HOA Director Fails to Get Claims of Wrongdoing Dismissed as “Protected Activity”

This case involved an action by co-owners of a condominium against another owner/board member who served on the association’s board of directors concurrently with one of the plaintiffs. The plaintiff owners sued the homeowner’s association and other individual board members for: (i) breach of contract; (ii) enforcement of equitable servitudes; (iii) breach of fiduciary duty; (iv) declaratory relief; and (v) injunctive relief.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that another board member, who was also the association’s president, wrongfully used HOA funds for projects and repairs that benefited his units, failed to disclosure personal interests, and misrepresented some of the improvements as emergency repairs. The defendant board member/president attempted to get claims dismissed by filing an “anti-SLAPP” motion, which is a statutory procedure designed to eliminate claims that arise out of protected activities. The defendant asserted that plaintiffs’ claims arose, in part, from protected activity because some of the plaintiffs’ allegations concerned his statements on voting at board meetings.

The trial court ruled that plaintiffs’ claims did not arise from the protected conduct of voting and denied the defendant’s anti-SLAPP motion. The trial court found that the plaintiffs’ voting allegations were incidental to the alleged wrongdoing which consisted of: