Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Joe Kollin

Published April 10, 2008

He's fragile and has no family, but at least disabled Army veteran Paul Ryan will not be homeless.

"Good people" persuaded his condo board to let Ryan stay in the unit he has lived in for the past five years, said Kenneth Michael Curtin, an attorney who represents Ryan's benefactors, Carol and Sabatino Ranucci.

And while the Ranuccis are pleased Ryan will not be evicted, it cost them $5,000 for the board of Boca Verde to consider it and an extra $5,000 to approve it.

State law limits condo boards to a $100 fee for reviewing applications to buy or rent. But the Ranuccis agreed to pay the $10,000 despite the law because they didn't want to subject Ryan, whose condition they called "fragile," to the strain of testifying in court. Also, they didn't want to dig even further into their retirement savings.
"I feel it's extortion," said Carol Ranucci, Ryan's Boca Raton neighbor and a snowbird real estate investor from Rhode Island. "To go to court would cost another $30,000 with no guarantee we would win, and we already spent $20,000 or $25,000 and I'm well into my retirement fund as it is."

Manuel A. Rodriguez, president of the condo association for the 98-unit complex, acknowledged the proposed settlement in a brief interview Wednesday, but wouldn't discuss the case.

Randall K. Roger, the Boca Raton attorney whose law firm represents Boca Verde, said the board has always enforced the association's documents. "It is expected that the matter will be resolved amicably, free from discord, so that the integrity of the community's governing documents shall remain intact and enforceable for future boards," Roger added.

Ryan, 60, a former Postal Service worker, bought his apartment in Boca Verde in 2003 after the board approved his application. Two years ago he had a nervous breakdown and could no longer work, care for himself or pay his mortgage.

With Foreclosure days away and no family to help him, the Ranuccis, who have owned an apartment in the complex for 20 years, decided to help. They started paying his bills and taking him to doctors because, they say, they like helping people.

They also bought his apartment and let him stay rent-free. Then, for businesses purposes, they sold the apartment to a trust in Carol Ranucci's name. The trust gave Ryan a life lease so he could stay at no cost until he dies, when the apartment reverts to the trust.

But the association filed suit on Aug. 8, asking a judge to remove Ryan from the apartment because the board hadn't approved the rental or the life estate. Carol Ranucci, a former director, said she never thought to seek board approval because Ryan had been in the same apartment so long.

The board on Tuesday announced Ryan could stay after its background check showed, according to Carol Ranucci, "he came out OK, no felonies and no record as a pedophile."

Now Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Winikoff must approve the settlement, which is very likely since both sides agreed to it, said Curtin, her attorney. "A lot of good people at Boca Verde spoke up and said this is wrong and a lot of good people on the board spoke up and said this is wrong," he said.

But Carol Ranucci is still upset. "They should have just approved him in the beginning," she said, "and everyone would have saved a lot of heartache, time and money."

Condo board says arrangement to help disabled vet breaks rule