SAN DIEGO -- Three years ago, Doug Vose moved to California with his wife to look after their grandchildren, in case his son -- a single parent -- was deployed to Iraq.

Before he left, Maj. Jason Vose bought a condo conversion at Lakeshore Villas in Oceanside for his parents to live in.

"I was going to need a place that was handicap accessible. It needed to be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant in all manners. Most importantly it had to have a ramp because he was wheelchair-bound and a parking space that allowed him to get in and out of the vehicle," said Jason.

A temporary wooden ramp was installed, but only a single parking space was provided.

"It's not wide enough to unload someone wheelchair-bound," said Doug.

Shortly after the issue was questioned, the ramp was removed as a tripping hazard -- at the direction of the homeowners association president at the time.

"Cameron Byrd called up and got a work order cut and a work order applied to get out there quickly get it out," said Doug.

For 80 days, a curb dictated Doug's life.

"That meant that my wife and I could really go nowhere without a huge amount of difficulty," said Doug.

The situation became worse when the HOA removed an ADA wheelchair-compliant parking space.

"They came out and camouflaged over, painted in half of the legal space," said Doug.

Even facing a terminal disease that put him in the wheelchair, Doug was not prepared to back down over his rights.

"I got pretty upset about it," said Doug.

Doug took the HOA to court, eventually settling for $150,000. It was the largest award for discrimination in U.S. history for removing a handicap parking space.

"This hopefully will save others. There's always going to need to be somebody, that's willing to pick things up and go against folks that are doing things wrong," said Doug.