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Article
and Video Courtesy of
Bay
News 9
Imagine
waking up every day knowing the home you live in is teetering above a
sinkhole.
Or worse yet, there's no insurance to protect yourself if you're stuck
with damages.
This scenario is a reality for some homeowners in Pasco County, who are
dealing with a legal battle pitting them against their homeowners
association and a powerful insurance company.
There are 165 townhomes at Covina Key, located in the Meadow Point area of
Wesley Chapel in southern Pasco County. And the owners of 20 of those
townhomes are dealing with a nightmare situation.
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 Watch
VIDEO
Published June 27, 2007
Sinkhole: Some of the townhomes at
Covina Key in Meadow Point are facing sinkhole issues.
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Mike Phillips bought a Covina Key townhome as an investment - it may
not leave him $100,000 in debt.
That's because according to an engineering report, an large,
unrepairable sinkhole lies 180 feet underground directly below the
townhome.
And Phillips and his neighbors can't count on their insurance company
Nationwide. The insurance giant cancelled the policies and the buildings
affected by the sinkhole.
"I have a financed house that has no insurance on it," Phillips
said. "And no notification, well notification of cancel of insurance
when it was done, but there is no one that will insure it after
that."
The Covina Key homeowners association was responsible for insurance on
the now irreparable buildings.
That insurance provided coverage for a little more than a million
dollars ($1,027,214). The problem is there are 20 units - totaling around
$2.8 million of market value.
The homeowners claim the association underinsured the buildings and now if
there is a fire or other damage none of it will be covered.
Homeowners are now scrambling to find alternate insurance providers. The
homeowners themselves have no money in hand to deal with potential
problems. And now a Pasco judge may be the deciding factor on whether
these buildings will be taken care of or if the homeowners will have to
hire their own attorneys to fight for insurance money.
The homeowners association attorney Robert Walton III said his clients are
hoping legal action will work in their favor.
"The association has requested that the circuit court of Pasco County
review the association's governing documents as to what to do,'' Walton
said in a statement. "as the association's main governing document is
silent as to what is the proper course to be taken.''
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