LAWSUIT TO WASTE GOOD OWNERS' MONEY!

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

Published March 29, 2011

The stupidity of some board members and presidents always amazes me. It seems that the ones who make the most mistakes are exactly the ones who are willing to waste their neighbors' money to protect their own bruised egos. And in this case they want rewards and damages in a slander/libel lawsuit without risking their own money -- not even being named as plaintiffs. It's like they are playing the lottery with association money -- if the tickets win they get the money, but win or lose the association’s owners pay the price for the lottery tickets. 

You definitely know the old saying, “Don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house!”  In this case it should be changed to "Don't file slander/libel lawsuits if you have a lot of skeletons in the closet!”

Some board members threatened legal action against association members that were -- in their opinion -- too outspoken and held a closed board meeting with their attorney [LAWSUITS TO PROTECT PRESIDENTS' BRUISED EGOS?]. But obviously even the attorney was more impressed to see upcoming billing hours than common sense -- and the LAWSUIT was filed and served. But the lawsuit wasn’t filed in the name of the board members that were unhappy about being publicly criticized. It was filed naming the association as plaintiff. Attorney Chris Draper from the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff P.A., who had already represented president Michael Perkins in another private case, had to dig deep into his "magic box" to even find some reasons to fill the five (5) pages.

I really had to laugh when reading the end of this sentence: "... seeks injunctive relief to stop Gray from tortuously interfering with the ASSOCIATIONS advantageous business relationship with its workers, contractors, owners and management company individually and through the operation of his website."

According to Merriam-Webster, the word “advantageous” means: FAVORABLE -- as in "a trade agreement that is advantageous to all parties."  

And that is clearly up for debate among the owners. Owners feel that quite a few actions of board president Perkins and a majority of the board members -- namely Mary White a/k/a Mary Bruno and Vincent Rizzo -- are definitely not working in their favor.

Just some recent examples: 

• A board member discovered that Michael Perkins holds Boy Scout meetings on the premises of the association -- without approval of the board. Considering that in our litigious society that could quickly backfire, imagine one of the Boy Scouts claims to have been sexually abused -- and the whole community could be on the hook -- the association has the deep pockets.

• A NOTICE OF VIOLATION issued by the PALM BEACH COUNTY PLANNING, ZONING & BUILDING DEPARTMENT for erecting/installing electrical work, exhaust fan and meter cam without first obtaining required building permits. Advantageous to whom? The workers that did the work without having the necessary license and conveniently "forgot" to pull the permit -- or for the owners of the community that now have to pay for the damage caused by unlicensed work without a permit?

Those are just a few of the complaints the board faced in recent times. Barry Silver, the attorney for Mike Gray, quickly filed a MOTION TO DISMISS. Silver is experienced with so-called SLAPP suits [Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation -- see FS 720.304(4)]. Just ask the association members of the The Indian Creek Homeowners Association Phase 3B. They lost a long court battle against Jupiter Flagman George Andres. A judge ordered the homeowners' association to pay Silver twice his regular legal fees -- a total of $126,225. In other words -- SLAPP suits don't pay off -- especially not if you lose.

An important issue brought in the Motion To Dismiss is the fact that "the complaint seems to seek relief for defamation on behalf of various individuals (see above), none of whom are named plaintiffs and therefore lack standing to claim such relief."

Attorney Barry Silver calls the law suit "bad faith litigation" and "frivolous" and quotes the Florida SLAPP suit statutes. In Silver's opinion this lawsuit "was instigated by Board President Michael Perkins in an effort to intimidate and/or silence the Defendant, and to prevent him continuing to speak out, write about and otherwise inform other residents of his Association about vital issues in their community and potential wrongdoing by the Plaintiff, Michael Perkins and others."

Here is some good advice that goes very well for board members and board presidents: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!" 

As to knowledge of attorneys? Chris Draper states in the initially filed complaint “... tortuously interfering with the ASSOCIATIONS advantageous business…"  According to Florida law books, there is no such thing as tortuous (Merriam-Webster explanation: "marked by repeated twists, bends, or turns") interference. Most likely Draper wanted to make a claim of tortious interference (meaning Wrongful Interference in a business relationship), but spelling is tricky, as we all know. But even in lawsuits there should be something that makes readers laugh!

In my opinion board members and board presidents shouldn't complain about their mistakes being aired in the open -- on a website -- if polite attempts at meetings fail. But filing a slander/libel lawsuit and using their neighbors' money to do it is about as low as anybody can go.  Board members and the board president have a fiduciary requirement to protect all of the other owners in the community. They should apologize to the owners for the harmful mistakes they made --  NOT file a lawsuit!

I doubt the waste of money will stop -- even if this lawsuit were dismissed: You know -- no leg to stand on? The members of the SOUTHWIND LAKES HOMEOWNER'S ASSOCIATION, INC. in Boca Raton should stop the financial bleeding caused by such lawsuits before it gets out of hand. Board members should quickly be replaced, if they don't mind wasting neighbors’ money to make their own bruised egos feel better. These kinds of lawsuits are anything but ADVANTAGEOUS for the association members.

LAWSUITS TO PROTECT PRESIDENTS' BRUISED EGOS?