Late last year, a dispute over a $75 fine for posting a political sign landed the Mazdabrook Commons Homeowners’ Association (Mazdabrook) and one of its members, Dr. Wasim Khan, in the New Jersey Supreme Court.
The long road to the Supreme Court began in 2005, when Mazdabrook fined Khan $75 after he placed a political sign promoting his own candidacy for Parsippany town council in his front window. Mazdabrook relied on a homeowner’s association rule prohibiting all signs except one “for sale” sign, and on a restrictive covenant that prohibited unit owners from displaying any signs without the prior written permission of Mazdabrook’s board of trustees. The trial court dismissed Khan’s claim that the rule infringed upon his rights under the New Jersey Constitution. The Appellate Division reversed, and Mazdabrook appealed as of right to the Supreme Court. All three courts determined that the dispute was governed by Committee for a Better Twin Rivers v. Twin Rivers Community Association, 192 N.J. 344 (2007), the most recent major Supreme Court case addressing free speech rights in developments governed by community associations.
