We, James and Jenny Basham, are not after the POA for money, not even to pay our out of pocket costs associated with filing this lawsuit. We are simply advocating for transparency not only for ourselves but for every single property owner in our community. We are not attacking or accusing anyone of any wrongdoing, nor are we devaluing any time or efforts of anyone, past or present, who has genuinely attempted to make the POA better. However, the POA is a legal entity in the state of Texas and it must adhere to the Texas Property Code as a POA and the Business Organizations Code as a non-profit organization. What person on or involved in a POA wouldn't want it to be better? Who wouldn't want there to be transparency to the community? Why would anyone involved with the POA try so hard to keep us from advocating for these things?
Every single property owner has the right to access the books and records of their Property Owners Association.
CHAPTER 209. of the TEXAS RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY OWNERS PROTECTION ACT https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.209.htm#209.005
Thank you for your support of our efforts.
James and Jenny Basham
Please know that if you choose to subscribe to updates, that information is not shared with anyone. By subscribing or supporting our efforts, we in no way will use your name or expect anything in return.
Find us on our public Facebook page!
Please note this is not a private group. It's a public page accessible by anyone. Our goal is to reach as many property owners as possible, including future property owners. The same updates will be posted to the website, facebook page, as well as sent via email.
The below updates are provided with the most recent update on top. Anything underlined is a hyperlink to a document.
Additionally, to verify the transparency of what we're sharing, case information is available to the public and can be found at https://portal-txwaller.tylertech.cloud/PublicAccess/default.aspx. Select All Courts, click on Civil, Family & Probate Case Records and enter the case number SC25-0014-JP1 (dismissed case from JP) or C26-011 (new case in 506th District Court). That will bring up the case and all filings and rulings in that case.
Questions, comments or concerns may be emailed to us at basham4rollinghillsowners@gmail.com.
07/14/2026 9:00am
Hearing on Motion to Show Authority and Temporary Orders
Waller County Courthouse
Waller County Commissioners' Courtroom
836 Austin Street, 4th Floor
Hempstead, TX 77445
03/25/2026
The Court accepted our request for a May 7th hearing date; however, opposing counsel had submitted his scheduled vacation to the court and requested a re-set. The Court re-set the hearing to hear our Motion to Show Authority and our Motion for Temporary Orders on Tuesday, July 14th at 9:00am.
03/23/2026
After almost a month of no movement on the POA's registered agent being served with the lawsuit, we contacted the Waller County Sheriff's office multiple times and finally received notification the registered agent was served on March 5, 2026. The POA's Answer was filed on March 20, which is a general denial of the allegations in the lawsuit, and was filed by attorney George Bishop. This is a standard generic response that simply meets the required response time. In response to learning of the engagement of Mr. Bishop, we filed a Motion to Show Authority with the court. As we did in the JP court, we are challenging Mr. Bishop's authority. Our case has been assigned to the County Court at Law No. 2 and the hearing dates are not frequent. At this time we are working with the court to set hearing dates for the Motion to Show Authority and the Motion for a Temporary Injunction. The next available date is May 7th. We've asked for both Motions to be heard on that date. The next available date after May 7th is June 5th. We're seeing why cases drag out for so long in the court system now. Once we have a confirmed hearing date and time, we'll provide another update.
01/28/2026
Our case was accepted by the court. Our case number is C26-011 and stamped copies of the filing are now available. From here we wait for the defendant to respond to the filing.
01/21/2026
We filed our petition along with the temporary injunction with the 506th District Court. District Court rules are a bit different than the JP court so it took a little longer to get through all the rules to make sure we had everything in order. A case number has not yet been assigned. The assignment of cases in District Court appears to be a bit complex so I'm not sure how long it will take to get to the next step. The filing confirmation reflects a 24-48 hour timeframe so hopefully we'll hear something next week; however, with the anticipated weather, I can see it could potentially be longer.
A copy of everything we filed can be downloaded. Just keep in mind, it is not yet stamped by the Court.
01/12/2026
Two big things happened today!
1. For over a month, after contacting many agencies multiple times trying to get a copy of the police report filed in regards to the theft of POA funds, we finally got the public records today!
2. We received notification from the JP court today that our case has been dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction for the subject of our case. This just means we need to file it in District Court, which we will do.
Receiving confirmation of and a copy of the actual report of theft is great; however, it does not change the overall purpose of the suit, nor does it prove or disprove anything, so we will be moving forward with filing the case in District Court. We hope to get that filed this week.
01/08/2026
We have not heard back from the court so we emailed the clerk asking for an update.
12/11/2025
We received an email from the court advising us of 2 things:
1. The judge is expected to make a ruling on the case by the end of next week.
2. The court does not have jurisdiction to issue injunctions.
We trusted the court would have ruled as expected; therefore we did not update the website in hopes we'd have a final case update to give, but that didn't happen. Then the holidays happened and here we are.
