You’ve just got to be suspicious when a bunch of lawyers start urging lawmakers to protect their ability to sue builders.
There’s no question that builders need to take responsibility for defective construction. But remember that lawyers automatically take at least third of any money they get from successfully suing contractors. Heck, Las Vegas lawyers were reaping almost 100% of all money collected from builders. That’s why the FBI raided 100 Homeowner Associations and has filed corruption and organized crime charges against 24 people, including a number of lawyers. The Las Vegas scandal is so huge that many more lawyers, judges, and public officials will be charged in future months.
I honestly love it when I can mention the name of somebody actually sent to prison for embezzling from a Homeowners Association. While I strongly suspect that embezzling is endemic, hitting almost every HOA everywhere, most embezzlements are never discovered. The structure of Homeowner Associations (UCIOA contracts) almost urges embezzling by HOA officers. And they do. People who seek office in unpaid positions, are mostly there for a reason. They’re either ego-driven, or short-term do-gooders and reformers, or they’re looking for a chance at personal gain. Personal gain means, in most cases, embezzling. I may be criticized for my cynicism, but you don’t become a cynic without good reason.
The daughter of a California woman who was stabbed to death has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Glenoaks Townhomes Association. Her mother was a member of the HOA. Her husband is the alleged suspect.
The lawsuit claims the HOA and its security company knew that she had a restraining order against her husband when she moved into the gated community, and her neighbors had an obligation to protect her.
California juries are known for awarding outrageous amounts in outrageous lawsuits. This one will bear watching. Lawsuits are going to spell the death of the HOA as we know it.
Nebraska Senator Mike Schneider is asking the governor to call a special session of the legislature to pass new laws against Homeowner Association fraud. He says he’s been reading a blog on the Las Vegas scandal and he doesn’t like the kind of comments being made about suicides committed by suspects indicted in the HOA scandal. (Hmmm, I wonder which blog he’s talking about!)
We get word from Chicago that an Arizona man has been sent to prison for stealing 2 million dollars from three condo associations. Jay Strauss, of Scottsdale, Arizona, had been mixing the money from the three associations for at least the past three years. Then he’d siphon off money to pay for his own real estate investments. He might never have been caught except that his own company went broke, and suddenly the condo associations discovered their own accounts had been depleted.
