Couple threatened with foreclosure for feeding ducks near home

Graig Graziosi
·2 min read
2
File A duck with duckweed stuck to it's breast on a sunny day in the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin (PA)
File A duck with duckweed stuck to it's breast on a sunny day in the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin (PA)

A Texas couple put their home up for sale after their homeowner's association sued them and threatened to foreclose on the home over their duck feeding hobby.

Kathleen Rowe, 65, and her husband, George, live in the Lakeland Community Homeowners Association in Cyprus, Texas. Their home was across from a waterway where ducks often bathed and grazed. About a decade ago, when Ms Rowe's only child died, she began feeding the ducks as a therapeutic activity.

According to The Washington Post, Ms Rowe has been feeding the ducks for the last decade.

The homeowner's association reportedly gave Ms Rowe warnings not to feed the ducks. In June, they decided to sue her.

The suit asks for a judge to grant a "permanent mandatory injunction requiring Defendants to cease from feeding any wildlife" in the neighborhood. It is also asking for $250,000 in damages, which is the state's standard minimum for similar laqsuits.

The association's lawsuit says that feeing wildlife "runs afoul of the general plan and scheme of Subdivision" and causes "imminent harm and irreparable injury to the Plaintiff."

Richard Weaver, the attorney representing Ms Rowe and her husband, called the case "truly the silliest lawsuit I've ever seen in practice."

"This attorney has essentially claimed that feeding ducks is either noxious or offensive — I think that's an incredible statement."

He told The Post he plans to "put the HOA's feet to the fire" and force it to substantiate its claims that feeding ducks is a violation of its rules.

"I understand that maybe some people in the neighborhood want these ducks not to be in their community, but just from a human being perspective, we have worse things going on in the world," Mr Weaver said.

While Mr Weaver is confident his clients will succeed against the HOA, he noted that Ms Rowe has put her home up for sale just in case.

"As you can imagine, as a homeowner and a defendant in the lawsuit, she was frightened at that number, with the threat of foreclosure and losing her home," he said. "So what she decided to do was beat the HOA to the punch by hurrying up and selling her home before anything bad could happen to her."