Court Says Critical Statements Against HOA Director / President Must Have “Sting” to be Defamatory

This case pertained to a lawsuit filed a member of the board of directors / president of a homeowners’ association (“Plaintiff”) against several association members (“Defendants”) who had criticized his performance and participated in the signing of a petition to have him removed from the board of directors. In his action, the Plaintiff alleged claims against the Defendants for defamation and business conspiracy, and requested $1,000,000.00 in compensatory damages and $350,000.00 in punitive damages.

The alleged wrongful conduct on the part of Defendants started in July 2020, when about two-dozen association members, including some of the defendants, signed a petition to remove the Plaintiff from their association’s board of directors, and a special meeting of the association members was scheduled to consider the petition. Prior to the membership meeting to act on the petition, four of the Defendants wrote a letter to the other homeowner members of the association, urging them to vote the Plaintiff out of office. The letter listed various grievances about the Plaintiff’s performance as an officer and director. Subsequent to sending the letter to the association members, one of the other Defendants wrote a social media post on the internet that urged fellow-owners to attend a scheduled membership meeting to voice their concerns about the association’s operations. The post contained the following statements about the Plaintiff: