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MEDIATION May 2008 – Owners of 3 Rental Properties v Glenn Lakes.
BACKGROUND: 1. In 1998, the developer controlled Board gave to the owners of three homes the written approval to rent their homes up to 25 times a year, despite the fact that our documents state that “No lease shall be for a period of less than six (6) months without the approval of the Board.” 2. Attorney, Justin Zinzow, was given a signed “Engagement Letter” by former President Nancy Perry, on February 18, 2008, despite the fact that no Agenda or Minutes show that there was ever a motion or a discussion or a vote to hire Justin Zinzow as a lawyer for Glenn Lakes. 3. Mr. Zinzow filed an “unsustainable” lawsuit against several renter/vacationers, as John Doe suits, instead of filing against the real homeowners. Then Mr. Zinzow posted a “Demand to Vacate” on the doors of completely innocent renter/vacationers – causing them emotional stress, because they did not own the property and had no idea that there was any legal problem. Consequently, we were sued by the owners of the rental properties. 4. Mr. Zinzow billed the Glenn Lakes Homeowners Association $10,100 in just a matter of weeks for this lawsuit (and a revision of our election guidelines to include a vote limiting “Notary” provision on the election mailings, and his insistence that those mailing should not include any legally submitted candidate names and information sheets, as we have done in the past.) 5. Below are comments for the two Lawyers, from two different firms, who represented us in the suit filed by the three unit owners against Glenn Lakes: A. Our Glenn Lakes lawyer said that Zinzow’s lawsuit against Joe Doe tenants was “unsustainable” and there was a very good chance that we would lose both the case and the legal fees. B. Our lawyer from the insurance company also said there was a good chance that we would lose, and even if we won there was still a good chance that we would not recover the legal fees that Zinzow racked up or fees from the three unit owners. And if we took this to court we could end up spending $30,000 on unrecoverable fees.
MEDIATION on May 13, 2008: Rental owners’ assertions: A. Rental owners asserted their alleged right to rent up to 25 times per year. B. Rental owners asked for $8,900 in legal fees. (Their lawyers charges $225 per hour, and she spent over 8 hours in mediation on just this one day.)
Time Spent in Mediation: 9:00 till after 5:00 – worked through lunch – 8 hours Results of the Mediation - In addition to the thousands and dollars that were billed to us by Justin Zinzow, we had to pay $2,500 to settle the three lawsuits that were filed against us as a consequence of Zinzow's actions. We did however win some concessions, such as reducing the number of rentals per year. To view the actual settlement see below: Rentals Settlement Agreement.htm
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