HOA community gate damages homeowner’s car

Q: I always look forward to your important discussions of questions from homeowners association members.

I have lived in (a group of ) town homes (with) 117 units in Henderson. (It) has a gate with a sign reading: “Association not responsible for damage by gate to vehicle.”

I have been exiting that gate since moving here in 2011 with no problem until now. Occasionally, and more often now with so much increased traffic in Henderson on Pecos Road near Interstate 215, we must wait for quite a bit of traffic to pass on Pecos before leaving the short exit path from the gate to the road. Often we wait for the car in front of us to turn right while the gate remains open thanks to a sensor, until an afternoon in early November.

As I was moving after the car in front of me turned onto Pecos the gate slammed my driver door and rocked the car. The bump and movement of my car shocked me because this has never happened before.

I took a photo of the long gash on the door and emailed it to the association, which responded that it had been forwarded it to a maintenance man. He would not respond. I reported this to my local Farmers insurance agent, who left many messages regarding this but only after a week or more was answered where the maintenance man told the agent: “I’m going to do nothing. The gate is on a timer.”

The estimates from two body shops are nearly the same, $760.

I fail to see where the sign on the gate gets them off the hook for a defective sensor causing the accident. There is no sign advising to wait until the gate closes before exiting and then waiting for the car (in front of you) to turn right before activating the exit gate. For the past nine years the gate had always remained open until the last car has cleared the exit road.

I often ride my motorcycle. If the gate had slammed me I would have a different story to tell, and that would have been to an accident lawyer.

What do you think?

A: Generally speaking, the vehicular security gates are set for one vehicle at a time for security reasons. The whole purpose of having security gates is to control who enters into the community. You do bring up a valid point that appropriate sign(s) should warn residents and guests that they should not “tail gate,” i.e. following another homeowner into the community before allowing the security gate to reset itself. You should review your rules and regulations pertaining to the security gate and its usage.

You have the option of submitting a claim for damages to the association’s insurance company. It would be a decision by the insurance company to reimburse or not reimburse the homeowner for the damages.

If the association reports back to the insurance company that there was no indication of a failure in the system, you would probably see a denial of the claim. Depending upon your deductible, your Farmers insurance policy should remit the difference toward the $ 760. Farmers could subrogate back against the association’s insurance company if they choose.

Q: I found your email address in an R-J article and wanted to reach out to you about this because something isn’t adding up for me, and I’ve been unable to find an answer! I hope you’re able to answer this question for me:

I’m on my association’s three-member board, and I’m struggling to get certain items placed on a meeting agenda. The president and management both claim the president has the final say on what items are placed on the agenda for a meeting.

So, what’s been happening is the other board member and I wish for certain items to be on an agenda for an upcoming board meeting, but because the president doesn’t want those things to pass, she doesn’t place them on the agenda.

I have been unable to find anything in Nevada Revised Statute 116 or in our bylaws/covenants, conditions and restrictions that discuss creation of the agenda, and nobody has been able to tell me anything, except management who says “Well, she is the president.”

It seems wrong to me that a single board member would have that much authority over a meeting. Essentially, anything the president doesn’t want to happen, he/ she can prevent it from happening simply by not placing it on any agenda, and it would never happen, since the board can only take action on agenda items.

How would you recommend I proceed? Are they right, or is there something in the law that I could use to back me up, and say that X,Y, Z must be placed on a meeting agenda?

A: According to Robert’s Rules, unless your governing documents rule to the contrary, the agenda is the board’s agenda, meaning that the majority of the board of directors has the right to add items to the agenda and to approve the agenda. It is not the sole prerogative of the president as to what is and what is not on the agenda.