Condominium Association Prevails in Election Challenge Case in Miami-Dade County, FL

CSK Defense Team
Miami Partners Haley Kornfield and Edward Polk

Case Summary
In the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County, Florida, two unit owners brought a lawsuit against their Condominium Association, alleging election fraud in the Association’s annual meeting and election of board members. Seeking immediate relief, the Plaintiffs filed an Emergency Motion for Temporary Injunction, asking the Court to remove the sitting Board Members.

Defense Strategy
The CSK Defense Team, who represented the Condominium Association, focused on both procedural grounds because the Plaintiffs were time-barred from bringing the lawsuit, and substantively because the actual ballots from the election demonstrated the vote count was proper and no fraud had occurred. Specifically, Florida law requires any challenge to a condominium board election must be initiated either by filing a Petition for Arbitration with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) or by filing a lawsuit in civil court within 60 days of the election. In this case, the Plaintiffs did not comply with these requirements.

Plaintiffs responded that another unit owner had filed a complaint with the DBPR within the required 60 days and claimed this preserved their right to file a civil action 153 days after the election. However, the Court found the online complaint was not a Petition for Arbitration and did not operate to preserve or extend Plaintiffs’ time to file suit.

Verdict
After an evidentiary hearing, the Court denied the Plaintiffs’ Emergency Motion for Temporary Injunction, ruling the Plaintiffs could not show a likelihood of success on the merits because their lawsuit was untimely. Months later, the Plaintiffs asked the Court to dismiss the action as moot because the next year’s annual meeting had occurred with no assertion of fraud. The Plaintiffs strenuously objected to the Association’s claim for attorney fees, asserting dismissal for mootness leaves neither side as a prevailing party. The Court disagreed and found the Condominium Association was the prevailing party entitled to recover attorney fees and costs. As a result of the defense’s successful strategy, the Condominium Association recovered a substantial amount of fees and costs by settlement in lieu of a hearing to determine the amount.