One Florida homeowner emerged victorious with a $70,000 settlement in his back pocked after his community sued him for having a 12-inch cross planted in his front yard.
You often hear about the autocratic homeowner associations across America but sometimes you can't quite believe the rules that people within those areas are subject to every single day.
It makes community sense, of course, to ensure that people are taking care of their homes, and that often involves a neat and tidy garden or a well-maintained exterior, but some of the regulations can go a little too far.
As reported by Fox 35 Orlando, Florida homeowners Wayne and Bonnie Anderson currently live in The Villages, and have been involved in a bitter legal battle for the last five years over an unexpected feature of their house.
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All the way back on April 1, 2019, the Andersons were served a notice from the local Village Community Development District 8 (CDD 8), which oversee the houses within the neighborhood that they live.
It was revealed to them that they were in violation of 'community standards', and it all came from a certain lawn ornament that was sat out in their front yard.
Your mind might immediately go to something extravagant or ridiculous like a water fountain or gaudy sculpture, but what the complain actually referenced was a plain white 12-inch wooden cross planted by a flower bed.
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"I thought it was an April Fool's Day joke," Wayne recalled after receiving the complaint, adding that "we call it a religious icon; they call it yard art — like the same with pink flamingos."
Unfortunately for him the CDD 8's 'punishment' for not removing the cross and adhering to the rules was a $25 fine that stacked up every day that the 'problem' wasn't dealt with, yet for the next five years he refused to budge.
"The last I heard [the fine] was $44,000 for us," Wayne revealed, yet they were soon met by a lawsuit from CDD 8 that spiralled into a bitter back and forth.
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In the end the judge ordered the two parties to settle outside of court, and the result landed overwhelmingly in favor of the Andersons.
Not only would the Village Community Development District 8 have to pay all of the Anderson family's $173,000 of court and legal fees, but they also owe Wayne and Bonnie $70,000 as compensation.
The icing on the cake, of course, is that the cross at the heart of the issue can remain on their front lawn, leaving there only one winner at the end of this long tale.
"Quarter of a million dollars nearly — over the little white cross. Can you believe that," Wayne remarked after the legal battle came to a conclusion. "This should have never happened, and it should never happen again."