Laguna Hills couple sued over fencing that protects their goats from coyotes
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A lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court will determine if fences really do make good neighbors — or not.
The Nellie Gail Ranch Owners Assn. filed a complaint last month against Steve and Karen Blume, a Laguna Hills couple who modified the fencing around the back of their property. The Blumes made changes that scaled the barrier’s height past 6 feet with an overhang to protect their goats from coyote attacks.
But the HOA alleges that doing so without prior approvals breaches the upscale equestrian enclave’s covenants.
The Blumes, octogenarians who have called Nellie Gail Ranch home for almost 50 years, just want to spend their august years with the goats until they are no longer able to care for them.
“They’ve had goats for fire protection and as pets over those years,” said Tom McGovern, the Blumes’ son-in-law. “Last year, they lost eight goats to coyote attacks. All they want to do is protect their goats from being attacked by coyotes.”
The lawsuit argues that deed restrictions prohibit fences from being taller than 6 feet without the approval of the HOA’s Architectural Control Committee.
That’s how tall an approved fence on the Blumes’ property stood, from 1986 until the coyote attacks started killing their goats.
But during a routine inspection last June, their fence stood about 10-feet tall, an alteration the committee never received a submission for and did not approve, according to court documents.
The suit described the fence as “unsightly,” with an overhang that is covered with a steel wire grid and barbed wire. In a disclosure of the legal action, the HOA also called it a “prison style” fence.
McGovern dismissed the “unsightly” description of the fence and argued that it is well out of sight from street view, anyway. He further disputes any razor wire or barbed wire tops the barrier.
Before taking legal action, the HOA claimed to have spent a year seeking an amicable resolution with the Blumes.
After a meeting last July, the Blumes were given 90 days to submit fence modification plans. In that time, the HOA offered the couple information on how to modify the fence to be in compliance and a meeting with the association’s architect.
In October, the Blumes met the architect, but the suit alleges that they refused to make proper modifications.
McGovern countered that the HOA wanted his father-in-law to spend thousands of dollars on mediation.
The proposed alternatives, which he said included building a wall further up on the property with a wrought iron fence atop, also proved too costly in the family’s view, with no guarantee that it would protect the goats.
More recently, Tami Blume launched an online petition that called the HOA’s lawsuit “heartless” and is gathering signatures calling on the complaint to be dropped.
“This is a practical safety measure, not a threat to the neighborhood,” Tami wrote of her parents’ fence.
In the suit, the HOA is asking a judge to order the Blumes to remove or modify the fencing into compliance with the covenants or reimburse the costs of doing so if they otherwise refuse.
The family argues that legal obligations to protect pets and livestock buttress the protective barrier.
“The bottom line is the goats are being killed and Steve is taking reasonable action to try to stop that,” McGovern added. “They can complain about some aesthetics, but I don’t know how you really can justify aesthetics over the loss of the goats’ lives.”
