Sue homeowner for causing Special Assessment?

The title says it all - a couple disgruntled residents caused an uproar, and abused our bylaws to force a recall vote of the HOA board. It was clearly very personal, and they lost by an overwhelming majority, but the whole ruckus cost the HOA $100K in both attorney's fees and then a special election. I know the HOA board wants to just put this behind them, but I don't! Could we get the board to call for a special assessment, so that we can turn around and sue to recover the money from the individuals who caused this mess?

And a follow-on question. Has anyone been able to push to convert many of these CCR clauses to arbitration to avoid legal battles?

Recovering from those who caused the mess should have been part of the settlement agreement, or if it went to court, part of the judge's ruling. IMO, the opportunity is past.
Anyway, do you think your owners have an appetite to spend more money they might not recover after paying $100k?

With NPS on this.

You missed the chance. Even if you did do it at the right time, you have almost no chance of recovering the fee's.

Pay the assessment and vote better board members next time.

See http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/anti-slapp-law-california

Sorry Ken. I'm having trouble counting all the knuckleheads. $50k to mail, count, etc. on a recall vote. Give me a break.
Rather than ask here, why not contact your prepaid assistance provider and find out if they cover you for HOA retaliation lawsuits?
There is such a thing as mandatory arbitration, but only if it's agreed by the parties in advance, typically by contract. Do you have a contract that requires it?
Have you explored what D&O insurance there was and whether it was pursued? Why should the HOA pay if insurance covered it? Maybe because the knuckhead minority didn't plan very well and cost everyone a lot of money.

In summary, don't be a knucklehead yourself. If you don't understand enough, admit it and accept it. You could spend a lot more and have nothing to show for your efforts.

10 years ago my former association got involved in a neighbor to neighbor dispute that ended up costing the association $250K in legal fees. The Board and management company tried to disguise the costs as liens and foreclosures. Most of the community never read the annual reports and would never question the expenditure. A couple did, myself included. It did cost money to fix the problem or on the Board's side to fight the changes. That's part of business when lawyers are called in.

If what you say is true and I have no reason to doubt it, the Board and association threw away $50K in election costs.

The association's attorney butchered this thing. But, remember, they are in it for the money!

How many homes in your complex?

See also
- https://www.echo-ca.org/educational-topics/alternative-dispute-resolution

So you'd have a special assessment. As long as it's validly adopted, what basis would you have to sue someone? Causing the board to validly adopt a special assessment means....that you have a special assessment that you have to pay. Not grounds for a lawsuit.

$100,000 was spent for attorneys' fees...but unless the board had decided to "lawyer-up", zero would have been spent.

I say let it go.

First, California's Davis-Stirling Act has relatively exacting procedures for keeping disputes out of court. If you skim through the links here https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/ADR-Menu, you will see that California law requires that the HOA attempt internal dispute resolution (IDR) and if still needed, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). The ADR takes the form of either mediation or arbitration.

Second, If the HOA attorney billed the HOA for $50k to write letter after letter to these folks, I'd say the problem may be the HOA attorney coupled with inadequate intelligence on the part of the HOA attorney's client (the HOA, as represented by the board).

Third, if the board spent $50k to conduct a recall vote, I'd like to see a breakdown of the costs. This seems exorbitant.

Fourth, I do not believe the California anti-SLAPP statute applies to HOAs or condos. Anti-SLAPP statutes try to protect people who are speaking out about public issues. "Public issues" has an exact meaning here. HOA issues are generally considered private, corporate issues.

Fifth, I do not think you have grounds to sue these folks. I mean, what issue would you raise in the demand letter that is always required (if one's attorney is the least bit competent)? All I can see the demand letter saying is something like: "Dear neighbor Frank Frivolous and Tom Troublesome, You forced my HOA's attorney to respond repeatedly to frivolous concerns you have. You forced my HOA to run an expensive recall election. On the one hand, I grant that you have a right to ask that the Board follow the correct procedure for spending HOA funds. You also have the right to petition for a recall election. On the other hand, this was *&^%$# expensive! I want my share of what the HOA spent back, and from you! Please send a check in the amount of $1000 to me at my address. If you do not pay me by August 1, I will have to take you to court. Yours, Kindly Ken"

This ship has sailed. Time to pick up the pieces and just move on. The whole situation was just handled badly all around. Hopefully use this as a "learning experience". Otherwise you all doomed to repeat this.

I am actually tired of posting this... Suing your HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors. In this case there was never a real lawsuit. Just a bunch of letter writing campaigns using legal resources. All this "macho mas macho" stance just bites everyone in the end.

If the HOA knew a bit more what it was doing, there could have been better options. If this had gone to court, the court would decide who pays the legal expenses. It has to be asked for during the court process. Each party could have paid their own or paid the others. Again did not go to court so that option is gone.

The HOA basically caused it's own special assessment by incurring it's legal expenses. In certain cases, this could be considered "damages" but it has to be the most frivolous lawsuit on the planet brought against the HOA. This doesn't sound like it fits that bill. There was a procedural process as the basis dictated by the rules.

Overall, let this go. Everyone has to pay for their mistakes. It just effects everyone. Next time vet out the whole legal process/need your HOA is doing. It doesn't sound like it's a sound practice.

Did you read my response? I said since there was NO lawsuit... It was acknowledged there wasn't a lawsuit. It was probably better that there was... However, the HOA decided to spend money on legal actions. So since they did not go to court, there was never going to be any money coming back. It was just money spent out of pocket. So sad, too bad...