To All Baywinders:

The homeowners who filed the lawsuit on February 14, 2006 against the Association and the 11 original Board members have always been, and will continue to be, willing to work towards a fair and equitable resolution of any and all the issues in the lawsuit.

For more than two years, the Association and the 11 original Board member defendants have insisted that the homeowners voluntarily dismiss their lawsuit without any of the lawsuit issues being resolved or addressed in any way. Obviously, this position was unacceptable to the homeowners bringing the lawsuit.

Recently and unexpectedly, the Association and the 11 original Board members changed their position and agreed to settle all the damages claims against them for $27,500. While the homeowners bringing the lawsuit would have preferred a public apology in lieu of the $27,500, the Association and 11 original Board members were unwilling to acknowledge any wrongdoing.

The homeowners were faced with a difficult decision. They had to choose between a) continuing the lawsuit for possibly another year or more to try to hold the defendants accountable for the wrongdoings charged in the complaint or b) expediting a resolution to this more than two year old lawsuit by the accepting a $27,500 offer in exchange for dismissing all the damages claims. The homeowners reluctantly chose the latter to expedite the final resolution of this case.

The primary goal of the homeowners, who were left little choice but to file the original lawsuit, has always been to restore the proportional voting interest that existed prior to the adoption of the 7th and 8th Amendments. Now that all the damages portions of the lawsuit have been settled, a final resolution of the validity of these two Amendments has been fast tracked.

The secondary goal of these homeowners was to demonstrate to all the people of the Baywinds community the need for a checks and balances system to reduce the likelihood of future costly homeowner litigation. While the lawsuit brought by these few homeowners may be a once in a lifetime opportunity born out of unique circumstances, it is illustrative of the systemic problem existing in far too many communities.

There are little to no effective checks and balances to any HOA President who refuses or is unwilling to act in the best interest of the community. One homeowner or even a group of homeowners will never be an effective counterbalance to a President with virtually unlimited resources at his or her disposal to ignore or even crush a homeowner or group of homeowners almost at will.

The only effective checks and balances, to any self-serving President or Board supported by an equally self-serving attorney and/or property manager, is a President and Board members who understand that they are likely to be held accountable by an informed and empowered community if they were to behave in a manner inconsistent with the best interests of a community they have volunteered and pledged to serve.