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WHEN DOES “I QUIT” REALLY TAKE EFFECT?
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published March 2, 2020
For a time, directors had to be careful about keeping their
emotions in check while at Board meetings. When a director said
“I had enough, I quit” that actually meant they were gone. That
outburst was enough to be treated as an effective resignation.
See: See Dehne v. Ocean Club II Condo. Ass'n Inc., Arb. Case No.
93-0137, Summary Final Order (Jan. 31, 1994) quoting Petito v.
Gleenglades Condo. Ass'n Inc., Arb Case No. 93-0239, Summary
Final Order (January 13, 1994) Now, things have changed.
In the case of Pain Reduction Concepts, Inc. v. Frisbie, 147
So.3d 12 (Fla.App. 1 Dist.,2013) Florida’s First District Court
of Appeal held that pursuant to Section 607.0842(1), Florida
Statutes (2009), “[a]n officer may resign at any time by
delivering notice to the corporation” and that “[a]
resignation is effective when the notice is delivered
unless the notice specifies a later effective date.” Section
607.0807, Florida Statutes (2009), provides that “[a] director
may resign at any time by delivering written notice to
the board of directors or its chair or to the corporation” and
that “[a] resignation is effective when the notice is
delivered unless the notice specifies a later effective
date....” The bottom line was that the court said a writing is
required in order to have an effective resignation.
Subsequent to this case, in STEPHEN A. BRAND and DAVID E.
LAPOINTE, Petitioners, v. SUNDANCE ASSOCIATION, INC.,
Respondent., 2016 WL 4939974, a Florida arbitrator held that if
the governing documents of a condominium do not provide for
verbal resignations, a resignation is not effective until it is
delivered in writing.
One interesting aspect of the law is that a director can deliver
a written resignation effective at a later date. So, it is
possible for a director to submit a written resignation,
effective after the date of the vote on his or her replacement.
That’s right, the director can vote on who replaces him or her.
Bottom line….you can threaten to quit, or even say “I quit” but
until you submit your resignation in writing, or unless your
documents allow for verbal resignations, you are still on the
board. In fact, if you time things the right way, when you do
decide to quit, you can even get to vote on who is going to
replace you.
But why would anyone want to quit the Board?
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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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