Personal Liability as a Board Member

As a new Board member, one of my fear is being personally sued for damages.
We plan to get liability insurance for the HOA and the Officers, otherwise no one would volunteer to do this work. How much coverage is enough? Has anyone being personally sued and lost personal property like homes, savings etc.? Some of the owners in our development had sued each other and the developer.
I fear that with the developer out of the picture the HOA and officers could be targets.

Thanks for sharing experience, insights, comments.

Oly

Your corporation is also protected by the Not For Profit Corporation Act. Anyone serving on the board has coverage, individually and collectively, and then as the corporation.

But Boards should have D&O insurance, anyway.

Of course, this does NOT cover criminal or negligence actions committed by any Board member(s)

Google your state name and Not For Profit Corporation

or

Board liability for not for profits

From doing some reading on the internet, found an article stating that by incorporating as not-for-profit corporation, [or any corporation for that matter] protects the officers from liabilities of the corporation. Their personal property and assetts are separated from Corporation and are off limit.
However, BOD can still be sued personally in addition to sueing the HOA if the officer(s) committed fraud or criminal acts [broke law(s)]. This seems to back up Susan's notes earlier.
I would agree that Boards or Officers should still get liability insurance for not only HOA but the BOD just in case they get sued personally.

I am just amazed at how expensive this whole thing is turning out to be. We feel that we need to hire a lawyer knowledgeable in corporate/Federal/state laws, an accountant, inspector, service/maintenance companies, buy hazard and liability insurance etc. just to take care of 5 retention ponds. Of course, all these professionals must be bonded. Our town did not want to take over the ponds and I can see why. I know of a HOA who does it cheaper by doing a lot of the work themselves, but they have resident professionals like a lawyer and accountant, and they can minimize the risks. It seems to me that this system is broken, it should not have to be this way. It is like health care I guess.

We should write to our Congress person and ask them to figure a way to make it so that the liabilities are limited and running HOA's affordable.

I agree - get coverage appropriately and speak with the agent so you get a better understanding to ensure your safety. BUT as a volunteer for the HOA and as long as you are acting appropriately and in good faith, the laws are there to protect you.

Of course, if you don't bother reading through the financials and staying up to date on things, don't read your Board package before meetings and aren't prepared to do your "job" - that's another situation.