Mill Creek Community News

All About "Legal" Beagles

(from The Meisner Law Group P.C.

30200 Telegraph Road, Suite 467,

Bingham Farms, MI  48025-4506

248-644-4433 or 800-470-4433)

THESE DARN CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATIONS DON’T LIKE DOGS

By: Bailley “The Legal Beagle”

I firmly believe, based on what I have seen that we dogs are beginning to assert more control all over the country, as we should.  We are man’s best friend; even the President appreciates the need to get one of us in the White House.  We make everyone’s lives happier and we provide unconditional love, which if that was existent in humans, it would result in the divorce rate being zero.

Having barked at that, I now want to point out an injustice which is occurring in Condominium and other Community Associations.  My associate, Robert M. Meisner, Community Association attorney, has advised me that many of the Condominium Documents provide for a size or weight limitation on pets and, in particular dogs, in the projects.  Now I must admit I like to eat and will grab at almost any food which is put before me, but that should not be a reason why I should be kept out of living at a Condominium.  And, while I am particularly short for a Beagle, some of my Beagle friends may be in excess of eighteen (18”) inches high which I have seen as a limit on the height of a dog allowed to be in a Condominium project.  Personally, I think that stinks and is unreasonable.  If they don’t want dogs in the Condominium, then just say so and I won’t make an issue.  But, if they put an arbitrary limit on the size and weight of a dog, I see no rational basis for it.  As a matter of fact, I am advised that the Michigan Court of Appeals agrees with me in its unpublished decision in the matter of Bear Creek Village Condominium Association v Kaye E. Clark, Court of Appeals Docket No. 104101 March 23, 1989.   In that case, the human judges recognized that, in effect, the size or weight of a dog has no reasonable bearing on the potential for problems caused by some of my kind. Yet, in spite of that decision, a bunch of Condominiums continue to try to implement those restrictions that cause humans to get rid of their dogs if they don’t have the economic resources to fight the Management Company’s Boards and high-powered lawyers that they hire.

We dogs should unite in unison to express our outrage at these types of restrictions.  I for one want to put an end to this discriminatory conduct against us.  If you agree with me, you should write your Association and tell them these types of limitations are unreasonable and get the dogs unnecessarily angry.  I am hoping this commentary will become a regular feature of Meisner & Associates, P.C.’s website.  If you want to contact me directly, contact my beagle assistant at bmeisner@meisner-law.com

Good licks to all,

Bailley

“The Legal Beagle”

About the Author

Bailley, the Legal Beagle, is seven (7) years old (but she gets very upset if we talk about her age), and is an assistant in the law firm of Meisner & Associates, P.C.  She has been featured in the Detroit Legal News (June 8, 2009), the Oakland County Legal News (June 8, 2009), and Macomb County Legal News (June 16, 2009), and believes the fact that “the world is going to the dogs” is not only a good thing, but that she should be able to express her views and opinions on various issues from a dog’s perspective.