Attorneys costs

Our board felt it necessary to hire an "in house" attorney several years ago after we had just settled a Class Action suit that brought us to our knees financially. In order to stop the bleeding resulting from billable hours.

We are a community of 575 homes with no amenities, just 90 acres of greenbelt to maintain. This attorney has the option to take on other business outside of our HOA. She receives a salery in excess of $150,000 a year from our HOA and does attend the monthly meetings.

We have one active law-suit that never seems to get settled (seven years now) and one new law-suit, which our illustrious Ombudsman is named in. Our board claims having an "in house" attorney keeps us from more law-suits Therefore the cost is warranted.

I would like to hear from your readers how they handle attorneys costs, and what kind of retainers are paid for Attorneys services.

HOATalk has been very informative, and educational ~ Thank You

Nancy M

Roger, Again I thank you for your attention to this matter. I think because we had that "Class Action" suit it made us a little gun shy. We spent well over to a million to defend ourselves in the Class action, after voteing to sue ourself.(how dumb is that) Some hotdog attorney convinced our homeowners that he could get them "mailbox" money ~ Saying it would come from Insurance proceeds. That suit darn nearly put us into Receivership. Thats when I joined the board to try and pull us out of that financial mess, then resigned once we pulled our head's out. I'm like a mother watching her child being abused now with all their unnecessary spending, and "good old boy" attitude.

I was hoping I would hear from another HOA that hired a "full time attorney" But I guess it's going to be like the Ombudsman ~ no one else is that stupid.

Nancy M

Why oh why would you have an attorney on board. Use when when needed but don't give them a salary. Billable hours can be negotiated in advance and you have the option to call the attorney when needed and not have them drain you dry. Attorneys have their place but I can't see them being on salary.