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Strategies for Avoiding Legal Liability in Your Condo Association

Learn how working with a management company can help your association avoid legal liability.
Amanda Causey | Mar 28, 2024 | 2 min read
legal scale and gavel on desk with clipboard

Just when it seems that they are financially secure, condominium communities can experience liability lawsuits that threaten to throw them into financial arrears. Legal liability is liability that a court or a legal statute imposes on an individual or group that is responsible for financially or physically injuring another individual or group, and can arise from acts that are intentional or unintentional. Legal liability can also result from the violation of written business contracts.

Protecting Your Community

Legal liability often arises unexpectedly, but there are measures that communities can take to protect themselves in such a situation. Six of these measures are listed below. For a more comprehensive analysis of the measures your community should implement to protect itself, consult with an attorney that represents association-governed communities, or consult with a provider of condominium association management that is qualified to offer legal advice.

Post Warning Signs as Needed

Warning signs alone may not prevent your community from being held liable for someone’s injuries, but they can help prevent injuries from happening in the first place. A provider of condominium association management call help you decide where to place warning signs.

Purchase an Umbrella Insurance Policy

A umbrella insurance policy can protect your community from paying a costly court settlement for legal liability. What is more, these policies are typically quite affordable. For example, an umbrella policy that offers $50 million of protection could cost as little as $3,000 annually.

Make the Board a Corporation

Legally turning the condominium board into a corporation can protect board members from being sued individually. Before your community decides to use this strategy, consult with a community association management company to ensure that your state permits the measure.

Fulfill Contractual Obligations

By fulfilling its contractual obligations to vendors, employees, management companies, etc., your community can avoid liability lawsuits that result from broken contracts. If you feel that the community has the right to break a business contract, consult an attorney before you do it.

Use an Attorney to Dialogue

If your community becomes the defendant in a legal liability case, having an attorney dialogue with parties associated with the case can prevent the release of information that assists the plaintiff. With millions of dollars potentially at stake, the assistance of a lawyer is indispensable.

Is Your Community Protected?

If your community does not have measures in place to protect it from liability lawsuits, now is the time to implement them. By taking the measures above, your community will have a higher level of financial security, and be prepared for unexpected liability claims. For more information about avoiding liability, contact an attorney or a condominium association management provider.

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