On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:33:38 -0400, Reginald P. Smithers III penned
the following well considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats:

Gene Kearns wrote:
r to these:
http://www.capitolbeachlake.com/Rules/BoatViolation/

IMHO.... there are going to be a lot of litigants that will wish they
had never heard of a "lake association" before this is all over
with.....

As for your analogy.... I think a better one would be....
Your HOA has a restriction against painting houses passionate pink and
growing weed gardens,
Your neighbor has a passionate pink house with a 13 foot tall weed
garden for a front lawn,
The HOA has not enforced their own rules,
You need to sell your house, but can get no buyers because of the
neighbor, therefore you (rightfully) sue for damages and/or
remediation from the HOA.

similar to:

Your lake association has safety rules,
Your neighbor(s) break the safety rules,
The lake association doesn't enforce the rules,
Somebody is harmed and seeks to sue.....

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that this is where the situation
is headed..... and none of it could have happened without the
artificial construct of the "lake association."

Gene,

This is going to be an interesting case study. The complaint is worded
similar to many lawsuit, and the wording may or may not actually
represent the actual situation on the lake or the law considers
reasonable performance and enforcement by the Association.

You do understand that the lake association had no employee, no income
and no annual expenses (according to their non profit report submitted
to the state), so I would like to know how the attorney is going to
prove that the "Association" (ie the homeowners/BOD's) "KNEW" that the
driver of the boat (or any other boater on the lake) was drunk and
failed to enforce the rules.

We have public streets and lakes with paid enforcers of the rules, and
on any day/night you will find many people who are DUI, many who are not
caught by the police and have accidents. It would seem that if our
local governments / officials are not able to prevent rules being broken
it is hard to imagine that any association would be able to ensure 100%
compliance of state laws. Is it reasonable to assume that a non profit
association without any employees and budget would be able to do better
than our paid police forces?

As you said it will be interesting to see how it is settled.

That is the sad thing about laws..... they only punish..... they are
powerless to prevent.

Frankly, I have no information on the association, at all. If you have
a link, I'd like to read more.....

--

Grady-White Gulfstream, out of Oak Island, NC.

Homepage
http://pamandgene.idleplay.net/

Rec.boats at Lee Yeaton's Bayguide
http://www.thebayguide.com/rec.boats
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