It is your duty as a board member to serve your condominium association to the best of your abilities. Sometimes, this means making tough calls that community members may not agree with. When tempers flare, it’s not uncommon for a disgruntled community member to take the legal route and attempt to sue board members directly. In this article, we discuss whether or not a condominium board member can be sued by their association members. If you are interested in ensuring that your condo association runs smoothly and lawfully, contact Wise Property Management, Inc., a Tampa condominium management company.
You Are Generally Protected
To get straight to the point, you are not personally liable for the decisions you make as a board member. You are protected as long as you conduct your duties in “good faith, with the care an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would exercise under similar circumstances, and in a manner he or she reasonably believes to be in the interests of the association.” This is stipulated in the “business judgment rule,” which is designed to protect directors from frivolous lawsuits. However, there are circumstances in which a board member can fail in their duties and find themselves in legal trouble.
Your Responsibility to Your Association
The business judgment rule assumes that you are acting with a fiduciary duty, or legal responsibility, to the association. In order for a person to sue a board member directly, they would have to prove that a board member:
- Breached or failed to perform their duties
- This breach constituted criminal activity
Additional breaches of duty include improper personal benefit; willful disregard of human rights, safety, or property; and intentional misconduct; among others.
Absent evidence of the above offenses, board members are protected from being sued directly as long as they act in a reasonable manner. As we’ve covered previously, however, it’s all too easy for board members to become overwhelmed by their duties. When that happens, an honest mistake can lead to a litigious community member filing suit. In order to protect you and your fellow members, you need the assistance of a Tampa condo association management company with years of experience.
Safeguard Your Association
At Wise Property Management, we offer a slew of benefits to condominium associations that not only comply with all state laws but also make life easier. Our services include but are not limited to comprehensive association management, accounting and bookkeeping, notice distribution, records retention, and rental management. We’ve heard numerous horror stories of hasty decisions leading to a costly legal fallout. When you partner with WISE, you gain the experience of a company that has been serving the Tampa Bay area for decades. Contact us today and ensure that you are protected from avoidable mistakes and the lawsuits that follow.
Are you ready to work with one of the top Tampa condominium management companies that makes life easier for you and your board members and improves the value of your property? If so, submit our proposal request form today!