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Subject: PROCEDURES FOR PROCESS SERVERS

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BruceF1
(Connecticut)

Posts:1510

01/26/2012 11:10 AM
Joanne, In my opinion, he's contradicted himself. He states he is sending a copy of the letter BCC to his attorney. BCC stands for "Blind Carbon Copy" which means there is no indication on the original who the "BCC" recipients are. By telling you who they are, it is no longer BCC. Why would he do this?

JoanneD1
(Arizona)

Posts:269

01/26/2012 11:54 AM
Bruce, I understand what you are saying and in my opinion, this all adds up to a bully pulpit kind of thing. I think it is harassment in reverse and I will see what plays out after this executive session. In the meantime, as smart as this man thinks he is, he is leaving me a great paper trail. Love that email!

LarryB13
(Arizona)

Posts:425

01/26/2012 7:44 PM
Posted By JoanneD1 on 01/26/2012 10:02 AM Well to all those who may be reading, here is what my community has to contend with. I have had this writer blocked on my computer since he was seated as a board member because he and his writings are so toxic. It was only in casual conversation that my friend on the board asked me about this and I had no knowledge because it was blocked. I find this communication to me SHOCKING! Please keep in mind when reading this that this owner over a speaker phone made statements about having a gun, a right to defend himself and if he shoots some unannounced visitor he will hold the HOA liable. " It has been brought to my attention that you have been telling folks that you feel threatened by me and that you fear being shot by me. Don’t flatter yourself. However, this letter is also being sent via BCC to my attorney. Your attacking my character and making libelous assertions will not be tolerated. You are hereby being warned to immediately cease and desist from this inflammatory and damaging conduct or deal with the consequences in a court of law. Furthermore through this letter and the copies being sent to the board, I am asking the board specifically to invoke the harassment policy as it regards (my name). Her continued conduct is damaging to me and to our community and brings disrepute on all of us." YIKES, what kind of a world do we live in? Consider the following response: "Since you have turned this matter over to your attorney it would be a violation of the Rules of the Arizona Supreme Court for us to have further direct contact with one another. All further correspondence or discussions on this matter will take place between your attorney and me, or should I chose to be represented by counsel, between your attorney and my attorney. "You have no further need to contact me." I doubt that this guy can afford an attorney and no attorney is going to take this case, anyway. Truth is an irrefutable defense. In addition, as an elected official of your HOA he is a "public figure." In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 US 254 (1964), the Supreme Court held that public figures cannot prevail in a libel suit unless they can prove that the statements are knowingly false, are defamatory, and made with actual malice. That's a very high hurdle. Arizona has a statute (ARS 12-752) that allows a defendant to show that a lawsuit was brought against him/her to prevent or deter the exercise of constitutional rights. A party who brings a SLAPP suit - Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation - pays a hefty price. Again, no lawyer would knowingly take on this guy's case. Since this person is now contacting you directly, I would strongly suggest that you contact you local Justice Court or Municipal Court to get an Injunction to Prohibit Harassment issued against him. There is no charge and the Injunction is served by a police officer, constable, or deputy sheriff. One question: What is the "Harassment Policy" referred to in the email you received.

LarryB13
(Arizona)

Posts:425

01/26/2012 7:56 PM
Posted By BradP on 01/25/2012 9:48 AM Larry we will have to agree to disagree. In my opinion the board's responsibility is to inform authorities of the threats which as I understand they have. They do not have the duty to lock this person up, remove him from the neighborhood or have his guns confiscated. Nor do they have the continued responsibility to pester police to act on his original comments. Now, if he comes forward and threatens again they have the obligation to report it. You may not like it, but a lot of people turn their heads and do nothing when they hear threats or even see a crime. It is sad, but it is reality. People make statements from time to time referencing killing or shooting others in fits of rage, doesn't make it right or wrong, just is what it is. It is up to each person to determine how they interpret those remarks. I personally don't think this guy is going to shoot anyone, however, given what I have heard I would call the police, report what I heard and leave it at that. But again that is just my opinion. In your example the key you need to look at is "repeated threats" and the onwers "ignored them". If they had filed a police report or contacted police then they more than likely wouldn't have been found at fault. Would a prudent person ignore repeated death threats, in my opinion no. Brad, I think we can agree to disagree. I do not take your disagreement with me as anything personal and I hope you take no offense at mine as none is intended. While I find that I sometimes disagree with you, I always look forward to your responses on all threads. Even when you are wrong, you present your arguments well. Larry

