Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Can I sue my HOA community manager vs the HOA Directors for harassment?
Since sale of my home is in escrow, my HOA community manager who is known for unreasonably picking on different home owners, did an inspection of my home and wrote some baseless modifications that needed to be done. Driving around my neighborhood, I saw over 50 homes exactly like the model of my home. The HOA President and the Director joined me in asking the Community Manager to remove all the baseless comments that she had written on the HOA Resale Demand Letter.
After three days of refusal to do so, finally the community manager removed the meaningless changes.
The fact that the community manager created some baseless issue out of no nothing, caused so much confusion, stress and anxiety for me, my agent, the escrow company and almost caused my buyers to pull out of the deal, has made me extremely concerned. Also, my HOA President tells me that according to the community manager, the HOA Board can NOT veto her decision!!!
1 Answer from Attorneys
You can sue a HOA manager independently from the HOA, but there is little benefit to doing so, since the HOA would most likely have to defend her and/or pay any judgment. Also, it does not really sound like you have much of a case. Since it did not stop your sale, you don't have any meaningful economic damages, and emotional distress claims require what someone did to you essentially to cause you significant mental illness, not just run of the mill stress and upset, no matter how severe.