OCALA - Scott Dedrick was happy to purchase his first home in the Lakeview Woods subdivision of Silver Springs in 1999. He agreed to the covenants and rules of the deed-restricted community.

Not long afterward, he had run-ins with the development's property owners association. In 2003, the skirmish escalated when the association placed a lien on his property. Dedrick rented the house to tenants after being transferred to the Jacksonville area for his job.

"This is one of the most outlandish and oppressive lien matters that I have ever seen in 30 years of practice." F. Blane Carneal -- Attorney representing Scott Dedrick

Now Dedrick is fighting to prevent the homeowners association from foreclosing on the house. The Lakeview Woods Property Owners Association Inc. alleges he owes nearly $30,000 in fines and assessments.

"I'm already at rock bottom," Dedrick said Monday. "I don't know how much lower I can hit."

Eric Gifford, the Ocala lawyer representing the property owners association, says it's simply a matter of Dedrick not following the rules.

"The property owners association filed a claim of lien against Mr. Dedrick based on violation of the covenants and deed restrictions," Gifford said. "He failed to reply. There were special assessments that were not paid."

Dedrick's lawyer, Fort Lauderdale-based F. Blane Carneal, sees it differently.

"This is one of the most outlandish and oppressive lien matters that I have ever seen in 30 years of practice," Carneal said. "It's one man's attempt to subvert the system."

That man, according to Carneal, is Lakeview Woods Property Owners Association President Herbert Hein, who is also the subdivision's developer.

Carneal and Dedrick claim Hein rules the association without regard to rules himself.

Hein, who lives part of the year in Michigan, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Dedrick estimates he has lost some $65,000 because of the lawsuit, including $21,000 in legal fees.

Court documents in the case indicate Dedrick first ran afoul of the association in 2000, when his dogs kept escaping under the fence in his back yard. In March 2001, the documents show, Dedrick was sent a notice of violation for failure to maintain the fence.

Three months later, the association assessed a $25-per-day fine until the fence was fixed. The court filings indicate that didn't occur for 666 days, leading to a fine of $16,650.

Dedrick claims the fence matter was subject only to an oral agreement with Hein and was never part of the covenants of the association.

Dedrick maintains he never received notices of the alleged violations. He says they were delivered to his tenants after he moved out of the house.

The tenants, who have since moved out, parked a recreational vehicle on the property, another violation of the community rules. On three separate occasions, the RV was parked at the residence, court documents indicate, leading to fines of $800 for the first incident, $1,400 for the second and $10,000 for the third.

The association filed a lien against Dedrick in March 2003 for $29,675.

"Those were fines that accumulated over a long period of time," Gifford said. "Yeah, they're high. But they got that way because he ignored them."

Six months later, the association filed a motion to foreclose on the property.

Carneal maintains the high fines violate both state law and the homeowners association covenants. The covenants allow a maximum fine of $200 per incident, while state law allows only $100 per incident or $1,000 in total, he argued.

"There's no way. You can't do a $16,000 violation for a fence," Carneal said.

Dedrick says he's lost five opportunities to sell the house because of the lien. He has countersued, alleging violation of fiduciary duty, slander of title and fraud. The case remains pending before Circuit Judge Jack Singbush.

Court records show the Lakeview Woods Property Owners Association is currently involved in at least one similar lawsuit and was involved in one additional lawsuit in 2003 that settled before it could go to trial.

Lawyers for both sides agree the association couldn't move to foreclose today. The Florida Legislature changed the law in 2004 to prohibit such actions, Carneal and Gifford said.

Neither side is working with their original lawyers on the case. Court documents show the original lawyer for the association withdrew last March for nonpayment, and Dedrick's first lawyer withdrew a month later, saying Dedrick "failed to honor representation agreement . . . after repeated requests to do so."