Board Asked to Drop Lawsuit. Criminal Charges Possible

At last night's HOA Board meeting (8/5/2025), the Board was asked to drop the lawsuit against Gus Philpott (me).

A member of the Covenants Committee made the request to the Board. The reason given was that the lawsuit is not permitted by the CC&Rs.

This has been my position from the beginning. 

Somebody in the room said the board had approved the lawsuit. I don't yet have the name of that person. That person was not telling the truth. The Board of Directors never approved the lawsuit. There is nothing in the Minutes of Board Meetings that mentions the lawsuit or any vote.

In fact, they can't approve it, because the Voting Members had never approved it.  See the CC&Rs (Art. XIII, §10 Litigation).

No one on the board had the backbone to make a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Then a Second would have been needed. After discussion, there would have been a vote.

Want to bet on the outcome of the vote? My guess is 5-2. The five would be Trapp, Holmes, Pollin, Hill, Weatherbee; the two would have been Bryant and Potter.

A "recorded" vote (each board member's Yea or Nay vote,  by name) would have been the icing on the cake; e.g, proof of their allegiance. 

Is a financial crime being committed? The HOA is disbursing funds to the lawyers for legal fees in connection with a lawsuit that was never approved by the Board. The Richland County Sheriff's Department and the South Carolina Attorney General have been asked to investigate. 

Could this result in criminal charges against some or all of the board members? 

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