I an suing my HOA Board

Purchased my condo in September 2013, completely updated, complete mold abatement with a mold cretificate, had it inspected. I put down engineered wood flooring. Within a month my floors were lifting due to a hot water leak under the slab. HOA sent a plumber out, drilled into the concrete in two different spots, each hole approximate 2ft x 2 ft. My flooring company came out and tested for moisture and there were still leaks. HOA sent a water detection company out and the company confirmed hot water leaks everywhere. Four months later I did hire an attorney to ask the HOA to fix the problem, they agreed to do so. Several plumbing companies came out and all four agreed the pipe underneath slab needed be re routed. I filed a claim with my insurance company and was ready to roll, this was in April 2014. On June 1, 2014 we had an enormous downpour of rain. My condo sit on the end, I'm on the ground level. The gutters were filled with debris and my gutters had enormous cracks and the water filled up my flower bed and came in thru the brick and completely flooded my unit with 3 inches of water. HOA called out a company to remove the water and dry the unit, I moved to a friends home. My insurance company denied this claim as it was due to poor maintenance by the HOA and the fact that they had yet to repair the pipe under slab.
Hired another attorney mid August and met with the board on August 25. Attorneys and board agreed they were liable, moved me in to a unit, hired the plumber to begin work and repair unit within three months. October 1st a pipe to the air conditioner broke during a repair and flooded my place again. HOA never informed me and never extracted the water. December they asked me to move or they would evict me and I did. My bid to redue the unit came in $300 higher than the HOA bid and I accepted their offer. Again they felt their offer was to high and wanted another bid. My attorney recommended we file a lawsuit in January of 2015. I have been misplaced for 9 months, have had my gate kicked In and broken twice. It's has become a nightmare and my only recourse was a lawsuit. I'm in Texas, on this sight for guidance. Any information would help. Thanks

Marie,

Since you have an attorney, who is likely fully knowledgeable of the nuances involved with your issue, I'm not sure what guidance we can offer that could compare to the advice of your attorney.

It does appear that you attempted to work with the Board during every issue.

I suspect that the Association will try to diminish the issue by saying some of the problems you raise were repaired, even though you are trying to show a continuance of issues relating to each other.

My best suggestion I could offer is to write down what you believe you desire to make yourself whole. Be specific and don't use generalities like "I want damage to be paid for". Specify the damage exactly (wood floor in x room, 100ft of base board, drywall, etc.).

The president of the board had a rental and they allowed me to stay there during the repairs. It was expected for me to be back in my unit within the three months or December.

My attorney has provided the bid for repair, they also provided their bid. It was lower but I accepted it.

They said no. The cost of repair is exstensive and expensive.

Let me see if I understand this:

1) Condo Purchased
2) Floor was damaged due to leaky pipes in concrete subfloor
3) HOA admitted responsibility and bids were being obtained.
4) Prior to the pipe being fixed, there was a flood due to clogged gutters/drains.
5) Your unit was damaged further
6) Again, HOA admitted responsibility here as well
7) While repair work was happening, a pipe to the A/C unit broke
8) This caused additional damage to your unit.
9) You were not informed of #7 or 8 and found out when you got back into your unit
10) The Association again admitted responsibility
11) Each side got bids - theirs was $300 less than yours
12) You accepted their bid
13) At some point, the Association felt that their bid was too high and . . . (this is where it's unclear if additional bids were obtained or not or they just now don't want to pay the amount their bidder said it would take)

Do I have this correct?

So the attorney was supposed to provide a different bid then the one you already agreed to and failed to respond. Am I correct in my understanding of the whole issue?

And, do you have written offers and written acceptance of responsibility OR is it all verbal?

Keeping in mind that I am not an attorney and I do not work in the legal profession,

If my understanding is correct, the issues I identified as 2-6 have likely been considered resolved (as the work was done to correct and the damage done by the broken A/C drain is new). Therefore, as I had said earlier in this thread, if you bring up the other issues without saying that they were addressed, the Association will likely argue that that damage was corrected and can likely provide copies of a work contract and cancelled checks to show that it was. Thereby trying to have the court focus on that and not the new issue of the damage caused by the A/C.

Hence, your suit should focus in on the broken A/C drain (likely caused by the work the HOA had done) and the damage caused by that. Providing the other information only as background.

If you have written documentation of the Associations acceptance of responsibility, their offer and your acceptance of their offer, you may also want to ask for a summary judgement on the issue. My understanding is that this is typically done when the suit is filed and I suspect that your attorney would have done this.

If you don't have written documentation, you will likely have a bit of a fight on your hands (based on how you posted the reaction of the new board was).

As I also posted earlier in the thread, your attorney, who has access to all the documentation, has likely already considered what I've commented on.

Since the Association has already admitted responsibility, it sounds like you have a strong case. I wish you luck and please keep us updated.

Yes the work was done. In the process due to re routing the of pipes, tearing thru walls and pounding out concrete in the flooring, the ac pipe breaking and leaving the water standing it had warped baseboards and they had to remove all carpet. The board has not seen the final outcome nor do they desire. We did request their attorney and board to come over and look. I will keep you posted. Thank you.