James K. Parker and Yvette Lavelle successfully defended a Homeowners Association against a multiple count declaratory relief action brought by a homeowner alleging that the Board of Directors of his Homeowners Association violated the Association’s governing documents and Florida Statutes when they went forward with scaling back/postponing portions of a Member approved funding of a multi-million dollar Renovation Project without submitting those modified portions to the Members for Re-vote. The Homeowner further alleged that the Association had mandatory Statutory Reserves or in the alternative its governing documents created mandatory reserves. After trial the Trial Court entered Final Judgment in favor of the Homeowners Association on all counts finding that:
- The Board of the Homeowners Association had the authority to move forward with constructing the improvements and material alterations upon approval by a majority of the Membership and did not have to obtain a second re-vote when certain elements of the Renovation Project were scaled back/postponed;
- The Board’s actions were reasonable and within the Board’s business judgment; and
- The Homeowner’s Association does not have mandatory statutory reserves pursuant to Florida Statute Section 720.303(6) or pursuant to the Homeowner’s Associations governing documents, rather, the Homeowner’s Association has non-statutory voluntary reserves.