The first item I am referring to is the closing paragraph (copied below) of the Board President's email of March 11, 2015, to all Residents of the POR Condo, summarizing the performance of his administration during 2014. The Board President wrote the following:
- In a previous correspondence, you were informed that there may be a special assessment later this year for legal expenses resulting from the challenges of an owner with respect to their dog causing bodily harm to another owner/resident. The Board has retained the law firm White, Hirschbeck, Dudek to help adjudicate and advise the Residential Committee and Board in the event the dispute devolves into true litigation. A new rule was recently crafted and made official, in conjunction with our legal advisers, to insulate owners from unforeseen legal costs.
Let's examine each separate sentence in some detail. You know this was aimed at me. I know why. Here's the truth underlying these odd sentences:
The first sentence:
- In a previous correspondence, you were informed that there may be a special assessment later this year for legal expenses resulting from the challenges of an owner with respect to their dog causing bodily harm to another owner/resident.
Our
complaint against the Board President, the Board, and the
Residential Committee is about their lying, intentional abuse of process, and intentional
harassment of my wife and me. It has nothing to do with our pet. This is nothing more than an effort to misdirect you into believing we are the ones who have done something wrong. What do you call intentional misdirection by your elected leaders? I suppose for political leaders, we'd call it routine. But for self-governance in a large condo, where your lies and intentional wrongdoing are committed against your neighbors? There I would say it is completely unacceptable and those who do it should resign. They are unfit to serve.
There has never been a Board or Residential Committee finding or determination that our pet did anything wrong. The Board President was so eager to harass me when he saw the chance that he issued a letter assessing the fine saying that there was a complaint on file (a lie), saying there had been an investigation (a lie) and saying there were findings made (another lie). The fine is automatically enforceable as a matter of law and intentionally lying to create such a lien is illegal (and perhaps worse--it may be a crime.) No wonder this thug does not wish to talk about the problem he created with his intentional deceit and Rule breaking. It might be admitting that he had committed a crime. So the deception and misdirection must continue. (Actually no. The Board could have realized its mistake and rescinded the misguided January 16th letter and that would have been the end of it. Tell me again why the Board dug in its heels to fight to the bitter end to defend their right to disregard the Rules.)
The
threatened "special assessment" is a scare tactic and the Board knows it.The Association pays a premium of $2,355 per year for
what is called Director and Officer Errors and Omissions Insurance (D&O insurance). The
amount of insurance is $2,000,000.00. This insurance pays legal expenses
and damages for which the Board and Residential Committee are liable under the
law UNLESS their actions have been found to be "deliberately dishonest,
malicious or fraudulent or a willful violation of the law." The
deductible under the policy is only $2,500.
Oh, wait. You mean the insurance might not cover what the Board President and his cronies actually did because it was fraudulent, malicious, and dishonest? Oh, okay, then is a special assessment going to work? No, not in my opinion, as discussed in an earlier blog. The Bylaws will not let the Association pay for damages caused by Association Officers acting outside the Rules, the Bylaws, and State law, as they did in this case. So, what do you do when you are up a creek without a paddle? Blame someone; anyone else. Does that really solve the problem? No but it makes you look less stupid for forgetting your paddle, maybe.
The second sentence:
- The Board has retained the law firm White (sic), Hirschbeck (sic), Dudek to help adjudicate and advise the Residential Committee and Board in the event the dispute devolves into true litigation.
If this lawyer was truly hired to be litigation defense counsel, then why did the Association's D & O insurance carrier not even know she was engaged? And what litigation are they talking about? We have never threatened to sue. That is what the Board President keeps talking about but he's just making that up.
You will have to ask the Board why they had to hire a lawyer without talking to the insurance company. One thing is sure, though. The Board members who caused all this trouble by their bad acts aren't going to pay the Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek bill. In the crazy POR world that these thugs have created, it is perfectly normal for us to have a Board that breaks its own Rules, lies, harasses Residents for no known reason, assesses a fine in violation of State law; and then expects the Residents they represent as fiduciaries under the law to pay the legal costs of digging them out of the mess they created by themselves. I think this picture is sordid and we can do much better governing ourselves than this. All we need is a little less apathy and some brave, bold, decent folks to step forward with me and say: Enough. We deserve better.
The third sentence:
- A new rule was recently crafted and made official, in conjunction with our legal advisers, to insulate owners from unforeseen legal costs.
This will be covered in the next blog. It is an amazing story.
#worstcondoHOApresidentever
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