ZNC Wins Appeal on Behalf of Condominium Association

ZNC has prevailed in the Connecticut Appellate Court against a unit owner seeking to overturn a trial court’s favorable judgment in favor of our client, a condominium association. The case is Oronoque Shores Condominium Ass'n No. 1, Inc. v. Smulley, 114 Conn. App. 233, cert denied, ___ Conn. ___ (2009). In the case below, the trial court entered a foreclosure judgment in favor of the association based upon the unit owner's failure to pay monthly common charges and supplementary assessments related to snow plowing expenses, as well as litigation expenses incurred by the association in defense of a zoning application by an adjacent landowner. The trial court, ruling in favor of our client, the condominium association, found that both assessments were valid despite the fact that the association, at least initially, incorrectly apportioned the total assessment amounts to each unit owner equally, instead of on the basis of each unit owner's proportional percentage of interest in the common elements pursuant to its bylaws. The trial court also found that while the notice of the meeting in which the litigation assessment was voted on was deficient in some respects, due process was satisfied through the particularity of the notice, the unit owner's attendance at the meeting, and the unanimous voice vote approving the assessment.

The unit owner appealed this ruling claiming that (1) due to defects involving the assessments, they were not valid, and (2) the attorneys’ fees should not have been awarded to the association because it was not the prevailing party. The Connecticut Appellate Court upheld the trial court's judgment and ruled in favor of our client, the condominium association. Specifically, the court found that the calculations of the apportionments to each owner for both assessments were merely ministerial, notice of the litigation assessment satisfied due process because the technical deficiency in notice did not invalidate the assessment, and finally, that the attorneys’ fees were appropriately awarded to the association as the prevailing party because the assessments were valid. The unit owner sought further review of the case by filing a petition for certification to the Connecticut Supreme Court. The Connecticut Supreme Court denied the petition, thereby affirming the decision in favor of our client, the association.