ANALOGIES EXERCISE

Imagine you live in a subdivision which has a number of homeowners= rules and regulations. One of these regulations is that you keep your lawn cut (never

allowing it to grow more than 4 inches in height).

Also imagine that, as part of these regulations is a provision which allows the homeowners= association the right to have whatever you are required to do, done professionally at your expense.

In extreme cases, the action can be taken by the president of the association unilaterally and immediately (if it is necessary to be done right away and if there is no meeting of the association scheduled in the near future). If the violation is not considered extreme or dangerous, the association must vote to take such action at its next meeting, at which time the violator would be allowed to justify his actions in failing to have the work done.

Your grass grew to the level of 5 inches. It then rained every day for the next 10 days and it grew to 7 inches. The president ordered it cut professionally while you were in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy.

You feel that this action should not have been taken, in that you had legitimate reasons for waiting (the rain) and then you were physically unable to comply. You also feel that this was not an Aextreme@ case which would justify such unilateral action by the president.

If you can show his actions were improper, you won=t have to pay for the work that was done.

You look into the past history of the association=s actions and find the following:

1) In May of 1987, the then-president ordered a fallen tree removed from the street into which it had fallen and was thereby blocking local traffic. This was later found to have been appropriate by the association at its next meeting.

2) In June of 1987, the then-president ordered an empty field which had not been cut in over a year (and in which children had been playing, one child having been bitten by a rattlesnake) to be cut. This was found to have been appropriate by the association at its next meeting.

3) In April of 1989, the then-president ordered an automobile, which had Adead@ tags, removed from the curb in front of the owner=s residence. This action was deemed to have been inappropriate by the association at its next meeting in that there was no urgent need for its removal.

4) In May of 1990, the then-president ordered two sections of wood fence, which had been damaged by a car which had gone off the road and onto the homeowner=s property, removed from the owner=s property. This action was deemed to have been inappropriate by the association at its next meeting in that there was no urgent need for its removal.