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Lawsuit Filed Against Knoll-Century Hill Homeowner's Association

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Highlands Today

Published: February 3, 2009

SEBRING - A lawsuit has been filed against the Knoll-Century Hill Homeowner's Association in reference to a special assessment imposed on its members.

Aaron Seward, a resident of the Knoll-Century Hill development, filed the suit.

Knoll-Century Hill has a declaration of restrictions and covenants, which "sets forth the manner in which association assessments, whether annual assessments or special assessments, are to be charged to the individual lot owners and the manner and method for increasing those association fees or assessments," according to the lawsuit.

The restrictions and covenants do not authorize a homeowner's association to impose a special assessment for anything other than defraying the cost of any construction or reconstruction of the development's properties.
Special assessments can only be authorized by a two-thirds vote of the "Knoll" membership, the lawsuit states.

The suit alleges that the defendant's board of directors tried to have proposed amended by-laws voted upon in April 2007. Those by-laws would have given them the authority to pass and enforce a special assessment to "purchase real property from private parties."

Numerous voting irregularities were alleged to have occurred at that meeting, including inadequate notice that a vote on the by-laws was going to take place, members not receiving a copy of the proposed amended by-laws for review prior to the vote and the election not being conducted by secret ballot but, rather, a show of hands.

Subsequent to the "illegal and improper" vote on the proposed amended by-laws, the board of directors called on the "Knoll" membership to vote on purchasing a building that had been used as the development's official clubhouse, according to the lawsuit.

The facility, however, did not belong to the "Knoll."

Again, the suit alleges that an improper vote was taken on purchasing the property.

Then, in March 2008, a second vote was called on the proposed amended by-laws, since the first vote was recognized as "illegal and improper," the lawsuit stated.

This second vote was also called improper, with voting regularities again alleged. The suit said the ballots used were numbered, with those numbers corresponding to a list of voting members that the board of directors had.

"Such a system of voting deprived the membership of a secret ballot and unfairly and unjustifiably intimidated members by in effect creating a record of how each member voted on the issue," the lawsuit stated.

After the March 2008, the board announced the proposed amended by-laws were adopted and the clubhouse was purchased on or about Dec. 31, 2008, according to the suit.

Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at (863) 386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com

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