INSURANCE FIASCO
Fellow IV Unit Owners,
Recently an effort was made to replace the Association's existing insurance agency, and insurance policies, without the knowledge or vote of our Board of Directors. These secretly orchestrated actions put our Association's insurance coverage at risk. It also revealed an example of some Board officers' willingness to act independent of the entire Board of Directors. This behavior is both unethical and illegal.
The key players identified to date are President Marcio Jaspan, Treasurer John Labriola, property manager David Friedman and Association attorney Steven Katz. What part each of these individuals played in these efforts is yet to be explained. Requests for documents are in progress.
Of course the underlying question is why. Why this back door effort to circumvent our Board in order to change the Association's insurance? Who benefits?
It is common knowledge that Mr. Labriola has been working hard to get the Association to pay his personal legal bills. (Please see the July 1st CIVOC letter entitled 'John Labriola and the AMG lawsuit' at http://ivillagenews.blogspot.com/.) And the consensus is that he is afraid that our current insurance carrier will not agree to pay for the defense of his individual lawsuit with American Management Group.
The unit owners have a right to know exactly how this happened. Who are the people responsible for the decisions and actions that put our insurance coverage at risk, and undermined our Governing Documents? Which directors are involved, and to what extent did Association attorney Steven Katz and property manager David Friedman participate in this unethical and ill-fated attempt to bypass our Board? The responses to the inquiries should provide some answers.
Further, it is now public knowledge that the lawyer representing John Labriola is with the same law firm as the Association's corporate attorney. That lawyer was retained by the Association without a vote by our Board of Directors.
And we have since found out that the AMG vs. Labriola case has been presented to the Association's insurance carrier without a vote by our Board of Directors. Is the Association going to use unit owner funds pay for Mr. Labriola's lawyer without a vote by our Board?
Some unit owners have pointed out the additional risk to the Association of setting a precedent for paying the legal fees of an individual unit owner.
The core question is how all this happening without votes by our elected Board of Directors?
To add insult to injury the Board officers cancelled July's regular Board meeting so they would not have to answer to the unit owners for their unethical behavior.
Whether or not you agree with Mr. Labriola's malicious attacks against AMG, fellow Board members or anyone else who happens to disagree with him, the unit owners have no duty to pay for his personal legal bills - especially since the Board of Directors has not voted on the issue.
If you believe in full disclosure and real transparency let your directors, property manager and attorney know that you expect all parties to act ethically for the benefit of all unit owners (not just one), and adhere to our Governing Documents and Florida Statute 718.
Here is their contact info:
President Marcio Jaspan, marciojaspan@hotmail.com
Vice President Duv Wolff, guitarharm@aol.com
Treasurer John Labriola, jflabriola@hotmail.com
Secretary Wendy Hernandez, wendy_hernandez@ymail.com
Director Collette Goslin, colletteg@comcast.net
Director Frances Mesirow, fmkmbm@gmail.com
Director Marc Richman, mwr2020ou@gmail.com
property manager David Friedman, manager@intlvillage.com
attorney Steven Katz, sbk@kubickidraper.com
The Concerned International Village Owners Committee (CIVOC) is dedicated to publishing accurate, dependable information about our Association with a focus on unit owner financial issues.
Please let us know how we are doing. Please share your thoughts and feelings about our community by responding by email or at the blog site. Here is the blog link:
Respectfully,
Concerned International Village Owners Committee
Charles Addison, Zurich
Liljana Baic, Zurich
Lilo Beigel, Marseilles
Sandy Best, Interlaken
William Brackett, Bordeaux
Israel Bruch, Orleans
Elaine Campbell, Yorkshire
Joan Clemente, Cabana, Edelweiss
Marsha Curliss, Marseilles
Geoffrey Edwards, Cabanas
Joe Frederick, Heidelberg
Richard Goodheart, Bordeaux
Lily Gordon, Edelweiss
Miriam Gordon, St. Moritz
Collette Goslin, Grenoble
Harriet Handler, Edelweiss
Robert Hoffecker, Yorkshire
Raymond Jean, Orleans
Louis Kornbluth, Yorkshire
Abe Landau, Zurich
Alice Large, Yorkshire
Marty Lattanzi, Marseilles
Miriam Lehrer, Zurich
Phyllis Lloyd, Edelweiss
Betsy Mendelson, Nottingham
Frances Mesirow, Yorkshire
Marilyn Navarre, Bordeaux
Irene Pressner, Yorkshire
Marc Richman, Bordeaux
Ray Rizzo, Bordeaux
Judy Rosen, Heidelberg
Norman Sackin, Nottingham
Helene Scharfman, Yorkshire
Sid Schulman, Bordeaux
Gladys and Lisasue Sherman, Nottingham
Molly 'Jane' Sird, Marseilles
Nina Spiegel, Heidelberg
Larry Topolowski, Edelwiess, Heidelberg, Orleans
Marvin Tow, Zurich
Ilan Weiss, Interlocken, Zurich
