Owner Seeks to Void Election for HOA Redacting Information in Owner’s Biography Before Distributing it to Members For an Election of Directors

This case pertained to a dispute between a condominium unit owner (“Owner”) and his homeowners association (“Association”) over an election of members to Association’s Board of Trustees (directors). Owner, who was seeking election to Association’s board, submitted a biography to Association for distribution to other Association members. In his biography, Owner included information that Association deemed defamatory and slanderous and therefor, inappropriate for distribution to the members. After Owner refused to remove the material in the biography that was objected to by Association, Association redacted Owner’s biography and distributed the biography to the other members prior to the election. Owner did not get elected to the board and thereafter filed suit against Association for declaratory relief to void the results of the election and recover damages up to $350,000 alleging that Association unlawfully redacted his biography on the false premise that it contained defamatory and slanderous material.

In his action, Owner sought injunctive relief in the form of: (i) an order voiding the election and directing a new election; (ii) an order directing the removal of a trustee; and (iii) an order directing Association to produce certain records that had been sought by Owner. The trial court: