PRESIDENT BOFFA'S DREAM-TEAM EXPENSIVE FOR CONDO OWNERS

Just An Opinion By Jan Bergemann
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.

Published May 15, 2008

Defending all kinds of accusations -- and trying to hide some important facts -- can get very costly, especially if a president like Robert G. Boffa Sr. is trying to remove any opposition on the board and takes on financial responsibilities and legal fees for the association that could have easily been avoided. The complete cost for the Mark Stern recall -- officially initiated by Betty Cholst, a retired attorney, who signed as unit owners' representative -- should not be the Playa del Mar owners' financial responsibility.

If board members Robert Boffa, Daniel Lecht and Mike DeMonia had been present at the recall meeting, the cost to fight the recall would not have been charged to the owners of the Playa del Mar. (According to Mike DeMonia, those three board members were in hiding on advice of Randall Roger, Esq. and CAM Keith Tannenbaum.) It would have been a legal battle between Mark Stern and the Unit Owners Voting For Recall. But since Robert Boffa had his own agenda and needed Mark Stern off the board in order to regain the power, he decided, with the help of attorney Randall Roger, to take over the recall fight. It seems pretty obvious that Boffa was behind the recall attempt in the first place, and Betty Cholst and Fred Nesbitt were just doing Boffa’s bidding. And I am sure that Randall Roger wasn't opposed -- it already has made him lots of money -- and it's not over yet.

Even new treasurer Fred Nesbitt had to make his comment about the huge legal expenses -- $11,671.40 for the months of December 2007 to March 2008. And it's always so easy to blame everybody but himself. Fred Nesbitt was one of the people who initiated the recall against Mark Stern. He called me and I gave him all the necessary info and the guidelines to conduct a recall of directors. Still, as we have seen, the final recall had a lot of flaws and has cost the owners of the Playa del Mar, Inc. quite a lot of money.

Let's make one thing very clear: Mark Stern wasn't the one serving the dubious recall and Mark Stern wasn't the one telling the three other board members to hide and not show up at the recall meeting. And it wasn't Mark Stern who told Randall Roger, who at that time wasn't approved by the board as the association attorney, to show up at the recall meeting and make lengthy explanations, starting the whole legal mess. Specifically the same people who now blame Mark Stern for all the cost are the people who are really to blame for all these expenses. NOBODY ELSE!

Neither Mark Stern nor any other Playa del Mar, Inc. unit owners told Robert Boffa, Sr. not to follow the invitation of the House Select Committee on Condominium & Homeowners Association Governance. It would have been a short trip, answering the questions -- no problem if you have nothing to hide -- instead of having attorney Randall Roger argue with the members of the Select Committee, trying to avoid making the requested documents available. Randall Roger even charged the Playa del Mar, Inc. for talking to Terry Sheridan, reporter of the Daily Business Review, who wrote in her article: "Playa del Mar attorney Roger responded this week to Robaina’s first letter, saying the board, property manager and he were willing to discuss concerns but they would be available to the House committee only during regular business hours." Chairman Julio Robaina accused Roger of "stonewalling" -- instead of cooperating with the committee. More legal fees were charged to the unit owners of the Playa del Mar, Inc.

If that didn't create enough legal fees yet, please add another $180 (2/1/2008) for (quote): "Telephone call with Ombudsman office re: participation in Annual Meeting; Receipt and Review of Correspondence from ‘opinion letter’ of Jan Bergemann: Correspondence to Client re: same."

You might be interested in the "Highlights" of the letter dated February 5, 2008, written by attorney Randall Roger, discussing an "Unauthorized Newsletter" with the Playa del Mar, Inc. board of directors.

Here are some excerpts from the very "enlightening" letter (quote):
"Additionally, you have forwarded to Counsel a "letter" authored by Jan Bergemann, representing
himself as President of Cyber Citizens for Justice, Inc, which correspondence is dated January 21,
2008. It is the understanding of Counsel that Mr. Bergemann does not reside within the
Condominium and, consequently, likely receives his information, secondhand. Mr. Bergemann
publishes a website routinely defamatory towards community associations, particularly in the Galt
Ocean Mile. Counsel has never observed any commentary and/or communication by Mr.
Bergemann favorable to an existent Board of Directors. While not stated, it appears Mr.
Bergemann believes the Associations should either be more tightly regulated by the State of
Florida under the Condominium Act or, alternatively, unregulated. Nonetheless, any determination
adverse to a Unit Owner, routinely results in criticism by Mr. Bergemann.

While Mr. Bergemann represents such communication as "just an opinion", much of what is provided is defamatory, denigrating and libelous. Counsel's comments, however, are predicated on the understanding that representations made by Mr. Bergemann are incorrect and untrue!" (end quote from letter)

The last sentence was the "disclaimer" -- especially since all the supporting documents for my statements were supplied with the article. I hope that now all the board members are finally aware that I don't reside in the Playa del Mar and I am not a member of the association. Honestly, I would have told them myself -- free of charge, if they had asked. -- but most of them know it anyway without Roger's enlightening revelations. And it shows very clearly that Roger isn't very familiar with the contents of the CCFJ, Inc. website, even if he tries to interpret my "belief."

Wasting good association dues is one thing, but blaming others for being at fault is another. We can see here the typical pattern of a board that has its own agenda, using a willing attorney to pave the road to power.

But obviously many of the owners don't seem to care -- or have money in abundance -- and allow a few board members with a private agenda to waste their maintenance dues on unnecessary legal expenses!

THE PLAYA DEL MAR SAGA