Todd Bodine loses fight with his HOA

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 29 (UPI) -- NASCAR driver Todd Bodine has lost a four-year battle with a homeowners association over a pool house and tiki hut and has had to tear the structures down.

Bodine took the case all the way to the North Carolina Supreme Court and lost, slapped with opposing attorneys' fees and fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, WCNC-TV, Charlotte, reported Tuesday.

"I think I've been done wrong," Bodine said. "And it's incredible how unjust it is."

The disagreement started in July 2007 when the association board abruptly told Bodine the pool house was not approved.

Bodine insists the association president gave him verbal permission to go ahead and build. "Everything was always, 'Fine, OK, looks good,'" he said.

The association denies that permission was given.

"The president never said, 'It's OK for you to start building,' " said Keith Black, the attorney who represented the Harris Village association.

Approval was conditional on the Bodines submitting final drawings with dimensions and the board never realized how large the structure would be, Black said.

"[The Bodines] ignored the phone calls, the e-mail and built the thing," Black said.

Bodine said he would like the state Legislature to rein in the powers of associations that govern nearly half of the state's owner-occupied homes.

"A lot of time their power is just way too strong," Bodine said.