False imprisonment: Lawsuit against HOA in Florida challenges deactivation of key fobs for COVID-positive homeowners

The only thing more stunning than our loss of freedom and liberty in the age of the Wuhan coronavirus is the lack of angry responses and pushback against the authoritarians and dictator-wannabes imposing lockdowns and other restrictions.

But that said, some Americans are pushing back in any way they can, whether it be refusing to stay at home under threat of fines and arrest to filing legal action against the tyrants.

In Boca Raton, Fla., residents of a homeowners association (HOA) have filed a lawsuit in Palm Beach County alleging “false imprisonment” and “invasion of privacy,” CD Media reports.

The outlet noted further that the suit was filed after officials at the Palmetto Place Condominium Association allegedly deactivated the key fobs of two homeowners who said publicly that they tested positive for COVID-19.

Without the authority to do so, according to the suit, HOA officials used the deactivation as a means of constraining a husband and wife and forcing them to remain in their condo for two weeks — the normal quarantine time. HOA officials also allegedly told the couple the association would contact police to “request that you be removed from the building and arrested” if they attempted to leave. 

In addition, the association has been accused of trying to enter the couple’s condo to ensure that they remained inside.

Boca News Now adds: 

Steven and Nancy Iscowitz are suing Palmetto Place at Mizner Park for false imprisonment, invasion of privacy, negligence, violation of Florida law, and more. You can read the entire lawsuit, below. Units in the building near Mizner Park range from $300,000 to nearly $1,000,000. 

The filing follows a lawsuit filed over the summer by the Palmetto Place Condominium Association — and its management company “First Service Residential” — seeking to order the Iscowitz’s to stay in their unit. The Association dropped the suit after Palm Beach County Judge Scott Kerner refused to hear the case as an “emergency.”

The suit alleges that the association, along with First Service Residential Manager Leann Dodd, established unreasonable and possibly illegal rules, then claimed they had limitless power to enforce them.

“At no time were police authorized to effectuate arrests based on COVID status,” Boca News Now reported. “At no time were Florida citizens required to divulge COVID status to anyone other than health department officials for the purposes of contact tracing” (which in and of itself is a massive violation of the Fourth Amendment’s privacy protections).

The suit says, “Defendant Firstservice Residential through its agents and employees, had no reasonable basis for detaining Steven Iscowitz and Nancy Iscowitz against their wills. No exigency of circumstance existed which could warrant Association’s behavior.

“Defendant Association unlawfully intruded into Plaintiff’s unit after the deactivation of the electronic Fobs. Such action deprived Steven Iscowitz and Nancy Iscowitz of their liberties, including their ability to move freely within their rights in the unit,” the suit also alleges. (Related: 5,500-page COVID relief bill could criminalize sharing memes online.)

Boca News Now reported further that the Iscowitz’s legal action is the second major COVID-19 issue regarding Palmetto Place and First Service Residential. In November, the outlet reported that both entities were trying to fine another unit owner $5,100 for a mask infraction.

In that case, resident Boca Raton realtor Bobbi Engelke, who was in the process of selling her home in Palmetto Place, fought the fine for the violation which allegedly occurred in the spring of last year.

“The condo association is doing all this contrary to the Florida statute, to the Governor’s executive order and to the Palm Beach County emergency order,” she told the outlet.

The fine was for her alleged failure to wear a mask, but she told Boca News Now that she has a medical exemption, though she didn’t specify what it was (because it’s no one’s business but hers and her medical provider).

The Age of COVID has brought out the authoritarians, but in America, such people should never be allowed to thrive. 

Be smart and take care of yourself (and others) as best you can, but when it comes to stripping away your rights, fight back. That’s the only way to beat a tyrant.

See more reporting like this at Liberty.news.

Sources include:

BocaNewsNow.com

CreativeDestructionMedia.com

FreePress.news