The Kimry Moor Homeowners Association has filed a lawsuit in Onondaga County Supreme Court against a Manilus, N.Y., couple for parking a pickup truck in the driveway in front of their home.
David and Arna Orlanda have been fighting this battle since August, 2013, when the suit claiming that the truck is not a personal vehicle was originally filed.
The 84-house neighborhood’s covenant specifies that only “private, passenger-type, pleasure automobiles” are allowed to be parked in driveways, which are owned by the association, not individual homeowners.
The association’s lawyer, Paul Curtin, argued the pickup “is not a passenger vehicle by definition.”
The photograph accompanying the story, however, appeared to show a pickup with at least four seats. Unless the vehicle also contains four steering wheels, it’s hard to see how Curtin’s argument holds water.
David Orlando also said that the 2014 Ford 150 in question is registered as “a passenger vehicle.”
And common sense says that any vehicle containing at least four seat belts would appear to be a passenger vehicle by definition, regardless of Curin’s remarks … leading one to wonder what’s really going on here.
Yes, the Orlandos could conceivably park the truck in their garage, but that the HOA should attempt to require them to do so seems like tremendous overreach on their part, as the Orlandos’ lawyer, Tom Cerio, has said.
Could it be that the Kimry Moor HOA has something against pickup trucks? Something to do with their gas mileage, for example, and their dreaded carbon emissions?
There is no way to know that based on the information provided in this report, but it certainly doesn’t seem out of the question.
In the meantime, the Orlandos continue to park their pickup truck in the driveway and have counter-sued the HOA for damages and attorney’s fees, claiming that Kimry Moor has “impeded and interfered with the Orlandos’ quiet use and enjoyment of their property.”
Good for them.
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