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yardwork

(61,408 posts)
7. The homeowners association that encouraged these criminals may be legally liable.
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 12:29 PM
Mar 2012
The killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watchman in Sanford should be a cautionary tale for homeowners associations, experts say.

The circumstances — a volunteer watchman carrying a gun, and questions over whether he did enough to avoid shooting the unarmed teenager — could put the homeowners association where the incident took place in legal hot water.

And in many cases like this one, the residents don't know they could be liable until a tragedy occurs, when they find out that their homeowners association only carries insurance for directors and board officers, not volunteers who patrol streets or maintain common areas.

"There are ripple effects on everybody in a community," said Donna DiMaggio Berger, a managing partner with the statewide law firm of Katzman Garfinkel & Berger, which represents more than 2,000 homeowners associations. If volunteers take matters into their own hands, "the association is going to get sued."

Berger said if the association knew Zimmerman regularly carried a weapon while on volunteer patrol, that could provide Martin's family with further ammunition in a lawsuit.


Read the whole article: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/experts-warn-homeowners-associations-of-perils-of-using-volunteer-security/1221352

And more in this article: http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/condoblog/author/jawesq/
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