While much of our 21st Century world has embraced the ease, speed and effectiveness of email communications, it is not yet the solution to all of life’s challenges. At least that is the lesson learned by a Westchester condominium board of managers recently.1
The condominium board had the authority to appoint a representative to the board of directors of the community’s homeowners association. At some point, and for undisclosed reasons, the condominium board decided to remove its appointed representative to the HOA board, which was also within its authority. However, the condominium board apparently desired to remove this board member as soon as possible – or even sooner. Instead of waiting for a regularly scheduled board meeting, the condominium board decided to vote on the removal of the HOA board member via an email vote.
According to documents submitted to the Westchester Supreme Court, a 2:00 p.m. email from the board president announced a motion to remove the board member from the HOA board, and a 2:30 p.m. email that same afternoon from the board president indicated that the motion had been approved.
A Condominium Board Moving Too Quickly Can Sometimes Lead to Issues
The problem is that the condominium By-Laws provided that a special meeting of the Board required at least two days advance notice. The board had no authority to act via email alone.
The Court deemed the purported removal of the HOA board member by the condominium board to be null and void. It took four months for the Court to reach this decision, which, in the judicial world, was a lightning-fast resolution. But all the condominium board had to do from the start was issue a two-day notice of a special meeting and it would have been able to achieve its goal. Instead, they had to wait four months, only to be told by the Court that email was not the way to go, returning them to “square one.”
As much as we may be tempted to “travel” at the speed of electronic communications, we need to be reminded that there are still rules and that they need to be followed, as frustrating as that may seem.
1 Board of Managers of Pondside Village 1 Condominium v. Hirsch
