St. Louis Park family launches fundraiser after neighbors sue them over basketball hoop placement
It's a full-court press legal battle over a basketball hoop. The dribbles and layups in one family's driveway are now causing headaches.
"We've lived here for 11 years, but new neighbors moved in about a year ago and they asked us to move our basketball hoop," said Lilly Moeding, who lives in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
After realizing it was 6 inches too close to the property line, Moeding and her husband, who have two young sons who use the hoop, did just that.
But the relocation wasn't enough for those next door. The neighbors appealed to the city after the Moedings got the legal OK for their new placement.
"It's immediately in front of my door. I cannot walk out of my door. I park outside my door, and I'm face to face with them, and balls are flying directly at me," said their next-door neighbor at a city council meeting in November.
"He stepped over, got the ball, brought it back... And that's enough to get a restraining order?" Moeding said, questioning a restraining order filed against her husband at the same city council meeting. The restraining order has since been dismissed.
In February, a new lawsuit was filed against the Moedings and the City of St. Louis Park. The neighbors stated the hoop should be considered a "sport court" within city code, which would make it too close again.
"I feel like I'm walking on eggshells on my own property," Moeding told WCCO.
But last week, another action was filed requesting the family not use the hoop until the matter is resolved in court. The lengthy legal battle led Moeding to launch an online fundraiser to help with legal fees.
"I really wanted to teach our children that when there's an injustice, you stand up to it," she said.
The family says now that the fundraiser has surpassed their need, funds will be donated to 612 Promise, a nonprofit dedicated to providing access to high-quality sports programming for disadvantaged youth in the Twin Cities.
"We appreciate the support, but don't want our neighbors to feel shamed or embarrassed. That wasn't the goal of this," said Moeding, adding they started the fundraiser to teach their sons to do the right thing. "This is our forever home. We want to move forward."
"We really want to be respectful of our neighbors," Moeding added.
Moeding later told WCCO that they don't want people to harass their neighbors and "just want them to stop taking legal action against us."
WCCO reached out to the neighbors who filed the suit, but did not hear back.
