Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Joe
Kollin
Published April 4, 2007
Rose Normoyle
worked as a real-life Rosie the Riveter in an aircraft factory during
World War II, building the planes that helped America preserve freedom.
Now, she's fighting her condo board so she can maintain her own freedom.
At 85, her memory is failing, she is confined to a wheelchair and she must
have 24-hour care. But Normoyle, a widow, doesn't want to move into a
nursing home. Instead, she wants to remain in the apartment at Lakewood on
the Green I, in Margate, that she bought in 1988 after moving from Long
Island.
With no children and living only on Social Security -- she gets no pension
from her jobs assembling aircraft between 1941 and 1982 -- she can't
afford caretakers. Her closest friend, retired New York City firefighter
Louis D'Agostino, 69, of Coconut Creek, is paying two people to watch over
her around the clock. He is half owner of the apartment.
But the board considers the caretakers to be "unauthorized and-or
transient occupants" and on Feb. 8 filed a lawsuit alleging their
presence in the apartment violates association rules.
"Is this the way we want to treat a member of the `greatest
generation?'" asks F. Blane Carneal, the Fort Lauderdale attorney
defending Normoyle and D'Agostino.
D'Agostino pays all Normoyle's bills and expects to be reimbursed when he
sells the apartment after she passes on.
"I've known her 10 years. I promised her that I would take care of
her and being Italian, a promise is a promise," he says.
Part of that promise was making sure she could stay in the apartment,
which is filled with mementos of her years at Republic Aviation and
Grumman Aircraft.
They include a framed version of the famous Rosie the Riveter poster,
models of airplanes she helped build, a red light that goes on the wingtip
of the F-84 fighter, the tool box made for her by her husband of 32 years,
Edwin, who died in 1982, and a certificate of appreciation for working on
the Project Apollo team that built the lunar lander and put men on the
moon for the first time in 1969.
"They were wonderful people to work for," she says.
During her entire 41 years working on aircraft, she was known as Rosie the
Riveter, even though she isn't believed to be one of the models used in
the famous J. Howard Miller picture of the woman with her arm clenched and
a bandana on her head.
Her daytime caregiver is Arleen Forrester, of Lauderdale Lakes, who has
cared for residents at Lakewood for 11 years. Her cousin, Allan Forrester,
of Lauderdale Lakes, is the nighttime caregiver.
In December, the association began demanding Normoyle and D'Agostino
either get rid of the caretakers or get association approval of them.
"Specifically, you are to immediately cease and desist from
permitting unauthorized and-or transient occupants from residing in the
unit," Fort Lauderdale attorney Rachel E. Frydman wrote to the owners
on Dec. 6.
The letter stated Article 22 of the condominium documents requires
association approval of all occupants.
Article 22 refers to "Sale, Rental, Lease or Transfer" of units.
The lawsuit contends Normoyle and D'Agostino didn't get association
approval "prior to leasing [the] unit" and "failed to
provide [the] association with a copy of the lease agreement."
Carneal argues that Normoyle and D'Agostino aren't leasing the unit; the
Forresters are simply hired to work there.
Further, he says, Lakewood doesn't have a rule requiring approval of
caretakers.
Broward County Judge Catalina M. Avalos will set a trial date later.
Association President Steven Rosenberg couldn't be reached for comment and
Vice President Gregory Markoski declined to discuss the issue.
Q&A
Many of you are concerned with shutters and impact windows. For answers we
turned to Roberto Blanch, an attorney with Siegfried, Rivera, Lerner, De
La Torre & Sobel, a law firm in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and
Miami. Its specialties include condo and homeowner law.
Here is one question and an answer. For more, see www.sun-sentinel.com/condos.
Q. A Boca Raton condo owner says many owners installed shutters to protect
their windows during the last hurricanes. Now, the board wants to assess
everyone to pay for windows damaged in apartments where owners didn't
install them. "This to me is very unfair," the reader writes,
asking if it legal for a board to make everyone pay because a few didn't
have the foresight to protect their property.
A. Yes, the board can make everyone pay, Blanch says. State condo law
considers windows part of the condominium property that must be insured by
the association. Unfortunately, due to the very high deductibles on
windstorm policies for most condos, the cost to repair or replace windows
damaged as a result of a hurricane falls below the amount of the
deductible. Since the cost of the deductibles is considered a common
expense, all owners are expected to pay their proportionate share of the
cost to repair or replace windows damaged as a result of a hurricane.
THE
ASSOCIATION ATTORNEY IS:
Rachel
Ellen Frydman
Katzman
& Korr, Pa
Fort Lauderdale Florida 33309
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