JournalStar.com:  Cars must go in garage, judge says

By Lori Pilger — March 20, 2014

When the tow truck driver hoisted Matt Catlett’s BMW onto his truck one summer day in 2012, he didn’t know it, but he’d driven into the middle of a brewing feud. Catlett, a Lincoln lawyer, didn’t park somewhere he shouldn’t have on a Husker game day. Nor did he forget to feed a meter. He parked in his own driveway. That violated a Bishop Square Inc. covenant, and the homeowners association for the townhouse development just south of the Country Club of Lincoln called for the tow truck.Catlett’s mother and townhouse co-owner, Maureen Horner, spotted the tow truck that day, Aug. 15, 2012, and paid the driver $80 to release the BMW. Later that year, Horner filed a civil complaint, asking a judge to settle the dispute between the homeowner and the association board over restrictive covenants. Omaha attorney Michael Gooch said language in the covenant didn’t prohibit homeowners from parking on their property, and it didn’t authorize anyone to trespass onto property to remove parked cars.Specifically, it says: “No boats, campers, trailers, recreational vehicles, commercial tractor trailers, or oversized commercial vehicles of any variety shall be stored or parked in front of or on any lot within the properties, except within an enclosed structure.” “Owners are to keep automobiles and motor vehicles in their garage,” the covenant says. Catlett said Thursday if the board meant to ban motor vehicles altogether, it could have included cars along with boats, campers and RVs.  Read more: