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Condo association member find themselves in messy lawsuit


Question:

condo association lawsuit resized 600

We recently found out there was pending litigation filed by our old condo association manager and that we have been in default since January 2014. The condo association manager had a strict foreclosure clause and has chosen at this time to foreclose on the condo association because of the $149,000 breach of contract suit. She is also suing for commercial tort in the millions because the president allegedly stole her mail by illegal mail forwarding, filed false police reports on her, and wrote defamatory comments on Yelp and through the Better Business Bureau (BBB), accusing her of theft. The only thing she had requested was to "please close out all open contracts by obtaining a majority approval of 7 of the 9 owners so that we can put this behind us. Otherwise, you will continue to get billed."

Our president, who is our registered agent, won't send in the written contract cancellations, and has not to this day made anyone aware of the lawsuits (we learned through communication from the agent 4 weeks ago, when she gave us a court date for the default hearing, which she was not obligated to do). As a homeowner, is there anything that can be done? It's going to cost $16,000 to keep my unit. Even if I keep it, the condo association will still owe at least another $2,000,000 in the tort claim, which I have no doubt she will win. All actions taken thus far by the manager are technically legal, ethical, and in accordance with the UCC and Washington state law. However, the president has hired an attorney to represent and appear on the condo associations behalf without notifying or first gaining the 75% vote required to proceed with litigation.

Should we be more upset with the condo association manager or the officers of our board of directors? How can we as condo owners ensure justice in this matter? After reviewing all documents the condo associations manager sent, our own personal attorneys said they would not get involved because of non-response and a lack of explanation by the board of directors. They said "we should have responded 8 months ago" and that "the manager was being too nice and should have just defaulted as her notice was fair, and she went above and beyond to try to fix the situation." Any advice would help.


Answers (3)

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