 |
| >> General Information |
| >> About Us |
| >> Practice Areas |
| >> Attorney Profile |
| >> Newsletter |
| >> Publications |
| >> Florida Locations |
| >> Employment |
| >> Important Links |
| >> Press Release |
| >> Seminar Information |
| >> Clients: Update Your Info |
| >> Legal Services And Fees |
| >> Legislative Updates |
| >> Trade Show Vendors |
| >> E-Mail Us |
| >> Return to Home Page |
Association Developments
1st Quarter Volume XIII
2001
a service provided by Clayton & McCulloh
WEB SITES: WHAT YOUR ASSOCIATION SHOULD KNOW
Today, more and more community associations (both condominium and homeowners), are establishing their own "web sites" which function as both a newsletter and "electronic bulletin board" for the membership. The expansion of community associations into cyberspace is expected to accelerate, as a projected 60% of American households will have some access to the Internet by the end of the year 2001.
There are many obvious benefits to an association either establishing or utilizing a web site, including the ability to communicate with the membership nearly instantaneously and interactively through the establishment of a community association electronic bulletin board. There are, however, potential pitfalls about which your community association should be aware if it operates or sponsors its own web site.
In recent years, the Internet has become a potential vehicle for the dissemination of defamatory information on the Internet. Additionally, the related "tort actions" for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress have been brought against Internet Service Providers (such as America On Line and Prodigy).
see Web-Sites, pg 2
SIGN UP NOW FOR
2002 SEMINARS
It's official! The 2002 Community Association Law Seminars have been booked and the topics selected. Due to popular demand, we will be repeating our program "So, You're on The Board! Congratulations & Condolences: How to be a Director" which has been updated for 2002. Also included in this year's program is "Hot Topics," a series of short, but "hot off the presses" topics. For a listing of those topics, please see Page 4.
Want more good news? In addition to the seminars held in Orlando, Melbourne, and Daytona Beach, we are adding the cities of Lakeland and St. Augustine to the 2002 Schedule. The dates and locations are listed on Page 3.
Richard White, the syndicated newspaper columnist of "Community Living" will once again be a guest speaker.
see Seminars, pg 3
Page Two Volume XIII 2001
AS WEB-SITES FOR ASSOCIATIONS INCREASE, SO DO THE PROBLEMS
Web-Sites (from pg 1)
There are also cases where web site operators have been accused of posting libelous material on the Internet. A community association-run web site could, therefore, potentially become a defendant in a defamation or other tort action, even if that association was without knowledge and was not an active participant.
Under Florida law, defamation is actionable if a defendant "publishes" a false statement about the plaintiff to a third party and that statement causes injury to the plaintiff. The posting of deliberately false information about an individual on a web site would provide the necessary "publication" component for a cause of action for defamation, specifically an action for liable.
There are, at this time, no Florida appellate cases that have held an association liable for defamation in connection with an association-run web site. In a recent Florida case dealing with the issue of whether a web site can be held to be a "media defendant", the court did hold that "someone who maintains a web site and regularly publishes Internet magazines on that site might be considered a "media defendant." Many association web sites regularly publish the association's newsletter via the web site. This activity could adversely affect the association if it publishes defamatory material.
It seems even more likely that an association could become involved in a defamation case where it maintains an electronic bulletin board. With such a bulletin board, any member of the association or, potentially, even a non-member third party may have the ability to post defamatory material on the association-sponsored web site. Thus, defamatory communications posted by such member or third party could become the basis for the association becoming embroiled in litigation as a media defendant.
Congress has recognized this potential exposure to organizations operating web sites and also has sought to provide for the private "blocking" and screening of offensive material. In 1996, Congress passed the Communications Decency Act, which could limit the liability of a community association sponsored web site by stating that no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another "information content provider." The courts have applied the Communications Decency Act so as to exempt both Internet Service Providers and other interactive computer services from claims of defamation, where the offending material was posted by unrelated third parties. Query: would a member of an association be ruled to be an "unrelated" third party so as to exempt the association from liability?
While the Communications Decency Act may provide some protection to an association which is sponsoring or running a web site, the association could, nevertheless still be at risk potentially, to defend itself in a court far away. There are recent cases that have allowed defendants in Internet defamation cases to bring the cause of action at the place the defamation "occurred" which, in some cases, has been held to be the defendant's residence. In such a case, an association could be forced into defending a defamation action which has been filed in a court hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the association.
