BRADENTON, Fla. — A legal battle is brewing over a portrait of the Virgin Mary that an 85-year-old devout Catholic woman commissioned to replace a window on her mobile home.

Attorneys representing Bradenton Tropical Palms’ board of directors have filed paperwork announcing that Millie Francis “has been sued in this proceeding,” with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes.

The lawsuit included a demand for arbitration, a process where in which arbitrator’s ruling would be legally binding.

The issue with Francis went public in November when property management demanded that she remove the painting, which depicts Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Francis declaring, “They’ll have to kill me first.”

A week later, attorneys representing the trailer park threatened a lawsuit if she didn’t take the painting down within 30 days. Francis did not and now lawyers are attempting to force the painting’s removal.

In the filed documents, park management says that Francis going to the media is a “ploy to garner media coverage and religious groups in an effort to avoid compliance.”

At the heart of the issue is whether the management of Tropical Palms is singling out Francis specifically for the subject matter of the painting. Management says the demand to remove the painting has nothing to do with religion and that Francis simply didn’t follow through on park rules pertaining to the replacement of her front window.

However, attorneys acknowledge in the documents that Francis submitted the forms, “but with no request for an overall change in appearance or design.” Management says Francis was required to submit additional requests for permission for the painting. Francis is not targeted because of her religious beliefs, the lawyers said.

Francis isn’t buying that argument, noting that if the painting was of flowers she doubts it would have become an issue.

“It’s anti-Catholic and I don’t care what anybody says,” Francis said.

Francis said the painting has divided the Tropical Palms community and after living there for 15 years, she has been shunned by some neighbors while others have expressed support.

“It’s getting too far out of hand,” Francis said. “It’s terrible.”

In their filing, lawyers ask for an arbitrator to order that Francis remove the plywood board with the painting on it and replace it with “the previously installed window, a new window, or to seek further approval for any alteration differing from a window.” They also want Francis to pay the park’s legal expenses.

The original paperwork filed with the park’s architectural review committee notes Francis’ intent to repaint the front of the trailer and “replace” the window because of privacy concerns.

Artist Ingrid Brandt was commissioned to do the painting and said that as a commissioned artist, her work is protected under Florida law, ensuring that it can’t be destroyed or damaged. But it can be removed.

“I would like for it to stay, of course,” Brandt said. “It is something a bit different from what I normally paint and when I first started drawing it up, I had to investigate all the different intricacies. ” Brandt said she understands both sides, “But I do believe she should be able to keep it and it’s not hurting anyone. There are a lot of people in that park that have different things on their trailers and some are religious as well. With her faith, this is what she wanted.

Francis is supposed to respond to the demand for arbitration by Jan. 28.

The founders of the American Catholic Lawyers Association are also reviewing this case and are indicating they might be willing to get involved.