Hawaii condo harassment case

I'm sure there's much more to this story, but some initial thoughts:

1. Why is an unlicensed contractor doing ANY work in this community? If he makes a serious mistake, such as doing work that doesn't meet current housing codes, the Association would be on the hook for paying for repairs to fix it, and perhaps a little more if the work was done without the proper permits.

2. It appears the resident manager is the person actually running things - HOA boards need to remember THEY dictate to the property manager what is to be done and the property manager takes care of daily operations. One should expect the property manager to behave with a certain amount of professionalism and decorum - if he or she cannot do this or refuses to, bet another manager!

3. Anyone who reads the stuff on this website knows all too well that things are not always lollypops and roses between HOA Boards and the members at large, and one major reason for that is lack of communication. HOA Boards need to remember they serve on behalf of the members at large, not the other way around, so the first order of business is to LISTEN to what people have to say. It's ok if you disagree - hear the other person out and then explain your position in a calm manner (and be sure to have whatever information is necessary to back it up). If you get several people all complaining about the same person or situation, it's hard to believe that ALL OF THEM are lying - there has to be an element of truth in there somewhere, so bringing a third party may be helpful in sorting it all out.

But whatever you do, take the time to respond to people's concerns - in my experience, I find that if people are at least willing to listen, the other person may feel a little bit better, even if he or she might not agree with what was said. So, if this board has been aware of this contractor and manager's behavior all this time and did nothing, it would appear a recall of some sort is in order.

4. Of course, to do a recall, you need motivated members and some of them need to be willing and able to step up and take over if the recall is sucessful. Apparently, not enough people were motivated (some people will put up with all types of nonsense as long as THEY don't have to get involved personally). And now, they may be on the hook for an expensive judgment because they didn't demand an explanation and response to the complaints.

(although I personally wouldn't hold the rest of the homeowners responsible, just the Board members who apparently didn' the balls to do their job).

5. That said, it's a shame all of this ended in court - why not sue the hell out of the contractor and manager (they might not have any money, but the prospect of being sued may have encouraged them to change their behavior) Unfortunately, we are a society where everyone sues about everything and NO ONE is willing to listen to the other side and find common ground (it's there if you take the time to look). And when peole aren't suing the crap out of each other, they'll resort to gunfire to settle their differences.

Arizona enacted a law about a decade ago placing authority to resolve HOA disputes with the state Fire and Safety department. The courts eventually ruled that this was unconstitutional.

The court's reasoning was that hearing complaints is essentially a judicial function and the state constituton required a separation of the three branches of government. The court noted that many administrative agencies conduct quasi-judicial hearings, but always in the context determining whether a licensee had breached his duties. Since Fire and Safety did not license HOA's (no one in AZ does), it had no constitutional authority to adjudicate complaints about HOA's.

JM

Tough love question here, but is the issue here your issues with your HOA and your attempt/justification/threaten to take such action against them?

As I understand it, you no longer live there but I assume you rent your unit there. Am I correct?

Here in Hawaii HOAs are strongly encouraged to use mediation, which falls under the court system. If the parties involved in the Moloka'i dispute had used mediation it would have saved them a lot of money.

According to the Hawaii Revised Statutes, either party could have requested mediation and the other party would be obligated to participate.