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CAREFUL WHEN SUING THE DEVELOPER!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
November 10, 2017
My belated input
to last week's topic:
I guess we all have at one time or another had issues with the
construction of the building we live in. In a sue-happy society
you quickly hear: Let’s sue the developer!
BEWARE: IT’S DIFFICULT – AND CAN GET VERY EXPENSIVE!
IN SHORT: EASIER SAID THAN DONE!
The Legislature – always a friend of developers because of the
many campaign donation checks they receive from this source –
have made it pretty complicated for associations and owners to
sue the developers (contractors) successfully.
The laws – as written – are full of little loopholes that allow
developers to escape the wrath of homeowners claiming
construction defects.
The Florida legislature has even gone so far as removing
liability for construction defects for certain kinds of
constructions from developers, but got rebuked by the Florida
Supreme Court (see:
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH HOMEOWNER'S ASSOCIATION )
As you can see: With “friends” in the Florida Legislature it’s
pretty easy to get out of mistakes you made. Just have your
“friends” enact a few laws that determine that your shoddy work
isn’t really shoddy work and you are not really liable for the
construction defects you committed!
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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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