Homeowner Faces Foreclosure For Continued Refusal To Use Leash When Walking Dog

In Tarpon Springs, Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:

• Robert Wirth Jr. may lose his house — all because of walking his dog in a deed-restricted community without a leash. What seems like a relatively minor infraction has snowballed into a protracted court battle that he claims has cost him more than $100,000 in legal fees.

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• It all started more than seven years ago because Wirth insisted on walking his black Labrador, Cole, regularly without a leash. In January 2003, the River Watch Homeowners Association fined Wirth and his wife, Sandra L. Blaker, $1,000 for doing so. The couple didn't pay. So the association filed a lien and in April of that year foreclosed on their home to collect the debt. The case has dragged on for years. Last year, a circuit judge ordered Wirth and his wife to pay the fine, plus interest, attorney fees and other costs or the house would be sold. Wirth now owes more than $40,000, he said.

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• Wirth remains adamant about his case and is not backing down. [...] Wirth admits he still walks Cole without a leash. [...] Meanwhile, Wirth's frustration has escalated. He said that he would shoot and kill one of the board members if things don't go his way.

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• Foreclosure cases like Wirth's are "unusual, but not unheard of, " said Gary W. Lyons, a Clearwater attorney whose specialties include real estate law. Lyons is also aware of foreclosure proceedings that stemmed from painting homes the wrong colors or improper shingles on roofs.

For more, see Foreclosure looms over Tarpon Springs man who walked dog off leash.

See also, Tarpon Springs dog owners knew the leash rules and defied them.