“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Leo Tolstoy, in Anna Karenina.
Honolulu Advertizer recently published on the subject of growing problems in condominium associations. They published two articles on this on the same day. Here is the first article of March 14, 2010, titled “Fighting Hawaii condo boards is costly, risky,” or click here for a PDF version. Here is the second, related article on the same subject, titled ”Fighting a condo association can be futile,” or click on this link for a PDF version.
And click on the link to read the Bluestone arbitration ruling . The ruling is quite enlightening, take a look.
By the way: (a) Note the legal fees of that owner: $318K; (b) Her attorney was (and I assume still is) Terry Revere. Terry Revere is a familiar name from other condo associations. He happens to be from the same law firm as the Ilikai’s legal counsel, Milton Motooka. (By the way, as you know, many Ilikai owners were perplexed when they found out that the previous Board chose to bring Milton Motooka back as the Ilikai’s legal counsel.) (c) Note Terry Revere’s legal advice to homeowners contemplating fighting their condo boards: “You have to be rich, crazy or damn sure you’re right,” said attorney Terry Revere. That’s the legal advice he has to offer?
Re whether same or similar problems are at the Ilikai: I think it is more along the lines of the Tolstoy’s quote cited above, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” I have been learning about other condo associations in our state. It seems like the healthy ones are similar. But the unhealthy ones often differ in terms of their problems, – unless they have the same people involved.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS?