Novi family gears up for possible legal battle over Virgin Mary statue

The battle over the display of a 20-inch-tall and 9-inch-wide Virgin Mary statue in a Novi subdivision is heating up, with both sides digging in.

In June, resident Joseph Samona and his family received a notice from the Tollgate Woods Homeowners Association stating that they were in violation of several neighborhood policies. 

It said that their Virgin Mary Statue, along with five other pieces of statuary, were being displayed without approval.

Tollgate Homeowners Association representative Debbie Laudermilch did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Samona believes that the notice specifically targeted his family, and their Madonna statue, due to their religious beliefs.

"There is no doubt in my mind that this is an attack on our religion," he said.

Since then, the family has received another letter from the association, asking them to request permission to maintain their statue in their yard, or an injunction would be taken in court against them.

They've hired a lawyer: Erin Mersino o fthe Great Lakes Justice Center. Mersino believes the association has indirectly given permission for the statue to remain in the yard.

"If a person wants to bring a legal suit for violation or a breach of contract ... they have ten years to bring the violation to court," Mersino said. "The same Virgin Mary statue has been up for 16 years and the homeowner’s association has known about it."

She says the statute of limitations on the issue has expired, and that the bylaws are unclear when it comes to statues.

There are many other statues being displayed throughout the neighborhood by people who presumably did not get a notice of violation, Samona said.

Despite the impending threat of legal action, Samona says his family does not want to go to court.

"We don’t want to have a legal battle with our neighbors," he said. "However, we believe that this was an arbitrary enforcement, and the statue is not coming down.”

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