A Florida homeowner was sued by her homeowners’ association and ended up being jailed for a week as a result of a dispute that started over a patch of brown grass in her yard.
Irena Green said the dispute between her and the homeowner’s association that oversees her Tampa subdivision reached extreme heights when the HOA took her to civil court after issuing her notices about the state of her lawn.
It all began with a few violation notices from the HOA organization, The Trowbridge Company, Inc., about a patch of brown grass in Green’s yard.
Green attributed the condition of the grass to a drought that prompted mandatory countywide watering restrictions in Hillsborough County. But she said her yard isn’t the only one in the neighborhood that doesn’t meet the HOA’s standards.
“If you drive around my neighborhood, you’ll see there’s plenty of yards not up to par,” Green told WFTS.
Then, Green was cited for mildew on her mailbox, followed by another notice about a dent in her garage. After that, she was issued a warning about having a commercial cargo van, despite the fact that some of her neighbors also own similar vehicles.
Ultimately, Trowbridge decided to sue Green in Hillsborough County Civil Court after she failed to respond to a request for mediation. The HOA’s complaint accuses Green of breaking community appearance rules and demanding that she correct the violations.
Green filed a handwritten response to the lawsuit that was rejected by the HOA and the judge, and she was issued an ultimatum to fix the issues or risk jail time.
“My grass had to be brung up to par. He said you can get seed, you can do something, but you’ve got 30 days to get it corrected. So I said fine. He said if it’s not done in 30 days, you’re gonna go to jail,” Green said. “I sold my van to comply. My mailbox was cleaned to comply. I bought seeds and watered my grass to comply.”
Green complied with the order, but things took a turn for the worse when she missed her next court date.
But she says she never received a notice about her next court appearance.
“I was supposed to receive documentation. Nothing was sent to my home. And I reached out to the courthouse several times to try to find out when was my court date,” Green said.
She was held in contempt of court last August.
Nine months later, she was pulled over by a cop after picking up her teen daughter from cheerleading practice.
The cop notified her that she had a warrant for her arrest and transported her to a local jail, where she stayed for days after receiving no bail.
“There was no bond. So I couldn’t even go home to my family. I sat in there for seven days. Seven days in the jailhouse like a criminal,” Green said.
She continued: “It makes me feel horrible. I work hard to buy this home for me and my kids in a better neighborhood and environment and to be taken to jail and to be treated like that for brown grass at my own home … that’s horrible.”
After six days in jail, Green’s sister-in-law filed a petition for an emergency hearing.
“I went to court, and I had to be shackled from my hands to my feet,” Green said.
Green said it was a different judge who oversaw her hearing than the one who signed the arrest warrant. An attorney for the HOA also appeared at the hearing and opposed Green’s release, but a judge cleared the way for her to be freed from jail.
“He says ‘well, it hasn’t been resodded. The whole yard needs to be re-sodded. And she’s like not from those pictures I see. She’s like ‘No. I want her released immediately,’” Green said. “He wanted me to continue to sit in jail and not come home to my family.”
In a statement to WFTS about Green’s arrest, the HOA board of directors, who oversee Green’s subdivision, said the legal process was initiated after Green disregarded notices of violation:
Ms. Green received notices of violations. She disregarded them. Legal action was filed by the Association after she failed to accept the offer to mediate the matter, pre-suit, as is required before a lawsuit can be filed. See Fla. Stat. §720.311.
After suit was filed and final judgment was entered against her, Ms. Green showed up for the court hearing on July 11, 2024. Please see attached judgment and sentence. At the July 11 hearing, with Ms. Green present, another court date was set by the judge for August 19, 2024. She was instructed to comply with the requirements of the final judgment by August 19 and to report to the judge what was accomplished on August 19. Ms. Green failed to show up in court on August 19. Her failure to abide by the Court’s instruction led to the arrest warrant being issued. This is all explained in the attached judgment. These steps were taken by the Court due to Ms. Green’s failure to comply with the Court’s instructions. This is all public record.
The board recently hired a new management company that started last month.
“I definitely wish I would have hired a lawyer,” Green said. “I think they have way too much power. I’ve never heard of anything like this in my life.”
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