July 17, 2025
Legal experts emphasize that joining an HOA constitutes a private contract.
A Hillsborough County homeowner endured a week in jail after being arrested for what began as a seemingly minor homeowners’ association (HOA) violation concerning her lawn. Irena Green’s strange and inappropriate incarceration has cast a harsh spotlight on the authority of HOAs and the escalating disputes that can ensnare residents.
Green’s incarceration began dramatically on May 23, when a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputy pulled her over after the Florida mom picked up her 15-year-old daughter. She was handcuffed and taken to Orient Road Jail, where she learned there was no bond, forcing her to spend seven days behind bars.
Her crime? Brown grass that her HOA in Riverview’s Creek View subdivision kept issuing violations for.
Green described the humiliation of being fingerprinted and having her mugshot taken, lamenting, “It makes me feel horrible to be taken to jail and to be treated like that for brown grass at my own home. That’s horrible.”
She even recalled a surreal interaction with another inmate who, upon hearing her charge, mistakenly thought she was jailed for marijuana.
The saga commenced with notices from the HOA’s management company, The Trowbridge Company, citing issues that rapidly expanded beyond the lawn.
“The grass has started turning brown. So then they started sending notes. And it went from the grass being brown to there’s a dent in my garage,” The Florida homeowner explained. She was also cited for a mailbox covered in mildew and for parking a commercial cargo van.
Legal experts emphasize that joining an HOA constitutes a private contract.
“This is a private contract that people choose to enter into,” noted land use expert and Stetson Law School Professor Paul Boudreaux, highlighting the HOA’s right to enforce rules on property appearance and use.
After Green failed to respond to a mediation request, the HOA initiated a lawsuit in Hillsborough County Civil Court. Green, representing herself, submitted a handwritten response that was rejected.
During a July hearing, a judge issued an ultimatum, “My grass had to be brung up to par… if it’s not done in 30 days, you’re gonna go to jail,” Green recalled.
Green maintains she complied, selling her van, cleaning her mailbox, and seeding her grass. However, she missed a subsequent court date in August, claiming that she had not been personally served with a notice to appear. “Nothing was sent to my home,” she asserted.
Consequently, the judge signed a contempt of court order and issued an arrest warrant at the request of the HOA’s attorney, Francis Friscia. “I think it’s pretty rare in a civil case for someone to have a contempt order,” Boudreaux commented.
The frustrated homeowner attributed her browning grass to a large tree near her sidewalk and the mandatory watering restrictions imposed last year due to drought. A two-month moratorium on watering the grass, allowing watering only once a week, was enacted in July 2024. Despite her yard being, in her view, far from the worst in Riverview’s Creek View subdivision, Green expressed that she’s the only homeowner known to have been jailed over such infractions.
“I think they have way too much power. I’ve never heard of anything like this in my life,” Green stated, recounting her ordeal.
David Lehr, a Palm Beach attorney specializing in cases against HOAs, acknowledged the judge’s right to issue the order but suggested “more lenient remedies” could exist. “You have an HOA who was quick to go after her and to use the full force that they are entitled to,” Lehr observed.
Green’s sister-in-law, a paralegal, filed an emergency hearing petition. Green appeared in court shackled. A different judge presided, and despite the HOA attorney’s opposition, the judge ordered Green’s immediate release. “He wanted me to continue to sit in jail and not come home to my family,” Green stated [Source: Irena Green, direct quote]. She was released the following day.
The Creek View HOA, through its attorney Francis Friscia, provided a statement asserting Green received violation notices and disregarded them. They stated that legal action was filed after she declined mediation, and her failure to appear at a subsequent court date led to the issuance of an arrest warrant.
“The Court took these steps due to Ms. Green’s failure to comply with the Court’s instructions. This is all public record,” the statement concluded.
Legal experts underscore the lessons from Green’s case.
“Sometimes they act in a petty manner, but if they decide that you need to do something, you need to follow the rules. And when a judge tells you to do something, you have to do it,” Boudreaux advised.
Lehr added, “Take it seriously. Maybe consult an attorney.”
Green herself reflected, “I definitely wish I would have hired a lawyer.”
The incident also highlights broader legislative efforts to curb HOA power. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1203 in June 2024, enacting sweeping changes to HOA authority aimed at protecting homeowners. The new law prohibits HOAs from imposing rules that, among other things, limit what owners do with the interior of their homes, ban vegetable gardens or clotheslines that are not visible from the street, or restrict the parking of personal vehicles in driveways.
It also prohibits compound interest on overdue assessments and fines for garbage cans left at the curb within 24 hours of collection or for holiday decorations left up longer than governing documents allow, unless written notice is provided for over a week. State House Representative Kimberly Daniels, who championed the bill, noted a “stream of people” statewide complaining about HOAs. “We need HOAs, but what we do need is to feel like our homes are our homes,” Daniels asserted.
She specifically added a provision to prohibit compound interest on unpaid fines after working with a homeowner whose debt ballooned from $11,000 to $90,000 in one year due to such fees.
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