Homeowners might be on hook in civil action in Trayvon Martin's death
The people who could end up paying the financial price for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin are, ultimately, the homeowners of the Retreat at Twin Lakes development in Sanford, experts say.
If their crime-watch program captain George Zimmerman gets charged with and convicted of killing Trayvon, the community's homeowner association and property-management company will likely be sued by the victim's family regarding the way the watch program was established and operated, said Donna Berger, a lawyer who specializes in homeowner-association law.
"They may wind up getting sued and getting hit with hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and damages," said Berger, who works with the South Florida law firm Katzman, Garfinkel and Berger. "Who will pay is every member of the association, and they will have to make special assessments. ... It's a cautionary tale for other associations."
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-03-29/business/os-trayvon-martin-hoa-20120329_1_cyber-citizens-homeowner-crime-watch-members
Oh yikes, that's a mess. What if the settlement is a million dollars. That could mean a special assessment of $50,000 per family in the neighborhood.
I *hate* home owners associations, thank goodness I'm not in one. Just a bunch of busy bodies, bothering folks over who has a pickup parked in the driveway, unapproved privacy fence style, what color your mailbox is, etc. etc.. Now all the homeowners are liable for the actions of their "neighborhood watch captain." Lesson learned: if your HOA has a neighborhood watch, you better make sure the association has liability insurance for that.