My question involves a condominium located in the State of: Connecticut
My condo association is going too far with their lawsuits. It's a newer condo complex (about 4 years old) and the association is suing the developer for faulty work. I have no problem with that, however, on top of that, they are also using the same lawyers to represent individual unit owner complaints, and having the legal fees paid by our common charges as well.
I'd be okay with this as well, except that any money awarded based on behalf of these individual unit owner lawsuits, will be paid directly to the unit owners, rather than the money going back to the association. This does not sound legal to me, and if it's not what course of action could I take to stop this from happening? Can anyone provide any insight?
I've included part of the letter I received from my condo association member:
On August 18th, 2008 we presented the Association’s counsel to speak about the claims of the Association and also to address the issue which is the primary reason for this correspondence. More specifically, this letter will address your rights to legal redress under the New Home Warranty Act (NHWA).
Under the provisions of the NHWA, a person or person who have purchase newly constructed residence may legally pursue the contractor for breaches of the express and implied warranties which statutorily are attach to the unit. The NHWA provides new home purchasers the right to sue the contractor (in this case [the Developer]) for any damages suffered by them as a result of unworkmanlike conditions affecting their unit. The conditions must have been identified within the first year of the new homeowner’s possession of the premises. A lawsuit must be initiated against the new home contractor within the applicable statute of limitations, otherwise the owner’s rights lapse and are unenforceable under the statute. If and when the owner’s lawsuit results in a judgment and the defendant contractor is found to have no assets, the owner may apply to the Department of Consumer Protection’s Guaranty fund which is established for the purpose of reimbursing each owner the maximum amount of $30,000.00 of their claim.
Many of the owners at [the Condo] are still able to pursue their rights under the NHWA. Based upon the information gathered by the Association's Board of Directors, it appears that you may be covered by the protections afforded by the NHWA. The question is how do you as an individual owner wish to proceed, if at all. Although some unit owners believe that they have no articulable claim under the NHWA, the fact is that each unit owner has been adversely affected by the roof, which was improperly and negligently installed by the developer. The cost to the Association to replace the roof has been estimated at approximately $1,000,000. As such, each unit has had their Common Charge increased by $75.00 to pay for the roof replacement and related expenses. There may be other areas similarly covered by the NHWA which will only increase each individual unit owner’s exposure to repair costs.
Working with the Association’s counsel, the Board has authorized its attorneys to represent the Association against the declarant/developer. The Board has also authorized [the Association's Attorney]. to take on the representation of individual unit owners as part of the lawsuit to be initiated on behalf of the Association. That means that your claim under the NHWA may be litigated by Association counsel if you choose to do so. The Association is paying [the Association's Attorney] as part of the overall litigation against [the Developer].
You are under no obligation to retain the Association's attorney to pursue your rights as described above.
Should you elect to retain [the Association's Attorney] to pursue your claims under the NHWA, any monies awarded and ultimately paid from the Guaranty Fund would be paid directly to you, not to the [Condo] Association.

