Suit: Association, Management Conspired To Mainipulate Bylaws To Hijack Control Of Resort Condominium Through Acquisition Of Only Four Of 226 Units

In Elkhorn, Wisconsin, the Janesville Gazette reports:

• Forty-five Lake Lawn Lodge condominium owners have sued the resort and its condo association for more than $5 million over rent payments, a unit management agreement and other financial matters.
  
  The suit, filed Sept. 26 in Walworth County, has been assigned to Judge James Carlson. The summons requires the defendants to respond with a written answer to the complaint within 45 days.
  
  The 40-page complaint alleges that Lake Lawn and Lodges at Lake Lawn Resort Condominium Association manipulated agreements with the owners following the resort’s Aug. 5, 2009, foreclosure. The 45-condo owners allege that the defendants illegally obtained a majority of the governing board through four commercial units and assumed control of 70 percent of rental revenue when a customary percentage for management was 40 percent.
  
  A spokesman for the resort said any reaction to the suit must come from General Manager David Sekeres, who is listed as a defendant in the suit. Sekeres did not return calls for comment.
  
  The plaintiffs allege in the complaint that the resort and condo association conspired to create a post-foreclosure set of bylaws that gave the defendants “control over the association as an organization by its ownership of only four of the 226 units.” The original bylaws assigned four seats on the association board to condo owners and three to the resort.
  
  The condo owners allege that during the sheriff’s sale following the foreclosure, the defendants failed to purchase the four commercial units for a “nominal sum.” That failure, the owners said, significantly reduced the value of their units and prevented them from controlling “their own association.”

For the story, see Condo owners sue management.