voter approval on lawsuit filed by HOA

FS 720.303(1) states (2/3 way down paragraph) "Before commencing litigation against any party in the name of the Assoc.
involving amounts in controversy in excess of $100,000, the Assoc. must obtain the affirmative approval of the majority
of the voting interest at a meeting of the membership at which a quorum is present."
Would this approval be required if the Assoc. was merely suing our insurance co. or F.I.G.A. in court for recovery of hurricane
damages amounting to multi-millions of dollars? There must have been thousands of these claims in Fl.. We were never
asked to vote on approving the filing of the lawsuit.

Dorothy,

Your board members may not have been aware of such a law, but the association's lawyer should have.

I am thinking I would need more details. It's kind of complicated as to what advice to give. I understand the reason behind the lawsuit but not sure if this is the HOA's responsibility to do it. This is to say that typically this would be the individual home owner's responsibility on their own claims. However, if this is a condo situation or relevant to HOA owned property, then different advice is needed.

Yes, there should have been a vote taken for the HOA to have hired a lawyer and filed the lawsuit. Many states require a lawyer represent a HOA in court.So the hiring of the lawyer and negotiation of the fees should have been discussed. There are many details involved in that alone. I also would question if indeed a lawsuit is the necessary course of action your HOA needed to take. A lawsuit may not have been the only option to resolve this issue. It could be a bark up the wrong tree. This is why I asked for more details as this may not be a HOA battle.

If your board did hire the lawyer, and they filed the case against the insurance company, then your membership is paying for it. As such, you all have the right to know some of the details about the case. Keep in mind NOT all of it, as there may be some sensitive and court privacy issues involved. However, as a general member you should know there is a lawsuit filed, a lawyer hired, a court decision/date, and how much it is costing for whatever reward may happen in the end.

The claims adjusters actually hired the attorneys who handled the filing of the lawsuit, and they did it for 15-20% of the
award (contingency based). Association paid very little out of pocket.