By: Sharon Aron Baron
The bill is in for the legal costs incurred by our HOA President in trying to shut down this website: $3,000.
In May, TheWoodlandsTamarac.com and parent company Talk Media Inc. were issued a cease and desist letter initiated by HOA President Patti Fox when she contacted attorney’s Becker & Poliakoff. The letter alleged that this site was infringing on the association’s intellectual property and tarnishes the goodwill of the association. The legal costs included drafting the letter, trademark research, and speaking to other attorneys.
Although this website had disclaimers that it wasn’t affiliated with the Woodlands HOA, as the HOA is known legally as The Woodland Homeowners Association (minus the S), It wasn’t enough for the President, who not only tried silence our first amendment rights to speak on this forum, she silenced the homeowners rights to speak at the May HOA meeting.
Not only were residents not allowed to speak at the meeting, legal council was not allowed to speak on behalf of this website. It was only after several board members made a motion to allow him to speak at the meeting was he able to do so.
Struggling to maintain communication efforts, the WHOA has no one running their current website. Their once quarterly newsletter which was mailed to everyone’s doors stopped last year, then resumed in January with a new monthly that seemed promising, but those have stopped as well.
With so little communication, to try to shut down what little the homeowner’s have was reprehensible.
The cost to you and me was unjustifiable.
To our section presidents and board members: We can never get that $3,000 back, but it only takes two-thirds of your vote to ask our President to step down at the October 14 HOA meeting.
Related Articles:
Our Woodlands Association Wants to Shut This Website Down
What is Our Association’s Legal Name Anyway?
Video From Homeowners Association Meeting in May
Website Stays: Freedom of Speech Prevails in the Woodlands
