Homeowners group sues over the display of small American flag on the porch of Southside condominium.
A veteran simply wanted to display a small American flag in a flower pot on the porch of his Southside condominium, but the homeowners association sued him for not paying his dues and damaging its reputation, saying the attention he brought to the issue resulted in death threats and people the HOA un-American.
The fight started in the summer of 2011 when Larry Murphree, a former U.S. Air Force air traffic controller, began defying his homeowners’ association’s rules by flying a 12-inch by 17-inch flag in a flowerpot by his front door. He began incurring a $100-a-day fine, which reached $1,000.
In 2012, he filed a federal lawsuit against The Tides Condominium at Sweetwater by Del Webb Master Homeowners’ Association, which Murphree, 79, and the association settled, with the association paying Murphree $4,000 for legal fees and waiving the $1,000 in fines it had levied against him. The association and Murphree also agreed he could display a flag, as long as his display complied with association rules and as long as association rules complied with state law.
An attorney for the condo association didn’t return a request for comment Friday.
In exchange, Murphree agreed “not to make any disparaging statements” about the homeowners association.
In 2013, the association again began charging Murphree a $100-a-day fine, this time because of a new rule about flower pots. The condo association allowed flags to be displayed, the rules said, but not in flower pots. In response, Murphree again filed a federal lawsuit.
Murphree cited the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, which made it illegal for condominium associations to ban the display of the Stars and Stripes.
However, a federal judge dismissed Murphree’s federal lawsuit in 2014, saying that the law didn’t give him the ability to sue to enforce the law. That judge told Murphree that his claims would be be “best addressed by the state courts.”
The U.S. Congress, as it turns out, is not the only legislative body in this country concerned that condominium associations might oppose the finer points of flag appreciation. The Florida Legislature, clearly stated in statute 718.113, subsection 4, says: “Any unit owner may display one portable, removable United States flag.”
But before he could file suit against the condo association, the association filed suit against him in 2014, demanding that he be gagged from disparaging the association.
On Monday, he returned to court looking for $1 million in damages.
Murphree, an Air Force veteran, took the stand in a courtroom full of supporters on both sides of a case that’s gotten national attention.
“This is America, this is a man who served this country. Put his life on the line. He wants to represent the country with a little flag in his yard and he can’t? And he’s brought to court?” Murphree supporter Roger Dodd said.
In 2011, Murphree was fined by his homeowner’s association, saying displaying the flag in the pot was a violation of their rules.
They eventually settled a lawsuit with a settlement agreement.
Attorneys representing the HOA are now suing Murphree for breach of that contract. They said he continued to make disparaging comments about the association despite the agreement.
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Sources: Sharesplosion, Jacksonville, Actionnewsjax
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