Q: Our small HOA had 3 ''threats to sue'' against it by an owner. Because the HOA is a corp. we had to answer via a lawyer.
Because we are a Corp. we had to hire a lawyer to answer the ''threats''- very expensive! Finally we were actually sued, at that point our Insurances kicked in and now our legal defense is paid by the Insurances.
Could we have hired a much cheaper lawyer- young, newly licensed, to answer the ''threats to sue'' instead of a firm specializing in condo law? I'm on the Board and I want to know in case this happens again. In retrospect I'm thinking that the ''answers'' to the threats could have been minimal just to satisfy the legal requirements and could have been much cheaper. We did notify our Insurers at the first ''threat to sue'', however the policy does not defend or answer ''threats to sue'', we are only covered for an actual lawsuit.
A: I do not specialize in condo law, but it would seem to me that you can, and should, turn over any threats to your insurance company anyway. One certainly does not wait for a lawsuit before turning an auto accident over to your insurance company. You can certainly do a lot of harm to your case, trying to negotiate with a complaining owner. Your policy may even require you to notify them of any "serious" complaint.
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