HOA sues to evict Arlington woman’s dog

Article and Video Courtesy of FOX 30 Action News

By Jenna Bourne   

Published November 28, 2015

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An Arlington woman is fighting to keep her dog after her Homeowners Association filed a lawsuit demanding she get rid of him.

        

Bianca Raphael admits her dog bit her neighbor but said it happened after that neighbor barged into her house uninvited.

She said she was opening her front door with her dog Chan Chan on a leash when her next door neighbor’s dog burst into her home.

Chan Chan started attacking the dog, and Raphael said that’s when her neighbor chased her dog inside.

  
"She pushed through the door and started beating my dog over the head. He had a black eye,” said Raphael.

Raphael shared a photo with Action News Jax of Chan Chan’s bruising and photos of blood spots on the floor.
   

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office report shows Raphael's neighbor told police her thumb was fractured while trying to pry Chan Chan off her dog.

Less than a month later, Raphael got a letter from an attorney representing the Hillcrest Homeowners Association. It said the HOA has determined her dog to be a nuisance and she had 48 hours to get rid of him.

She didn’t. Now they’ve filed a lawsuit against her.

    

“This didn’t happen because my dog broke any rules. It happened because her dog wasn’t on a leash and ran into my home, and then she pushed her way into my home as well,” said Raphael.

Action News Jax Law & Safety Expert Dale Carson said it doesn’t look good for Chan Chan.

“You may have the greatest dog in the world, but if someone in this board says that that dog is misbehaving and is a nuisance, then it is a nuisance. You don’t have any right to say, ‘Well, wait a minute, my dog’s not a nuisance,’” said Carson.

Raphael said she’s not giving up without a fight.

“He’s like my child and, you know, he makes me feel safe here,” she said.

Her neighbor, who got bitten, has moved out. She has not returned Action News Jax’s phone call trying to get her side of the story.

McCabe Law Group, the law firm representing the HOA, turned down our request for an interview.

First Service Residential, the company that manages the Hillcrest HOA, hasn’t responded to our emails.

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