Article Courtesy of Sun Sentinel
By Joe Kollin
Published February 4, 2004
Accusing a Pompano Beach condominium association
of "greed beyond belief," a Broward County circuit judge on Tuesday refused
to let a board stop an owner from selling her unit to her boyfriend.
Judge Victor Tobin also accused the board
of Admiralty Towers, at 750 N. Ocean Drive, of "committing a fraud on this
court" for lying about its attempts to locate her.
The case began in January 2003 when Rochelle
Gordy, a real estate investor, offered to sell a two-bedroom, two-bath
apartment to Richard Capalbo for $235,360, the amount remaining on the
mortgage.
Capalbo was looking for a larger home,
and together they planned to make the apartment their "Shangri-La," they
said.
Gordy notified the board of her plan, noting
the sale was like that between family members and, therefore, wasn't at
fair market value. The board, however, exercised its right of first refusal,
telling her it would buy her apartment for the same amount Capalbo was
going to pay.
Gordy said the association's treasurer
suggested she put a higher price in the sales agreement so it wouldn't
lower property values on other apartments. She revised the price but was
turned down. On Jan. 28, 2003, she brought him a third price, and he again
refused.
She wouldn't revise it further, and the
board sued, asking the court to force her to sell it to them at the original
price. Capalbo said the board planned to resell the unit for a profit.
Capalbo, an attorney, has since spent thousands
of hours battling the board. Although the case is over, he said he now
doesn't want to move into the apartment.
"We need to get away from the condo association.
There's no harmonious living under this kind of dictatorship," Capalbo
said.
The board's attorney, Stuart M. Smith,
of Fort Lauderdale, said no evidence shows the board was aware of any "special
deal" between Gordy and Capalbo. But Tobin said the low price should have
been a clue.
At a hearing in September, the association
told Tobin it had spent five months trying to find Gordy to notify her
of the suit but was unable to locate her, even though she was paying her
maintenance fees each month.
The association then asked Tobin for permission
to buy her unit without serving her.
Tobin called the argument a "total sham"
and accused the board of thinking him a "moron" for assuming he might believe
it.
He recalled the discussion at Tuesday's
hearing and said the argument was a fraud.
"They represented to this court that they
didn't know if Rochelle Gordy was even alive," Tobin said. "Their credibility
to me is virtually nonexistent."
Smith said he didn't know whether the board
will appeal.
The judge's ruling comes as state legislators
get ready to consider 25 proposals for changing condo law when their annual
session begins on March 2.
Jan Bergemann, president and founder
of Cyber Citizens for Justice, a statewide grass-roots organization, says
the case illustrates why his group is leading the fight to change Florida's
condo laws.
"It is a David and Goliath thing," he
said. "Most owners don't have the finances to fight deep pockets, like
boards, in court. Boards have more or less unlimited resources. If the
bank account is depleted, they levy a "special assessment" on unit owners
to get more money. |