HOA violation fines

All,
I am trying to get a clarification on what I read in a CAI newsletter for the Indianapolis charter (http://www.cai-indiana.org/072006Newsletter.pdf). Here is what's quoted:

CAI's panel of attorneys explained a
1987 decision issued by the Indiana
Court of Appeals still in effect. The
decision plainly held a homeowners
association does not have the ability to
levy a fine. Instead, the court held an
association's pursuit of an injunction
through the county circuit or superior
courts was the only way to force an
owner to comply with the covenants.
This means for a typical covenant violation,
such as an owner installing a minibarn
or an above-ground swimming
pool which are prohibited, the association
must sue the owner for an injunction.
Those suits are time consuming
and expensive.

Can this be right? I was floored to read how limited the HOA CCR's are when it comes to enforcing violations. Can someone confirm this? I am running to the president’s position of our HOA and would like to know where we stand when it comes to enforcement.

Thanks

Indiana doesn't have a law governing HOA's so my guess is that the Indiana court said that HOA's couldn't give themselves powers that were not expressly stated in the CC&R's. In other words, you can't add the power to fine. If your documents state that you can levy fines, then I would check with an attorney knowledgable in community association law to see if that would be sufficient. If you don't have the language in your docs, then you may want to get involved with those trying to change the Indiana laws.

Joe