Opinions from the Twin Rivers constitionality case

February 11, 2006

By George K. Staropoli (View author info)

This post must be sent to every legislator and every agency in every state involved in homeowner association issues.

Rutgers Constitutional Law Clinic

The CAI urges the judiciary to leave the rights of more than a million New Jersey homeowners to the discretion of boards bound only by the toothless standards of the business judgment rule. But as the United States Supreme Court once observed, a " prime history of our Constitution . . . is the story of the extension of constitutional rights and protections to people once ignored and excluded." U.S. v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515, 557 (1996).

Frank Askin,
Attorney for Plaintiffs
Case No: A-4047-03T24047-03T2 - Committee For Better Twin Rivers vs Twin Rivers Homeowners Association


CAI amicus curiae brief in opposition:

This Court must balance the plaintiff's claims that focus on their perceived individual "rights" versus the rights and legitimate economic expectations of other homeowners.

In the context of community associations, the unwise extension of constitutional rights to the use of private property by members (as opposed to the public) raises the likelihood that judicial intervention will become the norm,and serve as the preferred mechanism for decision-making,rather than members effectuating change through the democratic process.