After spending the better part of his life accomplishing what most men could only dream of, the legendary General Charles Chuck Yeager has been locked up with legal issues for the past few years. Once admired for being a WWII stud pilot, the first to break the sound barrier in 1947 and parachuting out of a free-falling supersonic jet while on fire, Yeager has spent the past 5 years in court battling a homeowners association suit as well as a civil suit against a prominent Fresno, California law firm.
The main battle has been over an outstanding debt of $270,000 over unpaid legal fees accumulated over several years with the law firm Wild, Carter & Tipton. The Yeagers used the firm for several suits including one where they ended up in court with one of Chuck Yeagers daughters, involving a trust set up for his children by his first wife Glennis before her death in 1990. Chuck and his current wife Victoria believed the firm was working for free since they had never signed a contract, although they had received invoices with billing information. After surviving many delays and even controversy over the judge being a former attorney with the opposing law firm, the two parties reached an undisclosed agreement in early May 2014.
The additional issue the Yeagers have been dealing with is a fight with the homeowners association in Garcia Bend Park, California where they couple owns two units in a townhouse complex. The complaint against the family stated that they had refused to pay their fees for the eight years in which they had owned the properties. After many years the judge on the case ruled that the Yeagers must pay over $41,000 in back fees to the association. While Chuck and his wife must shell out some money to make this suit go away, it is said the family is happy because they are not required to join the HOA.
