Irena Green ended up spending a week in jail as a result of being sued by her homeowners’ association. According to Green, the dispute began over a patch of brown grass in her yard. The issue between her and the homeowner’s association that oversees her Tampa subdivision reached a boiling point when HOA took her case to civil court.
As reported by Atlanta Black Star, “It all began with a few violation notices from the HOA organization, The Trowbridge Company, Inc., about a patch of brown grass in Green’s yard.”
However, Green said that the condition of the grass on her yard was a result of mandatory countywide watering restrictions in Hillsborough County. She further told WTFS, “If you drive around my neighborhood, you’ll see there’s plenty of yards not up to par.”
After this Green was served a notice for mildew on her mailbox, which was followed by another notice regarding a dent in her garage. She was also given a warning about owning a commercial cargo van, though a number of her neighbors also have same kinds of vehicles.
Eventually, Green was sued by Trowbridge in Hillsborough County Civil Court as she failed to respond to a mediation request. As reported by Atlanta Black Star, “Green filed a handwritten response to the lawsuit that was rejected by the HOA and the judge, and she was issued an ultimatum to fix the issues or risk jail time.”
Green said, “My grass had to be brought up to par. He said you can get seed, you can do something, but you’ve got 30 days to get it corrected. So I said fine. He said if it’s not done in 30 days, you’re gonna go to jail,” Green said. “I sold my van to comply. My mailbox was cleaned to comply. I bought seeds and watered my grass to comply.”
Green did comply but things took a turn when she did not show up for her court hearing. However, she apparently did not receive any information regarding the same. She said, “I was supposed to receive documentation. Nothing was sent to my home. And I reached out to the courthouse several times to try to find out when was my court date.”
In August, she was held in contempt and nine months after that she got pulled over by a cop and eventually taken into custody. The cop told her that there was an arrest warrant against her, and transported her to a local jail, where she had to spend days since she did not receive any bail.
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Talking about the incident, the Florida woman said, “There was no bond. So I couldn’t even go home to my family. I sat in there for seven days. Seven days in the jailhouse like a criminal. It makes me feel horrible. I work hard to buy this home for me and my kids in a better neighborhood and environment and to be taken to jail and to be treated like that for brown grass at my own home … that’s horrible.”
Finally she got out after six days as her sister-in-law filed a petition for an emergency hearing. Talking about the judge and what happened in the court, Green said, “He says ‘well, it hasn’t been resodded. The whole yard needs to be re-sodded. And she’s like not from those pictures I see. She’s like ‘No. I want her released immediately. He wanted me to continue to sit in jail and not come home to my family.”
Her HOA cited Irena Green for having brown grass, dents in her garage, a dirty mailbox, and a cargo van. A judge gave her 30 days to rectify the situation. https://t.co/IgiUoEK3dH
— Fox 4 News (@Fox4Now) July 15, 2025
A statement also came from the HOA board of directors, who were overseeing Green’s subdivision, and they said that the whole legal proceedings against Green started after she did not comply with violation notices.
