Page 15 - CooperatorNews New Jersey Summer 2021
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For several decades we have provided a full array of legal  
services to community associations (i.e. condominiums,  
cooperatives, and homeowners associations) in New  
Jersey. We provide high-quality representation for both  
large (1,000+ units) and small (three-units) associations,  
including high-rise,  mid-rise,  garden apartment, town  
home, and single-family home communities. Our  
extensive experience and comprehensive  knowledge  in  
this fi eld makes us a trusted advisor that has long-term  
relationships with our clients. 
Positive Outcomes Since 1913 
This bill, supported by CAI New Jersey’s  
Legislative Action Committee, arose from  
the  actions—not  all  of  them  popular—that  
boards and property managers had to take  
to mitigate the spread of coronavirus on their  
properties and through their communities.  
Closure of amenities,  mandatory masking  
and social-distancing rules, suspension of  
community  activities,  and  strict  policies  re- 
lated to elevator capacity, outside guests, and  
renovations were some of the measures insti- 
tuted to slow or stop the viral spread in hous- 
ing communities. But these actions were met  
with resistance from residents in some cases,  
and even the threat of litigation. Equally con- 
cerned about being sued if they did  
not 
 enact  
such measures and a resident became infected  
on the property, boards and managers found  
themselves in very tricky legal waters. 
So far, as  
CooperatorNews  
has previously  
reported, insurers are not covering for claims  
related to COVID, so even with Directors &  
Officers (D&O) insurance, boards and board  
members can be held financially responsible  
in  the  event that  a resident, visitor,  or  staff  
member succeeds on an action against them  
claiming  negligence  or  breach  of  fiduciary  
duty. They would be responsible for their  
own legal defense as well. “There are always  
liability concerns,” says Scott Piekarsky, an  
attorney with Phillips Nizer, a law firm with  
offices in Manhattan and New Jersey. “People  
may get injured due to the pandemic through  
infection. … A condominium association is  
a business, and boards have a fiduciary duty  
to protect the members. We are hearing now  
that if someone gets COVID and sues the  
association, insurance will not defend or in- 
demnify. No defense and no payout, until this  
is adjudicated.” 
Passage of the COVID Immunity Bill  
(A4979/S3584) would alleviate these con- 
cerns, and perhaps encourage boards to re- 
open amenities sooner, advocates argue. 
Florida condo and HOA leaders might  
have less to worry about in this regard now,  
says Donna DiMaggio Berger, Board Certi- 
fied Specialist in condominium and planned  
development law and shareholder at Becker’s  
Fort Lauderdale office. According to her, SB72,  
which Governor Ron DeSantis signed into  
law on March 29, “[Provides] civil immunity  
to  business  entities,  not-for-profit corpora- 
tions, hospitals, nursing homes, government  
entities, schools, and churches for COVID-19  
related claims as long as the alleged negligence  
doesn’t involve gross negligence or intentional  
misconduct.” 
Florida condominiums, cooperatives, and  
homeowners’ associations are classified as  
business entities that this bill protects. “How- 
ever,” continues Berger, “the new law is not a  
protective blanket under which all associa- 
tions can take shelter regardless of how they  
handled this crisis. … The association boards  
who took steps (and continue to take steps)  
to comply with local, state, and federal guide- 
lines should be able to rely upon this new law  
for protection.” 
Berger stresses that the law does not pro- 
vide or imply license for community lead- 
ers to completely abandon health and safety  
protocols in attempts to get back to “normal,”  
especially as the majority of Floridians remain  
unvaccinated and viral variants continue to  
spread. “It is not only reasonable, but prudent  
for boards to continue to exercise due caution  
when operating and opening common ame- 
nities and enforcing COVID-19 safety proto- 
cols,” she concludes. 
Virtual Governance 
In New York, a change to the Business  
Corporation Law (BCL) went into effect just  
before coronavirus was declared a global pan- 
demic. “This [change] amended section 602  
of the BCL to allow for annual shareholder  
meetings in business corporations to be held  
virtually,” explains Margery Weinstein, an at- 
torney at law firm Ganfer Shore in Manhat- 
tan. Subsequently, in response to COVID, she  
continues, “executive orders further amended  
that you actually didn’t need to have a loca- 
tion specified for a meeting. So the question  
is: Is the legislature going to codify the execu- 
tive orders going forward to dispense with  
the need to have an actual location [in the an- 
nouncement of a meeting and] some form of  
in-person meeting?”  
COVID-RELATED... 
continued from page 1 
“There are always  
liability concerns.  
… A condominium  
association is a  
business, and boards  
have a fiduciary  
duty to protect the  
members.” 
     —Scott Piekarsky 
In  Massachusetts,  the state legislature  is  
considering such a bill. House Bill 1416, “An  
act relative to electronic meetings and voting  
in condominiums,” addresses the need that  
boards and owners of condominium units  
have had over the past year-plus to conduct  
community business electronically and/or  
virtually. Matthew Gaines of Braintree, Mas- 
sachusetts-based law firm Marcus, Errico,  
Emmer, and Brooks, P.C. indicates that most  
governing documents of housing associations  
were drafted decades ago and refer only to in- 
person meetings of boards and unit owners.  
“There’s some question about all these  
Zoom meetings that boards and unit owners  
have been having for the last year,” says Gaines.  
“Are they really valid? So because of that, [the  
New England chapter of the Community As- 
sociations Institute (CAI)] proposed this leg- 
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