JoanneD1
(Arizona)

Posts:269

01/26/2012 8:18 PM
Brad & Larry, I am so grateful for your comments. I think you can now understand just how spooky this dude is. I am very tempted to send your suggested comment Larry and I think I will do it through the property manager so there is NO DIRECT contact as that is the LAST thing I want. It is impossible for this man and his wife to correspond on any issue that arises without the threat of litigation. If it weren't so sick, it would be laughable. By the way, I got some information from a great friend that I met on this site. There is a bill that is going to be introduced or already has been that deals with EXACTLY what we are struggling with.....Process Servers in Gated Communities. The number is HB2341. Unfortunately, if passed, it will not go into affect until the end of the yr. Meantime, I am going to put this bully "on notice". I understand that he is going to bring this up at the Feb. BOD meeting in public. This is insanity. Thanks so very much for all of your help. There are lots of folks reading this thread and I hope it has served some purpose for them too. Boards are very POWERFUL and there in lies the importance of knowing the candidates and their agendas. Knowledge is POWER and knowing the documents, in conjunction with the state laws, is very important especially when you have a non-involved manager! I personally called some other gated communities and found no consistency from one to the next as far as process servers go...some alert, others do not. Also found the same in inquiries of process servers themselves. HB2341 takes out ALL the guess work and empowers the Process Server greatly.

JoanneD1
(Arizona)

Posts:269

01/27/2012 1:15 PM
Well,,,,,,it just keeps getting better. I sent a message to the PM who in turned just emailed me and said that this was a legal issue between two owners and he recommended I put a note into the owner's mail. I returned the email and stated that it IS an HOA issue because of an additional threat to evoke the harassment policy on me. But it does not end there! Our gate let the process server in today UNANNOUNCED and the owner has now written a set of rules that apply to ONLY him and has demanded that he be notified of the process server's delivery attempt AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD AGREED BECAUSE THE OWNER THREATENED TO SUE THE COMMUNITY!!! There is going to be another executive session next week with both lawyers present with opposing view points. I also learned that I and a potential penalty for harassment against me are going to be on the Feb agenda. Can this be discussed in an open forum? I have a mind to lawyer up and go to the meeting with legal counsel. Now what? I am so limited in what I can do because of my friend who is on the board.

JohnC46
(South Carolina)

Posts:621

01/27/2012 2:29 PM
Joanne Have you even considered you might be to the point of letting ths go? Thanks

JoanneD1
(Arizona)

Posts:269

01/27/2012 2:49 PM
John, You bet I have thought about dropping this but I have lived here for 11 years, have some great friends, not to mention almost my largest investment to protect and every person who serves on a board has an obligation to give that service with honesty, without prejudice and for nor personal gain, knowing full well that there may be lots of aggravation but for the good of all. I would hope you feel the same.

JohnC46
(South Carolina)

Posts:621

01/27/2012 2:54 PM
Joanne I agree about helping but I truly think this is now more personal between you and the idiot. Also, what makes you assume you are the guardian angel of the entire complex? For your own good, I do suggest you drop it.

JoanneD1
(Arizona)

Posts:269

01/27/2012 3:03 PM
John, I am not as nice as you make me out to be but I have a thing about people's rights and doing the right thing and since I have no real input regarding the mess of the USA, I try to clean up the trash in my own little world. I guess you might call it a flaw in my character and I will be dropping this soon as the idiot will probably be shooting himself in the foot soon. Have a great weekend and I appreciate your input.

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