2026-09-10 · Alabama · Courts

A Madison County judge has given Alabama one of its clearest recent statements of what a homeowner must show to stop a board from doing something the homeowner finds intolerable: an injury to themselves.

The dispute is unusual in its facts and entirely ordinary in its law. Two neighbourhoods in Madison, four miles apart, faced the same problem in the same month of 2026 — resident Canada geese on association ponds, and a USDA recommendation to euthanise them. One board reversed course under member pressure. The other went to court, and won.

Edgewater reversed

On June 18, 2026 the board of the Edgewater Owners Association, on Lady Ann Lake, reversed its decision to euthanise the geese after residents wrote and called. Board president Brian Goodman framed it as listening to the membership. The board said it would create a Wildlife and Environmental Impact Subcommittee under its existing Lake and Grounds Committee.¹

Heritage Plantation did not

Four days later, on June 22, 2026, Joe Gaines — a Heritage Plantation HOA board member who had just resigned — sued the association in Madison County to stop a mass euthanisation scheduled before July 1. He cited the Edgewater reversal.²

The case drew a procedural wrinkle immediately: the judge originally assigned recused himself because his spouse works with the HOA's president.³

What the court held

On June 25, 2026, Madison County Circuit Judge Patrick M. Tuten denied the preliminary injunction and granted the association's motion to dismiss.⁴

The reasoning went to standing. The plaintiffs — Joseph N. Gaines and Dianne Lynn Reed — do not own the geese. They alleged no unlawful taking. And they offered no evidence of property devaluation or emotional trauma to themselves. In the judge's words, as reported:

“An injury to another individual (and as it applies here, the geese) is insufficient for the relief sought.”

Judge Tuten also noted the timing: the plaintiffs knew of the USDA euthanasia recommendation by March 23, 2026 but did not petition until June 22 — three months later, and days before the scheduled cull. He designated the ruling a final order for appeal purposes. The association was represented by Adam Dauro; the plaintiffs by Angie Ingram.

1. HOA reverses decision to euthanize neighborhood geese after residents push back — WSFA/WAFF, June 18, 2026 ↩
2. Ex-HOA board member sues to stop Heritage Plantation goose kill — WAFF 48, June 22, 2026 ↩
3. New judge takes over Madison HOA geese case — WAFF 48, June 23, 2026 ↩
4. Judge denies injunction to stop Heritage Plantation geese eradication — WAFF 48, June 25, 2026 ↩
5. Heritage Plantation HOA says USDA captured 550 geese in overnight cull — WAFF 48, July 1, 2026 ↩
6. Madison geese culling date unknown after death threats against HOA; FBI and police investigating — WAFF 48, June 30, 2026 ↩