Insurance and Liability
If the personal injuries were caused by a property condition and not by the actions of a person, and if the association is incorporated, an individual owner should not be responsible for personal injuries that occur in another owner’s home or in the common area. If the association is unincorporated, an individual owner can be held responsible only if the association is responsible and unable to satisfy the claim, and then only if the association does not carry liability insurance meeting the statutory minimums.
The law provides that a volunteer director or officer cannot be held liable for damages resulting from his/her service to the association if he/she performs his/her duties (i) in good faith, (ii) in a manner which he/she believes to be in the best interests of the association, and (iii) with such care, including reasonable inquiry, as an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances. At the risk of oversimplifying this standard, the idea is to protect honest directors and officers from liability for mistakes unless their actions are self-interested or unreasonable. Directors are entitled to rely on information and opinions provided by the association’s officers, committees, and hired experts.
To provide additional liability protection to directors and officers, most governing documents state that the association will indemnify them absent gross negligence, intentional misconduct, or fraud. Indemnity means that the association will pay the damages that are awarded against the directors or officers. Most governing documents require the association to carry director and officer (“D&O”) liability insurance for these costs, and such insurance is always a good idea.
The governing documents contain detailed liability insurance requirements. These typically mandate liability insurance for the association and its directors and officers. The owners are responsible for insuring against their own liability.
The law does not explicitly state that the reserve study must be performed by a qualified expert but does require that it be reasonably competent and diligent. In practice, the competency requirement probably cannot be satisfied without one or more outside experts, and the board will be exposing its members, and the HOA itself, to a risk of liability to owners and/or mortgage lenders if it does not use an outside expert to perform the reserve study.