Is it OK for members of a condominium board to interpret record access laws as it wishes if it decides that unit owners making the requests are working against it?
|
Boca View Condominium Association, which secured a $395,554 legal judgment against one of its unit owners, Eileen Breitkreutz, pictured, last spring, is back in court fighting another unit owner who claims the associations board violated condo record access laws. |
On Feb. 22, 2019, the
association’s property manager, Eric Estabanez, emailed
Eleanor Lepselter, setting the following Monday as the date
that the records would be made available. The email stated
that only Eleanor, and not Yellin, would be allowed to
inspect the records.
When Eleanor Lepselter showed up at the property manager’s
office with Yellin at the appointed time, Estabanez said
that only she would be allowed into the room where the
records were assembled.
Yellin protested, telling treasurer Giuseppe Marcigliano,
who was also present, that state law required access for
unit members or their authorized representatives.
Eleanor Lepselter and Yellin testified at the trial that
Marcigliano told them, “That’s your law. Not my law. I don’t
give a s--- about your law.”
When asked about the statement in court, Marcigliano told
the Lepselters’ attorney, Christopher Salavar, “You’re a
liar.”
But then Marcigilano said, “I said that to terminate the
conversation. I didn’t want to talk to [Yellin] anymore.
He’s obnoxious.”