Fined for Entering Through a Fire Entrance

I'm might just consider taking this to court. Do you know what happens when you take an association to court? Their legal fees go up and so do the HOA fees go up and their property values go down. Because when you get a community of old biddy's that do nothing but look at their windows because they have nothing else to do, that's what happens. To all you "senior member's" out there....get a life. Must suck to get a security guard salary, huh.

So, you are going to risk a criminal charge where the legal fees, fines and penalties could be many times the $50 assessment the HOA appears to want to assess you?

Well, that's your call, but it seems that the $50 is a small price to pay for the matter to just go away.

And, for the record, I don't know for sure what a security guard makes, but I suspect it does "suck" because they often make little more than minimum wage and have to deal with people that can be a little less than pleasant.

You may be taking what to court? If you have been criminally charged for trespassing, you can certainly defend yourself against the charges in court, but from what you have told us it does not appear that any charges have been filed.

The community has apparently told you that if you don't pay $50 each for your improper use of the fire gate, they will ban you from their property. If you choose not to pay, as long as you don't talk to the police and confess, I'm a bit skeptical that charges would be filed for the past entrance, but they can ban you from being on their property in the future and if you violate that ban (to go to soccer games) you can be charged with trespassing.

what are you going to take to court?

I was mistaken in my understanding of the situation and upon re-reading it, I see that there were no police involved so, there really is nothing to "take to court". Either pay the fine or don't. If you don't, only the hoa can tell you what they will do about it.



There is a funny thing about people and their income I have found over the years.

Those with truly impressive incomes tend to not speak of their income nor do they attempt to flaunt it. Those that claim they have some huge income always seem to try to utilize it as a means to impress others but in reality, they often make less than the average person in the US. I suspect you are in the latter group.

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Quoting lerracindy@yahoo.com

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I'm might just consider taking this to court. Do you know what happens when you take an association to court? Their legal fees go up and so do the HOA fees go up and their property values go down. Because when you get a community of old biddy's that do nothing but look at their windows because they have nothing else to do, that's what happens. To all you "senior member's" out there....get a life. Must suck to get a security guard salary, huh.

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That only works if they don't ask the nice judge to include their legal fees in the judgement. I would bet they would.

Aren't you getting a bit out of shape over a $100 fine for doing something you KNEW was wrong?

Of course, the minute you show this attitude to the HOA, you won't have to worry about making it to any more soccer games anyway.... because the nice guards at the gates simply won't let you in anymore.

Won't THAT be a wonderful thing to explain to your child?

Looks like the kid will have fun explaining to other kids that he can't play soccer with them anymore because Mommy got them banned from the gated community.

Since in Indiana no sworn law enforcement officer witnessed the incident and none was called to take statements at the time, I suggest not doing anything. Did they tell you who the make the checks out to? If it was to the gated community or the security firm, I would report them. If you were asked for cash that would be even worse.