Many might just grumble about homeowners association fees — and wonder “what’s really going on with the money?”
Not R. Lamar Whitmer.
When he doesn’t like the answers he gets from his HOA — he files legal actions.
Some of his neighbors say he does it in a badgering, bullying, “harrassing” way.
Three weeks into “Whitmergate,” Scottsdale’s suspension of Gretchen Whitmer — Mayor Lisa Borowsky’s chief of staff — remains as murky as the beginning of a mystery novel.
One thing you don’t need a detective to figure out, Whitmer’s neighbors say: He will almost certainly take the city to court.
How likely is Whitmer to sue Scottsdale?
“How about 199%,” said Curtis Roberts, secretary of the Scottsdale Hilton Casitas Homeowners Association.
Robert Westbrook, president of what Whitmer scornfully dubs “the HOA from hell,” seconded that.
“We don’t know about his job, we don’t know why he was suspended,” Westbrook stressed. “But he will absolutely file some kind of wrongful termination (claim).
“That’s probably why the city is so quiet about it.”
Dennis Wilenchik, Whitmer’s attorney, acknowledges fighting the city in court is a likely scenario.
“Given what I see — or don’t see — so far,” he said of the vague suspension, “I would say chances are strong we will have a claim.
“But,” the attorney added, “we’re waiting on their letting us know the basis for their action as we cannot figure it out from the tea leaves.”
On behalf of Borowsky, Wilenchik last year threatened several City Council members with defamation lawsuits during the “Parkingate” saga.
Wilenchik said Councilwomen Kathy Littlefield and Jan Dubauskas, among others, were part of “a planned conspiracy among all of you to maliciously damage and defame both the mayor of Scottsdale, Lisa Borowsky, Esq.,and David Hovey.”
The attorney demanded the councilwomen “publicly denounce these wild accusations made against the mayor” and her campaign donor “in writing, immediately.”
While Wilenchik/Borowsky did not follow up with a lawsuit, Whitmer is no stranger to aggressive legal action.
Whitmer’s legal war with his HOA goes back to 2014, shortly after he and his wife purchased one of the Ralph Haver-designed casitas.
Since then, Roberts said, Whitmer has sued or filed actions against the Hilton Casitas HOA and/or Hilton Casitas Council of Homeowners two dozen times — “maybe more.
“He’s not a lawyer. He just thinks he’s a lawyer,” Roberts sneered.
“This guy,” Roberts said, “will sue anybody for anything.”
That’s actually one of the few things Whitmer agrees on with his HOA.
The longtime Scottsdale resident and political advisor just sees his legal actions through a different lens.
“I don’t take (stuff) from people that get the law wrong,” Whitmer said, chuckling on the phone from the Hilton Casitas home where he is on “lock down” during his paid suspension.
With little information provided to Whitmer, City Manager Greg Caton suspended him Jan. 14. Whitmer has been Borowsky’s chief of staff since October.
As he did before his suspension, Whitmer is keeping active in one of his favorite hobbies: battling his homeowners association.
Whitmer described his legal battle with the HOA as “an ongoing dispute based on the latest rules and laws they don’t follow.”
He said his HOA’s refusal to play it by the book is costing them: “They’re going broke because of legal fees – they needed to go from $400 monthly (fees) to $700 per month.”
In one case, Whitmer said, two judges ordered the Hilton Casitas HOA to pay his attorney costs of $25,000.
Whitmer has also been on the other end of judgements many times more than that.
On Sept. 2, 2025, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ordered Whitmer, his wife and their neighbors the Elis who were joined in their fight to pay $117,580.04 in attorney fees for the Hilton owner.
On July 18, 2022, a judgment was entered in favor of the Hilton owners against Whitmer and his wife and the Elis for a 2018 case “in the amount of $382,758.50 for attorneys’ fees.”
On June 17, 2016, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John R. Hannah ruled against Whitmer and his wife, Colleen London, who challenged the organization and power claimed by their HOA.
“… the Maricopa County Superior Court has already decided, several times, that the Hilton Casitas Council of Homeowners was lawfully organized,” Hannah wrote, “that it continues to exist lawfully, and that it has the power to act on behalf of the Hilton Casitas homeowners.”
But Whitmer was successful in a case where “they tried to seize my house.”
On Sept. 19, 2016, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susan Brnovich ruled on the Hilton Casitas Council of Homeowners Inc vs. R. L. Whitmer.
The complaint filed three months previously alleged Whitmer and his wife “refused to pay the delinquent assessments that were due and that as a result, (the Hilton HOA) was entitled to a judgment for unpaid assessments and entitled to foreclose.”
But, the judge noted, Whitmer paid his balance within 10 days of receiving a delinquency notice.
“This complaint never should have been filed,” Brnovich concluded.
Whitmer’s snarky summary of his HOA: “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Email victory dance
A modest complex of 29 homes, the Scottsdale Hilton Casitas is near Scottsdale and Lincoln roads – 3 miles north of City Hall, where Whitmer worked until his suspension.
“We were really happy he got a job,” Westbrook said, “so he would stop harassing his neighbors.”
The HOA president said he had no idea what he was getting into when he moved to Hilton Casitas five years ago.
“If I’d have known about this guy,” he said of Whitmer, “I wouldn’t have bought my home.”
Roberts chimed in, “I’ve never met an individual like this.” He said Whitmer “doesn’t seem to have any emotional regard for anyone other than himself.”
Capping a chain of chippy emails with the HOA board members he is battling, Whitmer was uncharacteristically brief in a Feb. 2 victory dance: “See attached decision issued today.”
