One of the most common misconceptions of non-lawyers regarding the practice of law is that a civil case ends upon conclusion of a trial and that, if a party is victorious at trial, he automatically obtains or is provided with the award he was granted in court. For instance, if one party sues another for $1 million and prevails at trial, the thinking goes, then, upon conclusion of the trial, the other party just hands over the million dollars. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
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The Board of a Condominium Association or Homeowners Association has many decisions to make when it discovers telltale signs of construction defects in common property. These latent construction defects can manifest themselves in a number of different ways, including but not limited to, water intrusion, peeling paint, staining, wood rot, cracking of stucco, concrete spalling, curling shingles, or cracking or separating sealant. Construction defects can also occur in other property that may be owned by a community association or a community development district (“CDD”), such as roads, pools, tennis courts, or other property commonly owned by the association or CDD.
Each year, children are injured or killed as a result of playground hazards, such as sharp edges, hot surfaces and surfacing, hard surfacing material, impacts from protrusions, poorly maintained equipment, or from head entrapments and entanglements. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that more than 200,000 children each year are injured severely enough on playgrounds to necessitate a trip to a hospital. Also the Commission estimates that between 5 and 15 children die each year as a result of dangerous or defective playgrounds.
Generally, the ability to serve on a condominium association’s board of directors is overlooked and not raised as an issue. While this may seem like good news for the association, it could create issues in the future. This blog will discuss the limitations on who may serve on the board of directors for a condominium association.
Determining the correct forum for any given dispute involving a Florida condo association or HOA can be confusing. Often times the board members, licensed managers and unit owners are unsure of where a dispute will be resolved if a party initiates formal legal action. Florida’s Condominium Act and HOA Act govern the procedures for community association disputes, and both Acts include arbitration, mediation and state court for resolving various issues. This blog post will provide an overview of the appropriate forum for both condo associations and HOAs to resolve certain disputes in Florida.
When a real estate transaction fails to close, there are a multitude of legal issues that arise for the buyer, seller, and real estate broker. Often times the buyer’s earnest money binder or “deposit” is being held by a third party escrow agent. Both the buyer and seller are making conflicting claims to the binder. Section 475.25(1)(d)1., Florida Statutes, sets for the statutory procedure that real estate professionals should follow in the event of conflicting binder claims. Remember that real estate agents and brokers are regulated by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation so they must follow some specific procedures in the event of a binder dispute. These procedure are outlined generally by Florida Realtors® and include seeking an Escrow Disbursement Order, Arbitration, Mediation or Interpleader. This blog will focus on the use of Interpleader Actions for escrow binder disputes in Florida.
Quite often a creditor discovers that one of its debtors has avoided satisfying a liability by fraudulently transferring assets to another individual or entity. This is a frustrating discovery, but the creditor is not without remedies. Under Florida Statutes fraudulent transfers can be attacked and unwound through two methods. The popular method is filing a lawsuit to include a statutory cause of action to invalidate the fraudulent transfer under Chapter 726, Florida Statutes. A lesser used approach is through a post-judgment procedure known as proceedings supplementary under Section 56.29, Florida Statutes. This blog post discusses these two differing approaches for unwinding fraudulent transfers, when proceedings supplementary is the preferable approach, and a related doctrine of Florida common law known as the Diligent Creditor Rule.
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When deciding whether to pursue legal action, a condominium association board of directors may ask “can we recover the attorneys’ fees?” The good news for associations is that Florida Statutes and the governing documents of the community provide entitlement to the recovery of attorneys’ fees in many legal actions. The bad news is that this recovery is not without limitation. This blog will explore limitations on the recovery of attorneys’ fees and the provisions that may be important to include in the governing documents for the community.