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CAN YOU REMOVE A PRESIDENT THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN REMOVED BY THE
VOTERS?
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published February 8, 2021
Sometimes we get lucky and the political
world mirrors what takes place in the condo and HOA world. The
Senate is going to start a trial regarding the impeachment of
Donald Trump. As we all at least understood the process ---- the
whole purpose of a trial in the senate is to see if the
president needs to be removed from office, but in this case ---
he has already been removed in the last election. So, one could
argue, what’s the point of having a “removal” trial in the
Senate if President Trump has already been removed by the
voters?
This scenario happens quite often in the
condo and HOA world. Let’s say that a group of owners get
together and want to remove the current president of the Board.
They serve the Board with enough recall ballots but the Board
decides to fight and not certify the recall. Now we are off to
arbitration. Now let’s say the arbitration process is dragging
on and it’s time for a new election in the community and the
election occurs. The question then becomes SO WHAT HAPPENS TO
THE PENDING ARBITRATION CASE BEFORE THE ARBITRATOR?
Here’s what the case law says:
In Greentree Condo Ass'n, Inc. v. Unit
Owners Seeking Recall, Arb. Case No. 98-5427, Final Order
Dismissing Petition for Arbitration (March 4, 1999), the
arbitrator held that the recall petition was moot where an
election for all positions on the board was held while the
petition for arbitration was pending, even though the unit
owners disputed the manner in which the intervening election was
held. In Hacienda Del Sol Condo Ass'n, Inc. v. Unit Owners
Voting for Recall, Arb. Case No. 01-3566, Final Order
(September 14, 2001), the arbitrator held that an intervening
election in which all board members subject to recall were
re-elected makes the recall attempt moot, noting that if the
owners wished to contest the validity of the intervening
election, their recourse was to file a petition for arbitration
pursuant to section 718.1255(1)(b)1., Florida Statutes. In
Riviera Villas Condo Ass'n, Inc. v. Unit Owners Voting for
Recall, Arb. Case No. 2003-04-5722, Final Order Dismissing
Petition for Recall Arbitration (April 22, 2003), the arbitrator
dismissed the petition for recall arbitration as moot due to an
intervening election despite the unit owners argument that there
were irregularities in the intervening election, noting that
unit owners wishing to contest the validity of the intervening
election could file a petition pursuant to section
718.1255(1)(b)1., Florida Statutes.
As you can see, all the arbitration cases say
that when there is an intervening election, the attempt to
remove the person from the board becomes moot. That would make
sense. But we’re talking about Congress where common sense is
hard to come by.
In fact, arbitrators have gone even further,
and declared removal cases moot when the election is going to
occur in the very near future. See: DORAL R.O. ASSOCIATION,
INC., v. UNIT OWNERS VOTING FOR RECALL, ORDER ABATING
ARBITRATION CASE and REQUIRING FILING OF STATUS REPORT
Case No. 15-05-6235 January 27, 2016, Simms arbitrator.
At least in this scenario, it seems that when
it comes to elections and removing of Presidents, Florida is
certainly more on the ball than Congress is.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated from
the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for more than 2
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decades and is the owner of Glazer
and Sachs, P.A. a seven attorney law firm with offices in
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and satellite offices in Naples,
Fort Myers and Tampa.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host
of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs
at noon each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the
State of Florida that designed a course that certifies
condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium
Board of Directors and has now certified more than 10,000
Floridians all across the state. He is certified as a Circuit
Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated
dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Eric
also devotes significant time to advancing legislation in the
best interest of Florida community association members.
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