How to write up your story
Disclaimer: We are not attorneys. All communications are opinions and beliefs. Nothing in our communications should be considered to be legal advice.
I would recommend that you always put this at the bottom of anything you write about your case or about the HOA situation in general to help block lawsuits against you for what you say. We have found in general that legislator and attorneys seem to prefer reading bullet points rather than paragraphs. It is likely that following this proposed format will also make it easier for you to write your story.
The idea is to allow attorneys, legislators and others to read and understand your story as easily and quickly as possible.
Write one SHORT paragraph that gives a 30,000 ft overview of what happened and what laws or governing documents were violated by your HOA Board, HOA Property Manager and/or HOA Attorney.
Title this section Timeline. Then follow the outline below for each event in your timeline. Use bullet points as shown.
· Date and Title of the event. Example: False CCR Violation Email
· Who took the action? Example: Sent by John Doe
· What did they do? Example: Sent me an email accusing me of having an illegal pool in my back hard. It is a 6 ft wide, 12” tall, blow up pool. The covenants don’t allow in ground pools, the is no mention of small blow up surface pools like this.
· What law or governing document paragraph did they violate? Include name of document, chapter, section and cut and paste that section from the law or governing document. Start with, “I believe this action violated…” Example: I believe this action violated my rights as they are attempting to fine me for something that is not a violation of the covenants.
· HTTP address link to where the reader can see the law or governing document section. Example: Http//www.HOA website/covenants See chapter 12, section 3, Pools.
· Exhibit #X where X is the number of the exhibit. The exhibit is the proof you have of what you are saying. This can be pictures, documents, videos, recordings, etc. There can be more than one exhibit per point and an exhibit may be used as proof in multiple actions.
If no law was violated in that action, just leave the LAW and HTTP bullets out.
Try to leave emotion out and just present the facts.