This one is huge, and it’s developing right now in Colorado.
A Homeowners Association in Vail is being sued because one of the supervisors in the management company was a jerk who was mistreating female Mexican workers. The Feds are now suing both the management company and the condo association.
I’ve owned two ski condos in that same area and I never had a clue who the management company was. I did get dinged a couple of times when I tried to change the locks on my doors. The management company bored through the locks, changed the door handle and charged me for their work. Yes, I was p.o.’d about that and it was one of the reasons I finally dumped the condos when the market improved.
But what if a federal EEOC sexual harassment lawsuit/judgment happened while I was still an owner? I could have been hit with a 10 to 50 thousand dollar special assessment for something I had zero knowledge about. Most Vail condos are owned by average people in Denver who just want to ski a week or two a year and rent them out the rest of the year to make the mortgage payments.
Incredible that completely innocent homeowners or condo owners could be financially ruined by this kind of thing.
(link to legal news on EEOC sexual harassment lawsuit)
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/condo-association-sued-for-sexual-70687/
I understand why the management company is being sued, but I am not getting why the condo association is being sued.
That’s what lawyers do when they file a lawsuit. They file against anyone even remotely connected to the focus of their lawsuit. It keeps their fees high. And it causes many to settle quickly to avoid their own legal fees. In addition, the condo association probably has insurance, and the insurance company will throw money in the lawyers’ direction to settle quickly.
The Attorney’s thinking is probably along these lines:
Ultimately, the management company works at the pleasure of the Board (Association). If the Association Board had any awareness of a potential problem, they had a fiduciary duty to address the matter with the management company, up to and including termination of the management contract.