PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 20, 2017
HOA: Decision could have CHARGE,
much wider impact
continued from Page A1
(Continued from Page A1)
The Kuhns presented the
HOA board with letters from
two doctors citing the medical
necessity, but the request was
denied and the family later met
with hostility from neighbors.
When
one
neighbor
claimed her view of the street
was obstructed as she tried to
pull out of her driveway, Re-
nee purchased a parabolic mir-
ror for her to install at the edge
of her property. The neighbor
declined to use it.
Another neighbor allegedly
shoved Gary twice outside his
home as the situation unrav-
eled. Yet another began sitting
outside her home monitoring
the family’s activity.
“She had a chair and a note-
pad and did it for days,” Gary
said in an interview last year.
“She was trying to log our be-
havior.”
The HOA did suggest alter-
natives such as parking the RV
offsite or a van with a chemi-
cal toilet, but neither fully ad-
dressed the situation. The van
would have lacked a shower.
Parking it offsite would have
left Renee without transpor-
tation as the Kuhns had to sell
one of their vehicles to pay for
the RV. Gary used the family’s
other car for commuting to
and from work.
With no resolution in sight,
the family sold their home and
moved to Woodburn in the fall
of 2015.
In November 2016, Girod
resigned as the HOA president
to take on a paid role as interim
McNary Estates general man-
ager.
“As a longtime resident of
McNary Estates, she loves our
community and is well versed
with our governing documents.
Teresa’s qualifi cations make her
the perfect candidate and I feel
fortunate that she has agreed
to accept this position,” wrote
new president Kathie Stevens
in a news item posted to the
McNary Estates HOA website.
Stevens was the neighbor
who allegedly sat in her garage
“It is the
disabled
person who
gets to decide
what is
appropriate”
— Dennis Steinman
Kuhn family attorney
and logged family activity ac-
cording to the original com-
plaint.
Summary judgment
In making her summary
judgment decision, Aiken cited
standards of the FHA and rea-
sonableness of the accommo-
dation request as reasons for
her decision against the HOA
and Girod.
Aiken found that the defen-
dants violated FHA standards
because refusing to accom-
modate the RV negatively im-
pacted the Kuhn family’s “use
and enjoyment” of their home.
The HOA board originally
contended that accommodat-
ing the RV impacted the fam-
ily’s travels, not housing.
“Any reasonable factfi nder
looking at the summary judg-
ment record would conclude
that if the RV were parked
offsite, Khrizma would face
‘injury or pain’ in accessing
the mode of transportation
deemed best for her by her
parents and her doctors,” Ai-
ken wrote.
Representatives of the
HOA suggested in fi lings with
the court that the Kuhns might
have expanded their garage or
purchased a smaller RV. How-
ever, Aiken wrote that present-
ing those alternatives – which
would have required their own
variances from HOA policy –
after-the-fact was a matter of
too-little-too-late.
“Under basic principles of
fairness and waiver, (the defen-
dants) are not now permitted
to avoid liability by faulting
plaintiffs for failing to come up
with those alternative accom-
modations,” she wrote.
As to the reasonableness of
the request, Aiken found that
the Kuhns had attempted to
overcome safety concerns with
the purchase of the parabolic
mirror.
“Plaintiffs submitted un-
contradicted evidence that
their house was on a short,
dead-end street with little traf-
fi c. The burden therefore shifts
to defendants to show that
the requested accommodation
was not reasonable under the
circumstances,” Aiken wrote.
“(The) defendants’ argument
that parabolic mirrors are
themselves a safety concern
due to sun glare is speculative
and unsupported by any evi-
dence in the record.”
A landmark decision
While the decision in the
case affects the Kuhn family,
the HOA and Girod most im-
mediately, Steinman, the fam-
ily attorney, said the potential
impact is far-reaching.
“While this decision is spe-
cifi c, it will set in stone for Or-
egon that the ability to park a
vehicle in front of your home
is integral to your enjoyment
of your home,” Steinman said.
On an even grander scale,
the decision impacts who can
decide what an appropriate ac-
commodation is for someone
with a disability.
“It’s like having someone
choose to wear contacts and
then someone who wears
glasses coming along and
telling them they made the
wrong choice and will have
to change,” Steinman said. “In
this case, the defendants were
trying to impose their decision,
but the court has decided that
it’s the disabled person’s voice
that matters most. A landlord
or an HOA can make a sugges-
tion, but it is the disabled per-
son who gets to decide what is
appropriate.”
