Court Upholds Validity of Member Recall Election, Election of New Board, and Ouster of Former Board Members

This case involved a dispute between homeowners association members and the former members of the association’s board of directors (“Former Directors”) over the validity of action taken by the members to conduct an election to remove all the Former Directors and elect a new board of directors. Following the election of a new board of directors, the association (“Association”) filed an action for declaratory relief against former board members and an individual who had resigned his volunteer position on the board in order to accept paid employment as Association’s CEO. That individual’s position as CEO was terminated by the new board of directors.

In its action, Association alleged: (i) that the defendants had “refused to recognize the validity of the recall” and continued to assert that the prior board remained in power; (ii) that the removed former CEO remained the current CEO of Association; and (iii) that the defendants were engaged in extensive efforts to hinder the new Board of Directors from conducting the affairs of the Association.

The trial court found in favor of Association in ruling that: