BOCA RATON — The Palmetto Place at Mizner Park Condominium Association has fired back at owners who accused it of falsely imprisoning them in their unit last summer after they contracted the coronavirus, claiming the couple “threatened to cough” on residents.

Palmetto Place is a nine-story, 255-unit condo in downtown Boca Raton.
   

Steven and Nancy Iscowitz sued the association and its management company, First Residential, last year. Palmetto and First Residential recently responded with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, accusing the couple of “recklessly endangering” the health of neighbors and the management company.

The couple allegedly “lounged in the pool area” and entered common areas, even “threatening to cough on anyone who questioned their actions,” according to the motion to dismiss that accused the Iscowitzes of “fancying themselves as king and queen of the condominium community entitled to do whatever they want, whenever and wherever they please.”

The association now asserts that the Iscowitzes thought they were more important than everyone else in the complex, adding:

A dispute between two residents of the Palmetto Place condos in Boca Raton and the condo association is heating up.


“In an astounding display of self-entitlement, plaintiffs chose to ignore the (COVID) restrictions by lounging in the pool area within feet of other residents and (by traversing) through the lobby on a daily basis,” the Palmetto lawyers allege.

Meanwhile, the couple’s attorney, Jeffrey Kominsky, filed a motion of his own March 9 to seek sanctions against the attorneys for the condo association for making “scandalous” statements that are “riddled with insults, deceit and inflammatory language to provide untrue material for local and national media outlets.” The motion called the claims “malicious fabrications.”

The incident last summer drew widespread media coverage.

Scott Folley of West Palm Beach, who represents Palmetto Place, declined to respond Friday to Kominsky’s request for sanctions.

According to the Iscowitzes' lawsuit, the couple began to exhibit COVID-like symptoms July 5. They were tested two days later, and learned July 12 they had the virus. The association had asked residents who tested positive to inform the management company but agreed not to disclose their identities — even to board members. Based on that assurance, the Iscowitzes say they acknowledged they each had the virus July 13.

“Neither of you should leave your unit unless it is medically necessary,” the couple was told. And if they did, the association threatened to have them arrested “for endangering the lives of building residents and staff,” according to the lawsuit.