Gossiping Board President and Officers

Anything is possible, but it is unlikely that your dues would go up if someone sued a board officer for slander/libel, because that would pretty much be a personal civil suit between two parties (since the actions taken that made up the "libel/slander" tort would NOT be those required of a typical board member, and thus, not likely covered by E&O or Director's insurance, nor required by the HOA to be defended against). Chances are, in such a suit, insurance would dismiss the claim, and it would be the plaintiff against the board, and the board would have a good chance to get themselves dismissed as a board (since the tort didn't arise as part and parcel of the duties of the board or HOA), leaving plaintiff and defendant as individual people.

Now, if the "gossipy" board member had the full blessing of the board, it could be different. But approval for said actions, and simply allowing said actions to occur tacitly are two different things.

EdithH - I have been and still experiencing the rath of the Board. Not only has 1 Board member spread rumors about me but completely lied in small claims court about me calling me the trouble maker in the community. Not only this Board member but we have a community newsletter and the editor of the newsletter (didn't mention my name but people knew who she was writing about)accused me of trying to stop the board from doing a project and interfering with their work. Not true I tried to prevent them from making a terrible mistake. I have corrected them on certain things they tried to do that was not legal like taking peoples proxies and how they tried to vote on board members. Slander/liable is very hard to prove. But someone can certainly sue. There is insurance to cover Directors and Officers. You should have by-laws stating this. Do you not have Covenants and By-Laws? The Planned Community Act is the law in NC. Your statement that you are not part of the PCA isn't correct. Please do some research, again I say it is the NC State Law regarding Planned Communities. The PCA is where the wording comes from for Covenants. The best thing you could work on is reading your Covenants and By-Laws this would help to know how to vote these Board members out. Talk to your neighbors and see if they are in agreement with you. As someone told me in my forum 1 person can't do anything you need more people that agree with you. Unfortunately, until they are replaced there really isn't anything you can do. You are right there are no laws to protect how people are and how unconcerned they are about other homeowners. Yes your dues could go up because of attorneys fees to handle possible suits. I could go on and on, but, I hope I have helped you in someway. Good luck.

"HOA boards who canvas the neighborhood and find petty problems (though kids spilling paint on the street is a real issue) have drilled into HOA operations enough to get serious about truly managing your property."

Agreed if the streets are an HOA responsibility, otherwise it's a city/county/township problem.

The paint in the street is on a city street. Not HOA property. These officers wanted to pressure wash the paint .. into a city sewer, (not a good idea if we're being good stewards of the environment), then send the bill to the kids parents!! I cautioned them to justify how they could do this when the HOA did not even own the property that was "damaged".
Thanks Jeanne! I'll look at the information!

Nancy - We have not formally adopted the PCA. Some of the PCA we do fall under, but not all of it. We are a very old community with bylaws that go back almost 40 years. The one thing with the PCA is 100% of the vote is needed to change ANYTHING. That means NOTHING gets changed. Currently we don't need 100%, so adopting the PCA is not in the best interest of our community. Sure the management company would LOVE it if we did. That way all properties they manage would be uniformly managed. We're holding out.