Dear ILPOA members,

Please see the update below on the current lawsuit by Brunts, O’Fallon, Wideman, and Williams vs Indian Lake Property Owner’s Association (ILPOA).  The plaintiffs’ petition was recently amended and refiled, as many of you may have heard or viewed online.  During a court hearing on 10/22/19, Judge Kelly Parker granted a stay to answer the filing until he rules on the motion of plaintiffs’ and determines if the new pleading is allowed.  The judge has indicated he will rule prior to the next court date, 12/10/19.

Because it may be hard to follow the details through Missouri Case.net, I wanted to clarify some of the details on the proposed new filing.

• DAMAGES – Damages are still being sought after in the lawsuit.  Specifically, the amended petition requests damages within the Fraud and Merchandising Practices (MMPA) Count. 
• LEGAL FEES – Also, in this MMPA, the plaintiffs request all damages allowed by the statute, which could arguably include attorney fees. 
• INTERPRETATION of the BUR – If the plaintiffs were only seeking clarification on the interpretation of the BUR, they would have only left the declaratory judgement count of the BUR interpretation and the injunction (which would prohibit assessments including boat stickers, etc.) count in the amended petition.
• CONSTRUCTIVE TRUST – In the most recent filing, the plaintiffs have dropped the constructive trust count and request that all monies (damages) collected be returned to the four named plaintiffs only (Brunts, O’Fallon, Wideman, and Williams), not the entire community, as was the case in the original petition.

If you have any questions please email bod.cpinaire@ilpoa.org and we try to get you an answer.  I also would caution you regarding posting questions on social media because of the complexity of the pleadings.  Many times, you will not get the facts but rather opinions or their interpretation.  The only feedback that matters is the Judge and anything beyond that is purely speculation.

Chris Pinaire, ILPOA Legal Chair