March 14, 2004

By Legal Eagle
Copyright AHRC News Services

There are a number of persons who are reading this web site who have begun to look at court cases between homeowner associations (HOA's) and lawyers and members of HOA's.

While looking into a case that is currently in the forefront, Brooks Hills Homeowners Association vs. Bass, sanctions were levied against an attorney for failure to answer questions that lead to the basis of the case.

One of the major points in the Bass case is that the Bass Family is being singled out for not completing their landscaping within a specified time.

The Bass's attorney wrote out questions, called interrogatories, that the HOA, the management company, and the lawyer were supposed to answer within a specific period of time. This is what happened:

1. The attorneys for the HOA kept postponing the answering of the questions.

2. When the attorneys finally did answer the questions, they said they were unable to find information to give to the Bass's, hence the questions could not be answered.

3. When the Basses did not agree to this answer, the Bass's attorney worked to force the HOA to answer.

4. According to the HOA attorneys, the supporting information was now mysteriously missing.

5. The judge then ordered sanctions against the attorneys. Sanctions are a type of "fine" where the party who does not do what they are supposed to do, pays the other side as a penalty for not doing it. It is like being sent to the corner for a "time out" because you have misbehaved. These sanctions were for $2000. The links for these PUBLIC RECORDS are attached below this article.

The questions that were asked had to do with the following subjects:

1. The timing of the persons moving into the homes

2. When did each owner submit their architectural plans

3. When did each owner complete their landscaping

4. Were all of the homes in complete compliance with the plan they submitted

While these are not the actual questions these are the subject of the questions.

The fact that the attorneys were unable to produce at least a part of these answers is total bluff. At least the timing for each person moving into the home is quite easy. These are public records that are available to ANYONE. Also, the management company should have an accounting as to when the home owners paid their association fees. After all we all know that sloppy bookkeeping can lead to non-judicial foreclosure...

Architectural plans are to be kept with the minutes of the board meetings. If these are missing, the management company is NOT doing their job. Also anyone who is on the board of directors or the architectural committee should have a copy of the board package for the meeting that would also have this information. How could all of these people have this information and yet it is completely missing from any and every where?

The third item as to when did everyone complete their landscaping - Is it done now? A simple ride through the neighborhood would answer this question.

The fourth item depends on the second. If you "lose" selective records, that would be all except the architectural plans of the Basses. Then you could not answer this item.

So for $2000 and the ability of the HOA, Management Company, Architectural Committee, all the board members and the lawyers to be able to lose all of the other homeowner architectural plans AND the ability of the management company not to be able to tell the attorneys of the HOA when each homeowner paid their first HOA payment - because that would also say when they moved in - the Bass case still lingers.

Poppycock! This is a feckless lawsuit simply on the merits of the Plaintiff's inability to answer questions! This is a ridiculous instance of a law firm trying to make money off an HOA and a management company that helps them do it.