If your association has a web site, or is considering establishing one, there are steps that can be taken to limit any potential liability. Your association should consider the following:
- •Never include or allow any member to include any negative or embarrassing information or
see Web-Site, pg 3
Page Three Volume XIII 2001
Web-Sites (from pg 2)
statements about any members of the association or any individuals in the contents of your web site.
- •If the web site uses the name of your association, but is not owned or controlled by the association, make this fact clear on the association's "home page."
- •Post on the web site a statement of policy that the association does not control the content of its "bulletin board" and reserves the right to refuse access to any member who posts false, malicious or otherwise unacceptable material on the web site.
- •Check with your insurance agent or attorneys to determine whether the web site will have any impact on your association's insurance coverage.
The Internet can be a very useful tool for your association in gaining access to and communicating with the association's membership and as a means of encouraging participation in the association by its membership. In the near future, more and more associations will turn to Cyberspace to conduct association business and to strengthen the association's sense of community.
LEARN ABOUT DEADBEATS
AND MR. UGLY!
Seminars (from pg 1)
Registration for our Saturday seminars start at 7:45 a.m. with the program starting at 8:50 a.m. and ending at noon. Our Thursday evening seminars' registration begins at 5:45 p.m. with the program starting at 6:50 p.m. and ending at 9:00 p.m. The dates and locations are as follows:
Saturday, January 20, 2002, Daytona Beach,
Plaza Resort & Spa
Saturday, February 16, 2002, Melbourne,
Hilton Rialto at the Melbourne Airport
Saturday, April 20, 2002, Orlando, Church Street Station's Presidential Ballroom
Thursday, March 21, 2002, St. Augustine,
St. Johns Conference Center
Thursday, May 16, 2002, Lakeland,
The Lakeland Center
The Daytona Beach, Melbourne, and Orlando seminars are free. However, the branch seminars in St. Augustine and Lakeland do feature a small admission charge. The fee structures for those two seminars are as follows:
Client Directors/Developers/Owners - $5.00
(fee will be applied toward any future invoice for legal services rendered to the Association)
Non-Client Directors/Developers/Owners - $5.00
Client Managers - $5.00
Non-Client Managers - $10.00
see Seminar, pg 4
Page Four Volume XIII 2001
Seminar (from pg 3)
In addition to the "How to be a Director" program, our Hot Topics mini sessions include:
Our Documents Say What?
Rehabilitating Your Documents:
We Can't Enforce our Docs Why?
Vested Rights: No, You Can't Amend the Documents
Let's Dissolve the Association & Get Rid of those
Pesky Assessments
Marketable Record Title Act: What do you mean we no longer have Governing Docs?
Why Can't We Call A Deadbeat a Deadbeat?
Violations of the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act: Repercussions from Deadbeats
Collecting a Judgement: Beating the Deadbeat
with a Stick
Overview of Covenant Enforcement: Mr. Ugly's Place
Litigating a Covenant Enforcement Case:
Beating Mr. Ugly with a Stick
Alternatives to Litigation:
Mr. Ugly & The Olive Branch
Through the years, our guests at our seminars have asked about special rates for sleeping accommodations at the hotels where the seminars are held. In answer to those requests, we've added an extra feature for this coming year. The hotels at Lakeland, Daytona Beach, and
Melbourne seminars will be offering a special discounted rate for their sleeping rooms. These special rates will be discussed in the forthcoming seminar flyers being mailed to your homes in the coming months. Due to a popular golf tournament at the St. Augustine site, the World Golf Village Renaissance Resort is unable to offer a discounted rate. However, as we went to press, there are still rooms available at their regular room rate.
We will be mailing the first seminar flyers out to the Daytona Beach & St. Augustine seminar area associations the last part of October. The seminar flyers for the Melbourne seminar area will be mailed out the end of December, and the seminar flyers for the Orlando and Lakeland seminars surrounding associations will be mailed out the end of February.
If you would like to register for our seminars prior to receiving the flyers, you may register via our web-site starting November 1, 2001, for any of these seminars. Once again, this is a great opportunity to get free or almost free legal advice. So, c'mon out and meet our attorneys and staff, enjoy the refreshments, and sit back and listen to a humorous and entertaining program.
