Dear Visitor
The link below will bring you to a folder containing the papers which have already been filed in the case of Kriebel v. Associa, Green Hill, et al. This class action landing page, including a video to explain the case in more detail, is in the production phase. This page can only be reached by those who have the link. The papers that have been filed in court are public documents. Anyone can visit the courthouse to look at the case folder which has these documents, or pay the court a copy fee to receive a copy.
A Complaint was filed on November 5, 2017. The sheriff made service on Associa on November 9, 2017. Green Hill has refused to accept service.
In the meantime, on November 30, 2017, Associa filed” Preliminary Objections,” for which a reply was be filed on December 20, 2017. The basis of the “Preliminary Objections” was that the Complaint made reference to the brief, and the brief was not part of the evidence in the case. Unfortunately, it is common in the typical case for the defendant to file “Preliminary Objections” and it has gotten to the point where some Plaintiff’s purposely place items in the Complaint that will give rise to “Preliminary Objections” to make it easier to reply to the inevitable filing. One may either argue the “Preliminary Objections” or amend the Complaint. In this case, it was easier to amend the Complaint to leave out reference to the brief. Also, the amended Complaint added an additional cause of action, because the board did not notify the unit owners of the suit, in violation of the bylaws.
What is the difference between “evidence” (which are attached to a Complaint as an exhibit) and a Brief (also known as a memorandum of law)? You see, a court is PRESUMED to know all of the laws that govern a case. The court takes “judicial notice” of the law. However, in reality, since there are so many laws on the books, and since no judge really knows all of the law, each party files a brief/memorandum in which they remind the judge what law applies. The judge reads each party’s brief and decides which law best applies, and uses that precedent. A lawyer can be disciplined for failing to reveal law that may be adverse to his or her case, so the lawyer’s remedy is to reveal the law, but explain how his or her case is different. If you read the briefs in the attached papers that have been filed with the case, you will understand how a brief operates. There is a standard form for briefs, and applying that structure may make it easier for a judge to read the document.
The Plaintiff filed a “Motion to Disqualify Counsel for Associa” on December 18, 2017 and a reply is due on January 7th, 2018. The foundation for that motion is that Green Hill’s attorney improperly stepped in as counsel for Associa too. He should be helping Green Hill to sue Associa rather than stepping in to defend Associa. The motion argues that he has a conflict of interest by representing both defendants, since one defendant may testify against the other. How did this happen? Please read the motion and memorandum of law.
Although a video is planned, please read the documents for an understanding of the issues involved. We are NOT suing ourselves, we are primarily suing Associa with the goal of obtaining a refund for each unit owner of between $1,000. – $3,000. The Green Hill board may be liable for the reasons explained in the Complaint (and there are certainly plenty of reasons to hold them liable) but Associa should be primarily liable The gist of the argument is that the board is incompetent, but because they recognized they are incompetent, they hired Associa. This is like if you are appointed as Executor of a Will and you don’t know what to do, you hire a law firm to help with probate. Green Hill may try to argue they are not incompetent, or they may argue they are incompetent and Associa is liable. Time will tell.
The papers are in chronological order. The first two numbers are the year, the second two numbers are the month, and the third two numbers are the day. December 18, 2017, looks like “171218_” There are some exhibits that are out of order and they can be ignored for now because they are duplicates of other papers.
Next steps? More motions are typically filed. Then discovery takes place and there are often motions related to discovery. In “discovery” each side gets to ask the other side for copies of documents or for testimony relevant to the case. Some lawyers will say that cases are won or lost in discovery because if you do not get the evidence you need in the discovery phase, you are not going to get it on the day of the trial either. So, in some cases the parties collect information via discovery and file a “Motion for Summary Judgment” and the judge decides the case. In other cases, there are still open questions or missing evidence about the case and they are decided by a judge or a jury. A case can be settled at any point, and any party can ask for a settlement conference with the judge with a goal to settle the case.