records show.
“It’s a fairly affluent community, and the best we can tell, the folks that are out there, they just did not like the lack of celebrity status from the designer of the house,” said a lawyer representing the Corys, J.D. DuRant. “I know it sounds petty, but that’s the best we could figure.”
West said the house was not built according to the blueprint that was approved by the association. She said it was intruding on someone else’s land and that the association tried to tell the Corys about it back when only stakes were in the ground.
“But he just refused to talk to anybody and simply plowed ahead,” West said.
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