Page Five Volume XIII 2001
POLK COUNTY'S
"NEIGHBORHOOD BILL OF RIGHTS"
Clayton and McCulloh has recently learned of an excellent program implemented by the Polk County Community Services Department, called the "Neighborhood Bill of Rights." Essentially, the program allows any type of Community Association (including Homeowners Associations, Condominium Associations and Cooperative Associations) to register with the Polk County Development Services Division. By registering, the Association will receive direct mail notice of any application for re-zoning or other land use change that is to occur within one mile of the property governed by the Association.
Of course, such notices are required to be published in a newspaper of general circulation within the county. However, such notices are often easy to overlook. Polk County is offering Associations the opportunity to receive direct mail notice. This should be more effective than publication notice.
Clayton and McCulloh salutes Polk County for the neighborhood registry program. Complete information about the program, including a registration form, can be obtained from:
Mr. Larry Rollen
Development Services Division
Polk County Development Services Dept.
330 West Church Street
P. O. Box 9005
Bartow, Florida 33831-9005
(863) 534-6007
For those of you who do not live in Polk County, you may want to consider bringing this program to the attention of your own local land use or growth management office. Perhaps it would be willing to implement a similar notification program for your county or municipality.
BE A HONORARY STAFF MEMBER
Staff (from pg 6)
Sound like fun? It is! Our "Honorary" C&M staff members have a good time, are given VIP treatment at our seminars and get paid for it! If you are interested in being a "Honorary" C&M staff member or would like more information, please call our Director of Client Services, Arlene-Frances Ring, at any of our offices.
Page Six Volume XIII 2001
ANNUAL DIRECTOR WORKSHOP
SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER
You've just been elected to the Board of Directors. First, there is the feeling of elation at what you just accomplished (be honest now . . . everyone privately has a rush). Then it hits you. Oh my goodness, what have I gotten myself into? The answer: More than you bargained for! What am I supposed to do? The answer: Attend Clayton & McCulloh's Annual Director Workshop.
The rewards of serving on the Board are tremendous. There can be tremendous satisfaction in knowing you've taken an active role in shaping your community. There are also tremendous and sometimes, overwhelming challenges. By serving on the Board, you are given the opportunity to meet your entire community.
We are pleased to offer to our clients this educational and informative workshop for board members to prepare them to assume their roles within the Association. This workshop is conducted by our Director of Client Services who, in addition to being a paralegal, has also served as a director in homeowner and condominium associations. The workshop is open to the entire board for one low price.
- •Practical information on what is expected from a director. Information about various organizations that cater to community associations in your area.
- •Samples of various publications that are dedicated to community associations.
- •Your Association's own copy of our popular "So, You're on the Board! Congratulations & Condolences: A Guidebook to Being a Director."
- •Information on how Clayton & McCulloh handles various legal issues such as collections, covenant enforcement, billing, etc. We will also cover the many complimentary services we have to offer so your association can take advantage of these services.
- •Complimentary status reports on any matter we are handling for the Association.
- •Interesting web-sites for community associations.
- •Complimentary reports and newsletters you can receive through the web.
- •Referrals for vendors which service the community association industry
- •And much, much more!
The fee for workshop is $125.00 for the entire board. However, while one fee covers the entire board, there is a small material's fee per director. For the dates and times of this workshop, please see our enclosed flyer.
WANT TO BE A
HONORARY C&M STAFF MEMBER?
Have you ever gone to one of our seminars and noticed a friend of yours helping with registration? Would you like to be a part of the Clayton & McCulloh's Seminar Team? Well, now you can! Here are some of perks to assisting at our seminars:
- •Assist with one to two seminars and receive aa $25.00 gift certificate to one of five very popular restaurants.
- •Assist with "wrap-up" portion of our seminars and receive a $15.00 gift certificate to one of five very popular restaurants.
- •Assist with three or more seminars and receive financial compensation for your assistance.
- •As a "Honorary" C&M staff member, you will be given your choice of reserved seating in the seminar meeting.
A "seminar training class" on our registration procedures will be provided to all "Honorary" C&M staff.
see Staff, pg 5