Attorney wants to name board member in lawsuit

Q: I am an attorney in town. Have been here for 20 years. I am representing a small business that did some work for a homeowners association. The property management group authorized the work in verbal communication. There is a link of emails that confirms that approval.

The work done involved a fire hydrant and came to under $9,000. My client has been patient but has never been paid.

The property management group has changed hands but the HOA is the same. There is one single member on the HOA board. She is power hungry, seemingly mean, rude, deranged and refuses to pay despite every reasonable effort.

My client is left with no choice but to bring an action in Justice Court. We are going to file in Justice Court as I can get my fees out of the property management group and or the HOA. My question to you is this:

I know I can do whatever I want, but, can I sue the board member individually as she has acted “ultra vires,” which is outside the scope of her power as a reasonable board member? A reasonable board member doing the job properly would have instructed the property management team to issue the check and pay what is owed. It has been two years and I am tired of her crap.

I want to name her personally. I am asking if she is protected by any statutes as a board member? I have not done this in a long time but believe she is way out of line and needs to get in line and I need to get her attention.

A: You could name the board member in your complaint but I would expect the attorney assigned from the association’s insurance company would produce motions to the court to have her name be dismissed. If the association is a corporation, the board member would have protection, unless you could pierce the corporate veil, which is probably unlikely.

Once the complaint is filed and served on the association, I would assume that the board member would forward the complaint to the insurance company. The insurance company would defend the association but would reserve their rights under the policy.

Naming the board member on the complaint would be a wake-up call.