Caden was a seventh grade
student at Claggett Creek
Middle School where a crisis
team planned to be on-hand
when school resumed Tues-
day, and would be available for
as long as they were needed,
said Rob Schoepper, Claggett
principal.
“Caden was a great kid and
hard worker in class. He will
be greatly missed by all our
students and staff,” Schoepper
said.
Also on Tuesday, the direc-
tor of the Oregon Department
of Human Service, Clyde
Saiki, announced the agency
would be conducting a review
of the actions leading up to
Caden’s death. A Critical In-
cident Review Team (CIRT)
will be convened to investi-
gate the matter. CIRTs are
charged with reviewing cases
of a child’s death while in state
care for the purpose of draw-
ing out lessons for agency im-
provement.
While Caden was not un-
der state care, the agency di-
rector has leeway in deter-
mining when to call for such
investigations.
“While this matter does not
qualify for a mandatory CIRT
under the statute, I am mak-
ing this discretionary decision
in order to determine whether
there are system issues that
gave rise to this tragic out-
come, and which may allow us
to make improvements in our
system,” Saiki said in a state-
ment.
The fi nal results will be
shared with the public.
Anyone with information
about the incident is asked to
contact KPD Det. Tim Lath-
rop at 503-390-3713, ext.
3481.
TROUBLE: ‘There was alcohol
and drugs in the house’
(Continued from Page A1)
The next year of the Law-
rences’ lives proved to be tu-
multuous.
“The boyfriend and I would
talk quite a bit, I was cool with
him more so than Amy,” Jason
said. “They were both abusive
and I know there was alcohol
and drugs in the house.”
Jason recounted a night not
long after they moved in when
Amy pulled into their driveway
with her high beams on in the
middle of the night.
“She came to the door and
was asking us if we had any
oxycontin,” Jason said.
Robertson was seeking to
replace pills she’d taken from
her mother, Katie added.
It wasn’t the only odd visit.
“She would come to our
house trying to sell us electron-
ics. She cleaned offi ces and I’m
pretty sure she was taking them
from the places she cleaned. We
reported her to the company
she worked for,” Katie said.
While the relationship be-
tween the two families was
ARRAIGN,
continued from Page A1
The attorney for the state
said Robertson “admitted to
causing the death of her son
by strangulation.”
Robertson only rare-
ly looked up from behind
the window and her sobs
prompted some of her family
to leave the courtroom while
the arraignment wrapped up.
Robertson continued to
weep as she left the court-
room.
Numerous
fam-
ily members gathered in the
amicable at times, Katie said
the biggest dust-up came July
4, 2012.
“Amy was out in our drive-
way with her sister and mom,
yelling and making a lot of
noise while our daughter was
asleep,” Katie said. “I went out
to talk with her and she got
right up in my face, nose-to-
nose, and threatened to beat me
up.”
The situation cooled when
Jason and other neighbors in-
tervened.
“Amy ended up getting
evicted because she was so loud
and always trying to fi ght with
everybody,” Katie said.
Jason said employees from
the Oregon Department of
Human Services made several
visits to the house while the
two families were neighbors.
Those visits have caused him a
considerable amount of heart-
ache in the past couple of days.
“(Caden) should still have
more birthdays, but now he
never will because the system
failed him,” Jason said.
lobby of the Marion County
Court Annex after the ar-
raignment.
Robertson was arrested by
Keizer police Sunday, Jan. 15,
and charged with the aggra-
vated murder of her 12-year-
old son, Caden Berry.
Robertson is scheduled to
appear for a preliminary hear-
ing on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 4
p.m. A hearing on indictment
is scheduled for 8:30 a.m.
Thursday, Jan. 26.
Marion County Circuit
Court Judge Lindsay Par-
tridge will take over as the
presiding judge with a status
conference slated Feb. 1.
ESCE parents meet Jan. 26
On Jan. 26 from 6 p.m. to
7 p.m. Early Childhood Spe-
cial Education (ECSE) parent
night will take place at Wil-
lamette ESD, 2611 Pringle
Road S.E.
The meeting will intro-
duce individuals to Salem-
Keizer programs and services.
The meeting is intended to
help make the transition to
starting school as smooth as
crossword
possible for children and their
parents.
Call Ginger Wyler at 503-
399-3101 to RSVP. ASL or
Spanish interpreting can be
provided upon request.