He attached the finding of Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Mikitish, who summarized that Whitmer “asked the association to amend the condominium’s legal ‘declaration’ documents to comply with the new law requiring those documents to include the association’s name.”
After the HOA refused, Whitmer filed one of his many petitions with the Arizona Department of Real Estate, where an administrative law judge agreed with him and told the Hilton Casitas HOA to make the change.
Instead, the HOA appealed the decision, asking the Superior Court to overturn the decision for several reasons, including that Whitmer waited too long to file the petition.
Mikitish rejected the HOA’s appeal – but also ruled “the statutes cited by Mr. Whitmer do not entitle him to an award of attorneys’ fees or damages.”
‘Obsession’
As Mikitish noted in another case last year, in which he again rejected the HOA’s appeal of a ruling in favor of Whitmer, this time over how the association approved its budget, Whitmer, “has been involved in numerous legal actions against the (Hilton Casitas Homeowners) Association.”
The Hilton Casitas board complains Whitmer files actions against everything from “a very small increase in dues” to alleged public meetings violations.
“He keeps digging up all these little tiny things – then goes to the Arizona Department of Real Estate to file these lawsuits against us,” Roberts said. “It’s just continuous harassment.
“His obsession is so deep he cannot let it go,” the HOA officer fumed. “We have tried to negotiate with this guy time and time again.”
According to Westbrook, Whitmer is the cause of what he complains about: HOA fee increases.
“We’ve had to defend ourselves against him, so we’ve had to raise the dues,” Westbrook said.
“So we can’t afford street repair, painting, irrigation — we’re paying $50-70,000 a year just for legal teams to defend us against Whitmer.”
The latest Whitmer action: “He sued the association for exceeding the budget on legal (payments) – and it’s because of him.”
In a heated group email with many of his neighbors copied, Whitmer alleged Hilton Casitas HOA board member Jay Panzer “avoids explaining that for the last three years the board and Cowboy Bob” — Whitmer’s nickname for Westbrook — “have been overspending the annual Legal-General expenses by $30K plus.
“Why doesn’t he explain where our money went? What is he and the board hiding?”
Whitmer said complaining about his legal actions can be easily solved:
“If the board would manage the HOA in a professional and lawful manner, there would not be any opportunity to sue them.”
The suspended chief of staff pointed to his other victories in the long-running battle: “In 2018, the board filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against me and the judge denied their feckless motion for summary judgment.”
Robert Westbrook, HOA President, says “I wouldn’t have bought my home” if he knew about R. Lamar Whitmer’s legal war with the Hilton Casitas HOA.
(Photo provided)
Legal war
Whitmer insisted he has been trying to reach peace with the board.
In this long legal war, one of Whitmer’s ongoing battles is targeted at the history of the Hilton Casitas, built in 1972. Casitas owners lease the land their homes are on from the Hilton.
“Until last November I was pursuing a malicious prosecution lawsuit against the current and past board members,” Whitmer stated in the group email.
“I withdrew the action because of the willingness of (Hilton Casitas home owners) James Cox and John Brooke to work together on acquiring the leased-land underneath our homes.
“As for placing liens on your homes, I have an award of attorneys fees against the HOA and state law allows me to lien the units in the condominium. Had we settled last April, you would not be on the hook for my lawyer’s fees.”
Whitmer was responding to a Jan. 28 group email from Panzer, which states in part, “Mr. Whitmer was declared a ‘vexatious litigant’ in at least one jurisdiction” – Westbrook said this declaration prevents Whitmer from representing himself against the association.
Whitmer’s response: “Panzer does not know what he is talking about! The board’s crack lawyer at the time induced a judge to incorrectly rule, which the presiding judge refused to grant.
“Prior to that, I was representing myself to avoid the homeowners from paying for my lawyer fees. Since you continue to endorse spending your assessments on the board’s feckless defenses, I will continue to use (a) lawyer and have you pay for his time.”
Panzer also took a shot at Whitmer’s current situation in the group email:
“Mr. Whitmer has been suspended from his job as the mayor’s chief of staff, for unknown reasons. (This may be why he has refocused his energy on our community.)”
As usual, Whitmer had a response for that:
“I have never lost focus on holding the inept and incompetent board that you vote for accountable!”
Officers of the Hilton Casitas claim R. Lamar Whitmer has been “harassing his neighbors” through frivolous legal actions for years.
(Tom Scanlon/Staff)
‘Keyboard bully’
Panzer concluded his email screed against Whitmer with: “Let me remind you of who Mr. Whitmer really is. For several years, this was the front of his house. This is what he thinks of his neighbors and community.”
The HOA board member included a photo of a hodgepodge statue with a dangling penis and a sign stating “Get State Farmed” — publicly displayed in front of Whitmer’s home.
The reference was to the insurance company that represented the Scottsdale Hilton Casitas HOA in one of Whitmer’s battles.
Whitmer’s response to Panzer’s dig:
“Given that (a former HOA board member) was covering for State Farm and refusing to comply with basic contract law, I chose to exercise my 1st amendment right of protest.”
Whitmer’s detractors call him a keyboard bully.
“Say you are running for city council or senate or whatever,” Roberts conjectured. “You would contact Mr. Whitmer to dig up dirt on your opponent.
“This is the kind of shyster he is.”
As Westbrook sees it, Whitmer has ruined the once-peaceful, 29-casitas community.
“All we want to do is live in peace,” Westbrook said. “We have really smart, nice neighbors, a very affluent neighborhood.”
But, nodding to Whitmer’s home, Westbrook said, “Neighbors can’t be neighbors in this neighborhood because of him.”
Whitmer’s response to his neighbors’ jabs: “FAFO.”
Family-friendly translation, “Fool around and find out.”