GOOD one!!!!
Posted on 11/17/2006 10:46:11 AM PST by TheKidster
GOLDEN, Colo. -- A judge has upheld a homeowners association's order barring a couple from smoking in the town house they own.
Colleen and Rodger Sauve, both smokers, filed a lawsuit in March after their condominium association amended its bylaws last December to prohibit smoking.
"We argued that the HOA was not being reasonable in restricting smoking in our own unit, nowhere on the premises, not in the parking lot or on our patio," Colleen Sauve said. The Heritage Hills #1 Condominium Owners Association was responding to complaints from the Sauves' neighbors who said cigarette smoke was seeping into their units, representing a nuisance to others in the building.
In a Nov. 7 ruling, Jefferson County District Judge Lily Oeffler ruled the association can keep the couple from smoking in their own home.
Oeffler stated "smoke and/or smoke smell" is not contained to one area and that smoke smell "constitutes a nuisance." She noted that under condo declarations, nuisances are not allowed.
The couple now has to light up on the street in front of their condominium building.
"I think it's ridiculous. If there's another blizzard, I'm going to be having to stand out on the street, smoking a cigarette," said Colleen Suave.
For five years the couple has smoked in their living room and that had neighbors fuming.
"At times, it smells like someone is sitting in the room with you, smoking. So yes, it's very heavy," said condo owner Christine Shedron.
The Sauves said they have tried to seal their unit. One tenant spent thousands of dollars trying to minimize the odor.
"We got complaints and we felt like it was necessary to protect our tenants and our investment," said Shedron.
The Suaves said they would like to appeal the judge's ruling but are unsure if they have the money to continue fighting. They said what goes on behind their closed doors shouldn't be other people's business.
"I don't understand. If I was here and I was doing a lawful act in my home when they got here, why can they say, 'OK, now you have to change,'" said Colleen Suave. "We're not arguing the right to smoke as much as we're arguing the right to privacy in our home."
Other homeowners believe, as with loud music, that the rights of a community trump the rights of individual residents. The HOA is also concerned that tenants will sue those homeowners for exposure to second-hand smoke and this could be a liability issue.
The couple said that they would like to unload their condo and get out of the HOA entirely, but they are not sure if the real estate market is right.
Home Owners Associations - the final frontier for busybodies!
Lmao! You are correct.
Jammer, get ahold of yourself.
You are supposed to jump down the throat of anyone who disagrees with you!
Are you feelin' okay? LOL
Actually, they're just an inroad.
I fear we haven't seen the final frontier, nor are any of us here sufficiently cynical to predict it.
When neighbors smoke on their balconies, it comes in my windows. Since I live where there's no airconditioning (Pacific NW), you can't really close the windows in summer, so that really isn't an option in hot weather.
I lived in another building where the smoke would travel up the bathroom vents and into my bathroom. I'd open the bathroom door and it would be as if I had just finished a cigarette, and this was in a well-built luxury building.
I am all for people having the freedom to smoke, but in a group living environment, I'm not sure where the smoker's freedom meets my freedom not to be annoyed by the smell or exposed to carcinogens. Maybe I'm a bit picky about all this. But then, my stepfather is dying of lung cancer.
Pity
GOOD one!!!!
SHE who????
You sure like to type don't you!!! I fell asleep trying to get through all of that....
GREAT ORATORS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY:
"Realize that the doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can't socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he'll eat you last." -- Ronald Reagan
"Smokers are undesirable and not because of their beliefs or their color." -- some fat chick with the moniker cajungirl, sitting in front of her computer stuffing her face with jumbalaya and crayfish.
Unbelievable, SheLion. Before I joined here, people told me that there were Smoke Nazi's even at FR (COCs; Conservatives of Convenience). I didn't believe them.
I suppose if we can have pro-choice Republicans like Whitman, Guiliani and Schwarzennegger we can make way for people who like Big Government when it suits their preference. As long as they realize they are not in the Conservative mainstream.
I'm sure they realize that. If they don't, here's some cold water. Here's a nice synopsis of the Conservative/Libertarian commentators on this nonsense, including Heritage Foundation, Walter Williams, Cato, Reason, and Peggy Noonan. Surprisingly, no liberal rags or pundits made the list.
http://www.nycclash.com/reasonable.html
But then, my stepfather is dying of lung cancer.
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Yeah, well my cousin is battling Leukemia. He's never smoked. My uncle and his sisters do and their healthy.
Who did I ping?
ding, ding, ding, ding...we have a winner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What I have always said is that if tobacco is so bad for human health; why allow lawsuits against "big tobacco," why not just outlaw the stuff? (I would like to see a lawsuit against the government for allowing it to be legal instead of the tobacco companies.)
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Exactly. Ban it already. Enough is enough.
ATTENTION NON-SMOKERS: You are not dying because you hung out in smoky bars or Fraternity Houses in college. Nobody has ever died as a result of SHS exposure. Not one person.
Smoke can be annoying, stink up your clothes and your hair. But you are not going to drop dead because you hung out in your Dorm and played Nintendo with your roommate who smoked 15 years ago. Congratulations.
This whole exercise is just a Big Government sponsored behavior modification program (read the 1993 ASSIST Study) designed to make smokers lives so miserable that they will bow to the State and just quit.
It's the same blueprint they will use on you to get you to put down the Quarter Pounder and the beer.
Read something. Wake up. Get a clue. You're next.
ding, ding, ding, ding...we have a winner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What I have always said is that if tobacco is so bad for human health; why allow lawsuits against "big tobacco," why not just outlaw the stuff? (I would like to see a lawsuit against the government for allowing it to be legal instead of the tobacco companies.)
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Exactly. Ban it already. Enough is enough.
ATTENTION NON-SMOKERS: You are not dying because you hung out in smoky bars or Fraternity Houses in college. Nobody has ever died as a result of SHS exposure. Not one person.
Smoke can be annoying, stink up your clothes and your hair. But you are not going to drop dead because you hung out in your Dorm and played Nintendo with your roommate who smoked 15 years ago. Congratulations.
This whole exercise is just a Big Government sponsored behavior modification program (read the 1993 ASSIST Study) designed to make smokers lives so miserable that they will bow to the State and just quit.
It's the same blueprint they will use on you to get you to put down the Quarter Pounder and the beer.
Read something. Wake up. Get a clue. You're next.
(1) My wife is my attorney, so our interests and concerns are well-aligned. She vets all our real estate purchases before we close.
(2) If someone has concerns, all they need to to do is ask their attorney to be on the lookout for certain things - things an attorney should usually be on the lookout for in the first place. Deed restrictions, property tax issues, etc.
I'm going to guess they bought knowing full well it was an HOA and they never stopped to think of what exactly that entailed.
If they were lied to or received bad advice from an attorney - i.e. no one ever told them they were buying a property restricted by an HOA agreement - then they shouldn't be suing the HOA, but the seller and possibly their counsel.
It is funny.
I asked if you smoked and you replied it was none of my business.
Now you accuse me of being obsessed.
Really, is that your business or concern. You are the member of a group fighting for your right to die of smoke related illnesses relying on insults and faux conservatism to support you.
Sorry, nobody who doesn't share your habit wants your smoke in our space other than briefly.
HOAs,,the final defense against the barbarians
Hey DUde, I am most assuredly not fat. You see I can breathe and exercise and have good tolerance for activity because my lungs are in great shape.
You really know that calling people fat when you have never seen them is, well, silly
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