12/04/2025
We filed a Motion for Temporary Injunction. This is a request to the judge to force the POA to refrain from all financial activities, including collecting or attempting to collect dues from property owners. Please review the Motion to understand what our Motion is asking.
The hearing cannot take place until after 3 business days from today.
A hearing date is pending.
11/06/2025 1:30pm ***Ruling Pending on Motion to Show Authority***
The hearing was held for the Judge to hear our Motion to Show Authority. The hearing went well. It was brief. The attorney hired by the POA showed up empty handed. He stated he was hired about 4 years ago but doesn't know the name of who hired him and doesn't know if who asked him to represent this case has the authority to do that or not. He had no support of any kind. I felt very bad for him. He's old and barely even understood why he was there. It felt cruel for him to be there. From a financial standpoint, the fact the POA is wasting property owner funds for this should have everyone upset. The judge did not rule on the motion at the hearing. He said he wanted to research a few things and make his ruling later, which we agreed was fine.
For those wondering why our first course of action was to get the attorney removed from the case, here's our position:
1. Save POA funds: The POA should not be utilizing POA funds on an attorney to legally fight a property owners’ rights to obtain records. The POA does not have the inherent right to hire an attorney to defend a lawsuit for records in which a property owner has a legal right to obtain under the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act. Doing so is not a furtherance of the primary purpose for which the POA was created under the Articles of Incorporation filed with the State of Texas. It’s a hindrance to that purpose. Furthermore, it tells every property owner that subsequently requests POA records in accordance with the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act that the POA can violate the law to which they’re held accountable and hire an attorney to help them do so. It’s a misuse of POA funds.
2. Address the issue at hand: With the attorney removed, we can get straight to the issue and have the people/person claiming POA position(s) defend their actions of not providing these records to the judge directly.
11/06/2025 1:30pm
Hearing date for the Judge to hear our Motion to Show Authority
846 6th Street #1
Hempstead, TX 77445
***Hearings are open to the public.***
10/21/2025
We received a ruling on the Second Motion for Continuance. The judge (a different judge now) approved a 2 week continuance but not a 30 day continuance so we're glad about that.
10/01/2025
We filed an Objection to Second Motion for Continuation.
09/29/2025
The attorney representing the POA filed a Second Motion for Continuance to postpone, which is basically a request to postpone the 10/23/2025 hearing another 30 days due to a trial conflict he has that day.
09/16/2025
Jenny arrived to the court on time to question the Order and confirm the reset date. I was provided copies of the opposing attorney's Motion to the court along with the Exhibits, which included medical records and doctor notes. While we sympathize with the attorney's medical condition, which has to do with his eyes, he was advised on 09/02 not to drive so the last minute Motion for a Continuance filed with the court on 09/15 was not well-planned and disrespectful to the process, nor did it follow the Court's rules. But, it's done and we move forward.
Copies of his Motion and enclosed exhibits will not be made public by us due to their confidentiality in nature.
09/15/2025
3:06pm We received an email from the Court with a copy of an Order from the Judge rescheduling the hearing. We immediately responded via email and via phone questioning this Order.
4:23pm We filed an Objection with the court as fast we could, which should have been done when the attorney filed the motion for a continuance before a Judge approved it; however, we were never notified of his request to the court, which is required by the filing party. At this time, we do not know whether the hearing will take place on 09/16 or not. We're waiting for the Court to acknowledge our Objection.
08/12/2025
Jenny called the court to get an update and unfortunately learned that we should have emailed the court specifically requesting a hearing date to rule on the Motion. The efiling of the Motion alone did not get the ball rolling on setting a hearing date. Email sent and lesson learned!
07/21/2025
We filed a Motion to Show Authority. This means the attorney acting on behalf of the POA must prove he has the authority to do so. The hearing cannot take place until after 10 business days from today.
07/16/2025
An attorney efiled an Answer on behalf of the POA.
07/01/2025
The Registered Agent of the POA, Trina Smart, resigned. Attached is a confirmation from the State that Trina Smart was the Registered Agent for the POA. We paid for this Certificate of Fact when we were doing our fact finding ahead of the June 1st meeting. Attached is a screenshot from the Secretary of State's website showing the resignation filing. There is not a document to view, only a history of the filing. A new Registered Agent has not been filed with the State as of 08/13/2025, which is when I discovered the resignation filing.
06/25/2025
We filed our petition with the court. I know it's long but I encourage you to read it. We welcome any and all questions to help you understand any details.
06/24/2025
We submitted a written notice of our intent to file suit as a result of the POA's failure to respond to our request for copies and access to records.
Fun fact! The Registered Agent of the POA refused delivery of our letter.
06/03/2025
We submitted a written request for copies of and access to the POA records. The POA had 10 business days to respond, which they did not. Proof of receipt was received.