Recent Court Rulings

Facts: A member sued his condominium association, the management company, and a snow removal company for injuries sustained when he slipped on a recently plowed pathway to his garage. The association had hired the snow removal company to clear snow from the community's common areas. Included in the common areas was a driveway leading to the member's garage.

Facts: A member obtained association approval for an addition to his home and for substantial outdoor improvements to his property. The approval specified that an outdoor structure could not exceed 10 feet 6 inches in height. However, over the course of construction, the member concluded that he had to increase the height of the structure. He increased it by a foot and a half without first obtaining a variance from the association.

Facts: A member of a cooperative sued her association and its officers for the removal and destruction of the contents of a storage bin located in the basement of the co-op. As a cooperative housing corporation, each member or shareholder is issued a proprietary lease through which he or she pays maintenance fees to the association.

Facts: Two members claimed that they did not know a homeowners association existed when they purchased their respective homes. The property deeds make no mention of the association, and the deeds contain no restrictions that require the owners to become members.

In addition, the association's governing documents state that any owner within the community “may become a member” of the association “upon submitting a letter of application and being accepted by a majority vote of the membership.”

Facts: A condo association's governing documents prohibits members from keeping pets on the premises. The association sued a member and sought a court order preventing him from keeping a pet in violation of the governing documents. During the course of the trial, the member raised numerous counterclaims, but stated that he was not requesting an accommodation under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). However, he stated that he will claim the need for an accommodation under the FHA in the event a court holds valid the restrictive covenant prohibiting pet ownership.

Facts: A condominium is located in a business district where a city ordinance imposes a property management license fee on property managers for the privilege of engaging in property management services there. According to the ordinance, the license fee does not apply to a dwelling unit that is owner occupied and has its own separate water service. The city has imposed the fee on the condominium association for its “property management activities.”

Facts: A member who served on the association's board submitted a letter of resignation after the member became disillusioned with the board's public statements concerning a snow cleanup. A severe snowstorm had caused distress within the condominium complex due to what was perceived to be an inappropriate cleanup response by members.

Facts: An association sought to amend its governing documents to reclassify the roofs of the condominium units as limited common areas. In its governing documents, limited common areas are defined as those common areas serving exclusively one unit or more than one unit but less than all units. Reclassifying the roofs in this manner would make individual members, rather than the association, responsible for roof repair and maintenance.

Facts: While walking from her home to retrieve mail from a common mailbox, a member slipped on what was claimed to be black ice, a frozen combination of snow and slush that is hard to detect because it is transparent and takes on the color of the material upon which it lays. The elderly member fractured her hip and femur.

Facts: A member sued his association for negligence because the condominium was damaged when the association's subcontractor replaced his roof. The member stopped paying his assessment fees because the association failed to repair his condominium. The association filed a counterclaim against the member. It sought to collect the amount owed by the member or to foreclose on the condominium.