The notice was eight pages. Patricia had written it precisely. It identified the parties. It described the encroachment in full. It cited the survey, the county confirmation letter, the hydrological report, and Howard Finch’s appraisal. It referenced the HOA’s own board meeting minutes from eleven years ago, the ones showing they had formally acknowledged the need for an easement, and then deliberately done nothing.
It stated the total assessed value of unauthorized water usage over the documented period. And it presented three options. Option one. The HOA could negotiate a formal paid easement agreement with fair compensation for historical usage, subject to terms acceptable to me, and reviewed by both parties’ attorneys. Option two. The HOA could cease all water usage from the well immediately, remove the pipe infrastructure from my property at their expense within sixty days, and pay a reduced settlement figure for historical unauthorized usage.
Option three. If no response was received within thirty days, Patricia would file suit in county civil court seeking full damages plus attorney fees plus injunctive relief. The return receipt came back signed four days later. They had received it. The clock was running.
For the first ten days there was silence. No call, no letter, no response of any kind. I continued my daily log. I continued my boundary walks. I noted that the pipe was still running. I noted it every single day. On the eleventh day, Richard Thorne called my personal cell phone. I do not know how he obtained the number. I let it ring. He left a voicemail.
His tone was not what I expected. He was not apologetic. He was not conciliatory. He was aggressive. He said I was threatening the water security of forty-seven families. He said I had moved onto the land and immediately began looking for ways to cause problems. He said the community had rights that predated my ownership and that his attorney would be in touch.
I saved the voicemail. I transcribed it word for word in my notebook with the date and time. I sent the transcription and the audio file to Patricia the same evening. Patricia called me the next morning. She said Thorne’s voicemail had just added harassment to the file. She said his claim that community rights predated my ownership was legally meaningless without a recorded easement and that he almost certainly knew that.
She said his attorney, whoever it was, would likely advise him to stop making unsolicited calls immediately. The HOA’s attorney made contact four days later. His name was Brett Calloway. He sent a letter to Patricia’s office. I never spoke to him directly. Patricia handled all communication from that point forward. She summarized his letter for me in a phone call.
Calloway had taken the aggressive posture his client preferred. He argued that the well usage constituted an implied easement through long-term continuous use. He argued that the previous landowners’ inaction amounted to tacit consent. He argued that disrupting the water supply would cause irreparable harm to the community. He requested a sixty-day extension to the response deadline.