|
| Tuesday, February 07, 2012
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| You are not authorized to post a reply. |
|
|
| Author |
Messages |
|
NancyM2
(California)
Posts:246
 |
| 07/08/2006 8:19 AM |
|
Our board felt it necessary to hire an "in house" attorney several years ago after we had just settled a Class Action suit that brought us to our knees financially. In order to stop the bleeding resulting from billable hours.
We are a community of 575 homes with no amenities, just 90 acres of greenbelt to maintain. This attorney has the option to take on other business outside of our HOA. She receives a salery in excess of $150,000 a year from our HOA and does attend the monthly meetings.
We have one active law-suit that never seems to get settled (seven years now) and one new law-suit, which our illustrious Ombudsman is named in. Our board claims having an "in house" attorney keeps us from more law-suits Therefore the cost is warranted.
I would like to hear from your readers how they handle attorneys costs, and what kind of retainers are paid for Attorneys services.
HOATalk has been very informative, and educational ~ Thank You
Nancy M |
|
|
|
|
RogerB
(Colorado)
Posts:4647
|
| 07/08/2006 11:23 AM |
|
| Nancy, the HOAs we manage spend very little on attorneys and none have an attorney on retainer. Most of them budget $0.00 per annum for legal fees. Once every few years we suggest a Board get an attorney's opinion. Never needed a mediator but recommend having policies and procedures established in case mediation would be required. I believe in WIN WIN using the Golden Rule rather than an advisarial (LOSE LOSE)situtation which occurs when attorneys get involved. |
|
|
|
|
NancyM2
(California)
Posts:246
|
| 07/08/2006 12:50 PM |
|
Roger, Again I thank you for your attention to this matter. I think because we had that "Class Action" suit it made us a little gun shy. We spent well over to a million to defend ourselves in the Class action, after voteing to sue ourself.(how dumb is that) Some hotdog attorney convinced our homeowners that he could get them "mailbox" money ~ Saying it would come from Insurance proceeds. That suit darn nearly put us into Receivership. Thats when I joined the board to try and pull us out of that financial mess, then resigned once we pulled our head's out. I'm like a mother watching her child being abused now with all their unnecessary spending, and "good old boy" attitude.
I was hoping I would hear from another HOA that hired a "full time attorney" But I guess it's going to be like the Ombudsman ~ no one else is that stupid.
Nancy M
|
|
|
|
|
BradP
(Kansas)
Posts:2384
|
| 07/08/2006 4:22 PM |
|
Nancy:
We don't have an attorney on retainer and hope to never need one. We budget $1,000 dollars a year for one and up to this year have never used one. We used on this year to help us with properly recording and drawing up a land egress agreement between the association and a homeowner. We also have D & O insurance so hopefully if we do get sued they will take care of our end of it. I would think you could put your $150,000 to better use somewhere else.
Brad |
|
|
|
|
MarieG
(Florida)
Posts:11
|
| 07/10/2006 12:17 PM |
|
| Why oh why would you have an attorney on board. Use when when needed but don't give them a salary. Billable hours can be negotiated in advance and you have the option to call the attorney when needed and not have them drain you dry. Attorneys have their place but I can't see them being on salary. |
|
|
|
|
JosephW
(Michigan)
Posts:879
|
| 07/10/2006 7:12 PM |
|
| You could get 500 hours of billable time from a top-notch attorney billing $300/hr. for what you're paying to get what is probably a second string attorney full-time. You've already identified the problem, you're gun-shy. But that should go away with time. Try weaning yourself away by reducing the time by 50% or so and see if the board and owners are OK with that. Then just keep reducing it until the board feels comfortable with hourly again. Retainers are also fine. Around here its usually the equivalent of 1-2 hours of billable time per month, plus meeting time if they are asked to attend the board meetings. Basically it covers advice and a few minor issues each month. |
|
Joseph West
Official HOATalk.com Sponsor
Community Associations Network, LLC
www.CommunityAssociations.net
*See legal notice below (end of page) or go to www.hoatalk.com/legal |
|
|
|
| You are not authorized to post a reply. |
|
|
General Legal Notice: The content of forum messages are from the posting member and have not been reviewed nor endorsed by HOATalk.com. Messages posted by HOATalk or other members are for informational purposes only, are not legal or professional advice and do not constitute an attorney-client relationship. Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. HOATalk is not a licensed attorney, CPA, tax advisor, financial advisor or any other licensed professional. HOATalk accepts ads from sponsors but does not verify sponsor qualifications nor endorse/guarantee any sponsor's product or service.
HindmanSanchez Legal Notice: (For messages posted by HindmanSanchez) This message has been prepared by HindmanSanchez for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute an attorney-client relationship. Members of HOATalk.com should not act on this information without seeking professional counsel. Please do not send us confidential information unless you speak with one of our attorneys and get authorization to send that information to us. If you wish to initiate possible representation, please contact an attorney in our firm. Our attorneys are licensed to practice law in the state of Colorado only.
Legal Notice For Messages Posted by Sponsoring Attorneys: This message has been prepared by the sponsoring attorney for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute an attorney-client relationship. Readers of HOATalk.com should not act on this information without seeking professional counsel. Please do not send any sponsoring attorney confidential information unless you speak with the sponsoring attorney or an attorney from the sponsoring attorney’s firm and get authorization to send that information to them. If you wish to initiate possible representation, please contact an attorney in the firm of the sponsoring attorney. Sponsoring attorneys that post messages here are licensed to practice law in a specific state or states as indicated in their message signature or sponsor’s profile page. (NOTE: A ‘sponsoring attorney’ is an attorney that is a HOATalk.com official sponsor and is identified as such in the posted message or on our sponsor page.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|