Should HOA Sue Danny Trapp?

Should The Summit's HOA sue Danny Trapp, its Board President?

Why should the HOA sue Danny Trapp?

On December 30, 2024 a lawsuit was filed in the name of The Summit Community Association, Inc. against Gus Philpott (me), a resident in The Summit. 
  • It was filed in violation of the CC&Rs (Art. XIII, §10 Litigation), which prohibit such filing without permission of 75% of the Voting Members;
  • The Voting Members never approved the lawsuit;
  • The Board of Directors never voted to approve filing it;
  • The Board of Directors never authorized Danny Trapp to file it;
And since then, the HOA has been paying invoices from Turner Padget for legal fees connected to that case. Approximately $20,-25,000 has been spent so far. That may double, if this case goes to trial in early December.

What would the HOA's law firm recommend? Not just "recommend," but advise the HOA to do?

But wait. Wouldn't the law firm have a conflict-of-interest? It is the one that filed the lawsuit!

Should the Board of Directors seek a legal opinion from a different law firm, since Turner Padget has been taking its directions from Board President Danny Trapp?

Could the Board of Directors be culpable because they have never objected to the lawsuit, even after the Covenants Committee informed them at the August 6, 2025 Board Meeting that the litigation violates the CC&Rs?

Why didn't the BOD start taking action then??? Why didn't the Board of Directors contact the HOA's law firm for clarification?

A person - any person, even an officer of a business - cannot just cause a lawsuit to be filed in the name of that business. Permission of that business is required. When that business is a non-profit corporation, the permission comes from the Board of Directors.

The correct place for that permission to be documented is in the Minutes of a Board Meeting. There is no such documentation in any set of Minutes of the Association.

That illegal action (filing the lawsuit without approval of the Board of Directors) is sufficient reason for there to be no votes for Danny Trapp to be re-elected to the Board at the November 18th election during the Annual Meeting of Voting Members. 

A number of Voting Members belong to "Team Danny". They like Danny. Will some of them vote for Danny "no matter what"?

Every Voting Member is obligated to vote for the candidates who are best for the Association, regardless of personal friendships. If they do that, Danny will come in dead last.

I'm reminded of the movie, Putney Swope. Putney Swope was on a board of directors and was disliked by every other director. No one thought Swope would get any votes; some thought he should get at least one vote. So they voted for Swope. And their "only one" vote was enough for Swope to win.

Don't let that happen on November 18th.


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