Condo Media - September 2013 - 53

by Joel W. Meskin, Esq., CIRMS

The Dilemma

The bell has been rung; the board cannot plead ignorance about Mr. Jones’
criminal background or his pending
criminal matter. One member suggests
that the information be forwarded to all
the association members as Ms. Smith requested. Another member suggests that
the information be posted on the association website, indicating that the truth is
a defense to a claim of defamation. Still
another board member recommends that
they invite Mr. Jones to a board meeting
to personally respond to the information
provided by Ms. Smith and give him a
chance to face his accuser. Finally, the
president suggests that they do nothing.
What would you do?

The Solution

Go directly to the association’s attorney; do not pass “Go.” If the

association does not have an attorney
it regularly uses, go to the Community Association Institute local chapter
website and get a referral from the
service provider list of community
association specialized attorneys. You
may be tempted to call your daughterin-law the attorney, or your uncle
the big shot attorney, but beware.
The board must seek counsel from an
experienced community association
attorney. A specialized attorney should
have a good idea what to do, has
probably seen the issue before, knows
the applicable law, and will not have
to spend the association’s money to
reinvent the wheel.
Why consult an attorney, when that
will invariably cost the association a lot
of money? Because the nature and extent of the issues involved are beyond
the board’s experience. A board’s

primary duty is to know what issues
are within its proper scope of decisionmaking and which are not. In this situation, a board should first realize that
a unit owner with a criminal record is
probably shameless and will likely try
to take advantage of the situation. Accordingly, the board must be hypersensitive to any decision it makes. This
is not like telling little old Mrs. Baker
that she cannot have a garden gnome
in her yard. Second, this is a complicated issue that has many twists and
turns with many potential unintended
consequences. Many items must be
considered: (1) the governing documents; (2) the board’s prior conduct
in similar situations; (3) whether the
individual is an “association member”
or a “tenant”; (4) the relevant laws
or statutes; (5) potential discrimination issues; and (6) case-specific issues,

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Condo Media • September 2013

Condo Media - September 2013

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