2005 Aug
2005 Aug Vol. 25, No. 8
Focus on...Insurance
Homeowners vs. Association Insurance
Living in a co-op or condo means shedding many of the worries that come with renting or owning a single-family home. There are no worries over mowing the lawn or fixing that crack in the driveway. The doorman looks after your packages and the maintenance man is just a phone call away. Read More
The Importance of D&O Coverage
In 1997, a racially mixed couple wanted to sublet a co-op apartment at the Beekman Hill House Apartments in New York City. Nicholas A. Biondi, then-president of the Beekman Association's board of directors, refused to approve the couple's application. The couple sued the association for illegal discrimination and the judge found Biondi liable and ordered him to pay the couple $230,000 in compensatory damages and $125,000 in punitive damages. The other board members were also ordered to pay $25,000 in punitive damages. Read More
Specialty Insurance
A condo or co-op development is a community, but it's also a business. And like anyone else who runs a business, an association or board needs to protect itself with the right insurance. If someone slips in the community room and gets injured, he or she is as likely to seek a settlement, just as they would if they fell down in a supermarket. And just like individual homeowners, some associations do a better job of insuring themselves against those claims than others. Insurance is a tricky issue that can confuse even the most seasoned, conscientious board—even more so when the many types of specialty coverage are added to the more familiar concepts of umbrella and liability policies. Read More
Protecting Your Valuable Amenities
Most homeowners love the idea of having a swimming pool, athletic court or health club as part of their association's grounds because it adds value to their property and it gives them something fun to do throughout the year. But HOAs that offer these types of facilities may need to have supplemental or additional insurance to cover the potential hazards that come with deluxe amenities. Read More
Insurance Upgrades
Life, wrote the British playwright Tom Stoppard, is a gamble at terrible odds—if it was a bet, you wouldn't take it. And thus was born the insurance business, an entire industry devoted to placing carefully calculated wagers on the risks involved in doing virtually everything. Most people are familiar with the process of shopping for health or auto insurance. But even long-time condo and townhome owners and board members may be unaware of the ins and outs of choosing an insurance carrier for their homeowner's association. And that can be dangerous. Read More
Adhering to the Playground Code
When the weather is warm and the days are long, nothing says Summer like the sounds of neighborhood kids at play. There's safety to consider along with all the fun, however. While all fifty states have statutes on the books spelling out the particulars of safe playground equipment construction and maintenance, the national Playground Code is the governing document that contains the universal guidelines by which any playground facility—public or private—must abide by. Read More
Avoiding Mold Litigation
While panic and alarm are not warranted, the time is now for real estate owners, developers, lenders and borrowers to begin to pay attention to toxic mold and their potential liability for property damage or personal injury. Though the nationwide mold discussion chronicles back to 1995, when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) linked a cluster of child-deaths in Cleveland to black mold, new momentum is pushing toxic mold issues to the forefront. Verdicts have fallen on the shoulders of insurance companies and property owners alike, leaving them to bear costs associated with the multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. Read More
