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A GOOD ATTORNEY IS WORTH GOOD MONEY
By
Jan Bergemann
Published June 7, 2019
I know that many people don’t like to
pay the high legal fees a good attorney is charging. But, make
no mistake, a good association attorney is worth a lot of money.
Not only because he may win lawsuits
filed against the association, he may as well prevent these
lawsuits from being filed in the first place by giving good and
solid advice.
And preventing lawsuits can be even
more valuable than winning some.
Board members should hire experienced
counsel, specialized in community association law – not just the
attorney from around the corner because his/her office is
conveniently close. Remember, most of the communication with the
attorney nowadays takes place by e-mail, Skype or other digital
communication devices.
And board members shouldn’t hire an
attorney based on the fact that he/she is a YEA-sayer and agrees
with the board all the time, or even comes up with lgal opinions
that favor the board’s ideas, no matter how much they would
violate the rules and/or statutes.
A good attorney is telling the board
exactly what the law – and case law – really says, no matter if
the board members like it or not.
A good attorney should give a factual
legal opinion serving the welfare of the association members,
not the egos of some board members.
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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