‘Hard-drive failure’ no excuse for homeowner board to withhold documents in suit

Question: Our homeowner association board was sued because members were holding meetings among themselves and not allowing owners to attend, among other reasons. In the middle of litigation, within a matter of days of one another, each board member announced that he or she had hard-drive failure and could not produce certain e-mails and other association documents. As an owner I am livid at their antics in skirting the law, but what can we do about it? Will owners have to pay the price for these board directors’ wrongful actions?

Answer: Homeowner association board directors have a fiduciary duty to preserve all the association’s documents and to act in good faith. Preserving all association-related documents is a non-delegable duty, and all such documents are deemed potential evidence, with their willful destruction punishable by law.

Destroying association documents and property could result in a court’s refusing to accept any board defenses raised based on those documents. Destruction of items pertinent to a lawsuit might even lead to claims of conspiracy to defraud, strong charges with possibly dire consequences for those directors who participated in that practice.

The board directors not only broke the law during their tenure in office, but they are also now trying to hide what they did from those who have a legal right to know. Your discovery requests should include turning over the failed hard drives, as there are means of recovering data even if they have been erased.

Titleholders have every right to demand copies of the minutes of all board meetings, and the association is obligated to produce all of them. Any unreasonable withholding of those documents would be punishable in a court of law, as would the intentional destruction of such documents.

It is in the best interests of the homeowners to have at least one person and perhaps several attend all the court hearings associated with your case. In many counties in California, the courts have their calendars online. Simply looking up the case using its number will allow you to view the case agenda, the hearing schedule and the subject matter for that upcoming hearing. Attending those hearings is in your individual best interests, as is electing a new and more trustworthy board.

Send questions to Box 10490, Marina del Rey, CA 90295, or e-mail noexit@mindspring.com.