Condo Owner Sues Colonial Manor West

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Condo fight for pol

Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By BUDDY NEVINS POLITICS

Jan 8, 2005

Political consultant Judy Stern usually fights her battles at polling places. This month her latest skirmish is in the courtroom, part of a messy squabble at the condominium where she is president.

Stern and three other association directors are accused in a lawsuit of breaching their fiduciary duty and failing to comply with state condominium laws. The suit was filed by Robert Aiello, a Texas real estate investor who owns four units in the 32-unit Colonial Manor West Apartments on Northeast Ninth Street in Fort Lauderdale .

Aiello's suit charges that Stern and the others improperly ramrodded through a $50,000 special assessment to tent the building because of termites without considering other methods of treatment. Some of the money will be used to upgrade the elevator.

"Half the people in that building are in their 60s, 70s and 80s," Aiello says. "Do they know they are going to have to move out of the building? Where are they going to go?"

Stern says that the Aiello allegations were reviewed by the state and dismissed. She alleges Aiello has been mailing letters to political figures in Broward, asking for any dirt they might know about her.

Aiello concedes he has been asking for "any information" people have about Stern.

This nasty scrap makes Stern long for something easy, like managing a candidate who is running 20 points behind.

"This is a private hell I don't need," Stern says.



E-MAIL

April 14, 2005

Dear Fellow Unit Owners:

I just received in the mail from another unit owner a “book” written by Judith Stern saying some pretty nasty things about me. Thank you for the copy. I’ll try to make this reply to the book and letter from Judith Stern as short as possible.

Shortly, everyone will receive the amended complaint filed today by my attorney for your review. Stern has made a ton of pretty outrageous and false statements about me. Without going into everyone let me say that the only one that is true is that I did send an e-mail to the board members. The message read: This message is for the Morons and Idiots that continue to use scare tactics on tenants and now an old lady. You must be really proud of yourself scaring and upsetting an old lady by saying if she does not sign what Lee Burg is sending her she will be sued. You’re a Moron! You must think you’re real tough, we’ll see. I also copied Lee Burg and my attorney then Richard Epstein. I was very public about my statement. It’s not my style to do things in secret. Please keep that in mind when you look at Judith’s accusations and ask if what she says is consistent with what you know of me.

That was the e-mail I sent to a number of the board members, and that’s my position today. I don’t like being threatened, and I don’t like seeing older people threatened or intimidated.

Stern mentioned that I never requested a meeting. This is a lie. I asked that we call a special meeting to discuss the termite issues along with others items via email. (Attached)

I also provided my home and 800 number to my office and ask that she call. But I never heard from her. I just kept reviewing e-mails she was sending out, sometimes copying me, sometimes not.

Regarding the termites:  The Owners at Colonial Manor East are completely satisfied and will provide Alternative Termite Co. (ATM) with access to the attics soon. We at Colonial Manor West have openings to all our attics. So far Alternative has treated 14 units and three attics with at least 5 or 6 more owners interested if they can receive their money back from the Special Assessment. Some owners have already been told “NO” by Stern.

I’m all for having Alternative Termite Co make a full presentation to the owners the way Plantation City Councilman Bruce Edwards made. Why is Stern, the Political Consultant, so intent on pushing Bruce Edwards on us? Why not allow Alternative Termite Co. make a presentation?

As far as costs go, we would get a credit from ATM for the work already done. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. They kill the termites and apply a preventative to the wood; this is a long and lasting treatment and is the best way to handle our problem. Tenting amounts to a “band aid” solution. What happens next year when the termites swarm, tent again? Let’s give ATM at least a chance to make a presentation. It’s free. By the way ATM use to tent until this new treatment came along 5 years ago.

One last thing, it is true I as you were provided a copy of an e-mail sent to the Republican Party in Broward asking for information on Stern. I thought she was a democrat because of hearing about the work done with Bill Clinton etc., but from campaign contributions made and reported by the Political Contributions by Individuals it shows Judith Stern made a $2,000 contribution to the George Bush – Dick Cheney 2004 Presidential Primary. So I guess she’s not a democrat after all. I made a mistake.

In regards to our $50,000 special assessment it is down to about $32,000. It appears to me that the money was spent on insurance, attorney fees and other bills. Not for what it was intended. When someone asks the questions, Judith says she can’t speak about it because of the pending lawsuit. There is no law that says she can’t tell us how much of our money she has spent. Becker & Poliakoff  (B&P) -- their fees are over $20,000. We have insurance lawyers handling the case, why did Stern insist on having B&P continue to run up bills in the court action? See attached statement from B&P lawyer to my lawyer. And what are the other expenses? By law, they also better be strictly in accord with the purpose of the Special Assessment.

Stern always seems to get into that this is America, and in America, we have democracy, but in fact she is nothing more than a dictator who will listen to no one and runs our association her way or no way.

I said this before and I will continue saying it. We have NEVER EVER HAD THE PROBLEMS WE ARE GOING THROUGH NOW…ONE PERSON IS RESPONSIBLE JUDITH STERN. ALL OWNERS SHOULD INSIST ON REMOVING HER AND THE FEW BOARD MEMBERS THAT SUPPORT HER. SHE IS WASTING YOUR MONEY IN COURT, AND UP TO NOW, SHE HAS BEEN COMPLETELY INCAPABLE OF PROPERLY SCHEDULING, NOTICING AND CONDUCTING A DIRECTORS’ OR MEMBERS’ MEETING, AND THEREFORE, UP THROUGH TODAY, NOT ONE ACTION TAKEN THAT WE ARE IN COURT (AND ARBITRATION AT THE SAME TIME!) OVER HAS BEEN TAKEN PROPERLY. READ THE COMPLAINT MY ATTORNEY JUST FILED. JUDITH STERN’S AN EMBARRASSMENT TO US.

Sincerely

Jennifer & Robert Aiello


E-Mail

Tuesday, 4/26/2005 

To Owners:

 

Here are a few pages from the March Financial Statement. As we can see Becker & Poliakoff got paid another $8,200 in March. Another thing that stands out is the insurance so far nearly $12,000 over budget for the year. We are down to $29,000 in cash. STERN IS CAUSING OUR ASSOCIATION TO GO BANKRUPT, BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO TENT OUR BUILDING TO PROVE HER POINT AT WHATEVER THE COST. EARLIER, I WAS OFFERED A SETTLEMENT TO WALK AWAY…BUT I MUST AGREE TO TENTING…THIS IS EMBARRASSING TO ALL OF US. WHY COULDN’T WE HAVE AN OPEN DISCUSSION ABOUT THE TENTING THE WAY THE OWNERS AT COLONIAL MANOR EAST DID? WHY THE LEE BURG THREATS? WAS THERE SOMETHING TO HIDE?    

 

Do you know that back in November we offered Lee Burg an opportunity to have the entire membership look at other options, and vote? We were told the president is going to fumigate the building. That’s it. No discussion. No vote. Stern's way, or no way. Think of all the money we could have saved just by letting the owners have a say. The owners at CMW have from life and work experiences opinions that I'm sure would have been very useful in making a decision as important as tenting.  Why couldn't Stern, who does not even live at the property, include all the owners with this decision, as was done at Colonial Manor East. The problems we are experiencing at our property are because of one person, Judith Stern .

 

Robert D. Aiello

Wells Asset Management, Inc.


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