Expired Statute Of Limitations Saves Homeowner $45K+; Stale Debt Too Old To Be Enforced, Says Judge About 30+ Year Old HOA Claim

In Ellicott City, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:

• Sometimes it pays to be stubborn. For more than 33 years, Joseph and Shirley Poteet ignored annual Columbia Association bills and later threats of possible foreclosure for not paying the community's unofficial property tax fees that accumulated to more than $45,000. Now, a Circuit Court judge has thrown out the homeowners' association claim as too old to be enforced.

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• Since the association lawsuit came 35 years after the first property fee notice, Circuit Judge Alfred L. Brennan agreed with the Poteets' lawyers in an Oct. 14 ruling that says the long-pending claim far exceeded the three-year statute of limitations. The homeowners association has appealed the case to the Court of Special Appeals.

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• "I just cannot understand why Columbia Association would have waited from '73 to '06 or whatever, to bring such an action," Brennan said during the hearing, according to a transcript. "I find that the [three-year] statute of limitations does apply in this case, very definitely," the judge said.

For the underlying facts in this story, see Statute of limitations saves couple from some $45,000 in fees (Columbia Association says it's appealing the ruling).