ALOC NEWS
| January 2, 2002 | Associated
Landlords of the Cumberland Area ALOC Phone (301) 759-0530 P.O. Box 1867 |
Vol. 8, Issue 1 |
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Upcoming Speakers Chief Bobby Dick from the Cumberland Police Department to be our speaker for the January meeting. It has been a few years since we had someone from the Police Dept. speak at a meeting and we assume that there will be new questions! In February we hope to have Bob Rider from the Cumberland Water Department and in March we are planning to have Bonnie Zembower from the District Court as our speaker. We are still working on final arrangements and we will keep you posted. Insurers Must Defend Landlords The following article appeared in the National Law Review and was provided by the American Lawyer Media News Service. " An insurance company can't avoid covering injuries caused by breathing or swallowing lead paint by writing a so-called pollution exemption clause into a commercial liability policy, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled. " The unanimous decision is one of first impression for the court. It means that an insurance company must defend landlords in a suit over lead-based paint. " 'One would not ordinarily describe the continual, imperceptible and inevitable deterioration of paint that has been applied to the interior surface of a residence as a discharge…a release…or escape.' Justice Thomas Saylor wrote for the court in Litilz Mutual Ins. Co. v, Steely. The court said the deterioration of lead-based paint could arguably constitute a 'dispersal,' a condition of the exclusion, but because its definition was ambiguous, the language should be interpreted in favor of the insured. "The
court had reversed a Lancaster County Common Pleas Court judge's
grant of summary judgment in favor of the minor plaintiff
Steven Brown, his mother and the landlords of two properties
in question."
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ANNUAL ALOC DUES Every December membership dues notices are sent to all members with payment due in January. For those new members who recently joined and paid for 2002 there should be no dues notice attached. Your dues cover the cost of getting the newsletters out, advertising spots in the newspapers and radios, mileage costs associated with attendance at Maryland Property Owners meetings in Annapolis, reproduction of ALOC forms and miscellaneous administrative costs. With a cost of less than 11 cents per day this truly represents a bargain for our members. Your prompt dues payment will save us valuable time and resources. Thanks in advance for your renewal! Lead Industry Blames Owners The
lead industry is taking the position that property owners
are liable for any harm caused by dust and other particles
from lead paint, not paint manufacturers. Their arguments include the voluntary removal of lead from paint in the 1950's, which is actually more attributable to the introduction of easier to use latex paints. That lead based paint, is not a fundamentally bad product, rather it is a lack of proper maintenance that is the root of the problem. This is an erroneous conclusion, as we all know the difficulties involved with the safe removal of lead paint. The industry obviously wants to avoid being held responsible for products that were removed from the market a quarter century ago and many politicians warn that litigation against the manufacturers is a most slippery slope, tearing at the fabric of our social-judicial system. Unfortunately
caught in the middle is the poor landlord!
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Miscellaneous
Items
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For twenty (20) or so ALOC members who took our original Lead Paint Training back in 1996 we will be looking at our regular biennial refresher course in April of this year. We have tentatively set April 6th or 13th as the dates and we have contacted our trainer to set up the session. We will be sending more details to the last attendees as we get things worked out. The Times News has run a few articles over the past three months about problems at the Cumberland Manor on Baltimore Ave. The problems appear to center around security issues and some people, possibly a disabled tenant, defecating and urinating in the common areas. The police have gotten involved as well as the Maryland Multifamily Program Center for HUD, which sent a letter to Crossgates Management detailing five concerns. Other problems include illegal parking, lack of alarms on doors that are propped open, the lack of security cameras and damaged security fencing around the building. Crossgates Management is supposedly addressing these items. It has gotten bad enough that Kevin Kelly has got involved. The Allegany County Chamber of Commerce had its annual Pre-Legislative Session Breakfast in early December and it was a relatively short meeting with little exciting news to report. Considering that this is an election year we can probably expect things to be quiet and boring! One of the big concerns was the growth of the budget and the impact of the September 11th events. Jeff Hutter, Chairman of the Legislative Committee was in charge of the event. Conversations with Cas Taylor indicate that there should be no new lead paint laws or regulations in the 2002 legislative session. Hereintown.net recently ran an Internet Poll regarding Maryland's lead paint regulations and if you wish to view the results and comments you can visit the Internet site. Generally most of the comments were in favor of Maryland providing some assistance to property owners with compliance. |
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Leases and other Documents The Leases and other forms have been upgraded to reflect Law changes made in recent years and are available now.ALOC has
available leases, rental applications and tenant checklists
for sale, at cost, to members. The cost for each item is as
follows: These forms are kept at Jeff Hutter's office, TWR Comm. at 117-119 Valley Street. Any paid member can stop by and pick up whatever they need, however we ask that you call first with your order so that the forms can be ready and waiting for you. Please
call at least 24 hours in advance as these are made to order. |
ALOC
Officers
J. Jeffrey Hutter President Carey
Walker Vice President J. Jeffrey Hutter Treasurer Board of Directors
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Thoughts for the Month "I
have never accepted that I inspired the nation. Their will
was resolute Sir
Winston S. Churchill |
