MANDATORY PRESUIT MEDIATION

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann

Published February 17, 2026

Senate Bill 2984 (the so-called HOA TASK FORCE bill) created in 2004 FS 720.311, a provision that created Mandatory Presuit Mediation. The idea behind it: Prevent parties from being surprised by lawsuits, giving the parties a chance to resolve issues without getting into costly court litigation. Remember, Homeowners’ Associations don’t have any kind of government enforcement, meaning courts are the only way to fight even simple problems.

The idea worked pretty good – in the first few years after the bill was enacted. But after a while some “specialized” attorneys – and even some mediators – realized that this presuit mediation was a great money-maker, if the mediation could be dragged out for hours.

Attorneys representing the association showed up without board members, meaning no settlement could be reached since there was no quorum of the board present to make the necessary decision.

Others showed up knowing full well that there would be no mediation agreement, but a few billing hours added nicely to the income. Just make the other party believe that a settlement is always in the reach, just a few tiny problems exist. No settlement in the end, but some great billing hours for all the lawyers involved.

We saw long-hour mediation over simple issues, like record requests, financial reporting or fines. That are simple issues that could quickly be resolved, but only if you enter mediation in good faith.

And good faith is not always present. If you look at lawsuits filed in courts you can often see a pattern. Attorneys for associations, who have more or less unlimited funds, realize, often from the very beginning, that the lawsuit is difficult to win on merits. So, how about trying to make it really expensive for the owner to continue the court battle by filing motion over motion, starting with a long, but useless, mediation? Hoping the owner is running out of money to continue the court battle, forcing the owner to settle the court case favorable to the association. Believe me, it often works!

The provisions regarding MANDATORY PRESUIT MEDIATION would be completely removed if HB 657 will be enacted according to the wording of HB 657 (CS 2). The provision would be replaced by a so-called Community Association Court Program (FS 720.32) [see Line 903], a program supposed to be created and maintained in each judicial circuit of the state. Will it work? Nobody knows, but if one system is a total failure, something new should be tried! We have seen the Legislature changing many systems that worked well (Remember: Never change a winning team!), so maybe it’s time to try something new, replacing something that was definitely not working real well.