Lawsuits involving condo associations generally fall into a handful of recognizable categories: disaster and structural failure claims, construction defect suits, fights over insurance proceeds and special assessments, fair housing complaints, board mismanagement and fiduciary duty cases, and personal injury claims tied to common areas. A wave of aging buildings, sharply higher insurance premiums, and post-disaster regulations, especially in Florida, has pushed the volume and dollar value of these cases to levels the industry has not seen before.
What Kinds of Disputes Show Up in These Cases
Most suits fit one of a few patterns. Owners sue the association over how it handled a repair, an insurance payout, or a fee increase. The association sues a developer or contractor over defects in the building. A resident sues the board over discrimination or a denied accommodation. Someone injured on the property sues the association and its management company for failing to maintain a safe common area. And in the wake of a collapse, fire, or hurricane, class actions can pull all of these threads together at once.
The rest of this article walks through what each of those looks like in practice, using recent cases, and flags the deadlines and doctrines that most often decide who wins.
Disaster and Structural Failure Cases
The June 24, 2021, collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, killed 98 people and reshaped how courts, legislators, and insurers treat condo buildings. In May 2022, attorneys announced a tentative class-action settlement of nearly $997 million, which Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman approved the following month. The settlement resolved claims from survivors, families of victims, and property owners, drawing from insurance payouts, the sale of the building’s land, and contributions from the condo association, the city of Surfside, and various engineering and maintenance companies.1NPR. Nearly $1 Billion Settlement in Surfside Condo Collapse Lawsuit2CNN. Surfside Condo Collapse Settlement Decision A separate $96 million settlement approved in March 2022 specifically compensated owners whose homes were destroyed.
No criminal charges have been filed. The National Institute of Standards and Technology tested more than 600 pieces of evidence and transferred custody back to the Miami-Dade Homicide Bureau on November 21, 2024. NIST’s role is fact-finding; the agency is not authorized to assign fault.3Engineering News-Record. NIST Transfers Champlain Towers Collapse Evidence to Local Police
Florida’s Inspection and Reserve Rules Are Driving a New Wave of Suits
After Surfside, the Florida Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 4D in May 2022. The law requires mandatory “milestone inspections” for buildings three stories or taller, beginning when the building reaches 30 years of age, or 25 years if located within three miles of the coastline, with follow-up inspections every 10 years. Buildings with a certificate of occupancy issued on or before July 1, 1992, had to complete their initial inspection by December 31, 2024.4Florida Senate. SB 4-D Bill Text5Florida Realtors. SB 4-D HOA Condo Associations
Associations must also conduct a Structural Integrity Reserve Study at least every 10 years and cannot waive or reduce reserves for critical structural components. Failure to complete these studies is a breach of fiduciary duty by board members and officers.4Florida Senate. SB 4-D Bill Text
The financial consequences have been severe. State Senator Jason Pizzo noted that nearly 90% of Florida’s 1.6 million condos are over 30 years old. Some owners report projected fee increases of $800 or more per month on top of existing dues.6WLRN. Condo Crisis Reserves Deadline SIRS Palm Beach Special assessments in the tens of thousands of dollars per unit have led to delinquencies, foreclosures, and forced sales.7KSN Law. Florida’s Condo Crisis Community Association Board Members Coastal condominiums now allocate roughly half of their budgets to insurance premiums alone.8Deeley Insurance Group. Market Trends in Community Association Insurance About 1,400 Florida condo associations are reportedly ineligible for Fannie Mae financing because of unresolved repair or reserve funding issues, which has chilled sales and pushed down values.
The 2025 Relief Laws
In June 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis signed two bills to ease the pressure. Senate Bill 328 delays enforcement of mandatory reserve funding by one year, to January 1, 2026.9KSN Law. Florida Condo Law Brings Temporary Financial Relief HB 913 allows associations a two-year pause in reserve contributions to prioritize critical repairs identified in milestone inspections, raises the replacement cost threshold for items in the reserve study from $10,000 to $25,000, and creates phased funding options for items with remaining useful life. It also mandates competitive bidding for repair contracts, requires online posting of records and meeting minutes, and extends the buyer review window for association financial records from three days to seven. A companion measure, HB 393, updated the My Safe Florida Condo Pilot Program to lower the owner approval threshold for participation from 100% to 75% and added roof replacement as an eligible improvement.10State of Florida Governor’s Office. Governor DeSantis Signs Legislation Delivering Relief to Condo Owners
Construction Defect Suits by Associations
When owners take over a building from the developer, defect litigation frequently follows. Water intrusion, structural deficiencies, and building system failures are the most common complaints, and suits routinely name every entity involved in the project, from developers and general contractors to architects and subcontractors. Most settle before trial because of the sheer number of insurers involved and the complexity of discovery.
The dollar figures can be substantial. The association at Regalia on the Ocean in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, sued its developer, contractors, and architect in 2018 over defects including unsafe steam rooms, improperly installed pool joints, and faulty sliding glass doors. The case settled for $17.5 million: $9.6 million in cash for repairs plus an $8.5 million discount on replacement glass doors.11Burns & Wilcox. Construction Defects Lawsuit Leads to $17.5 Million Settlement for Condo Association At the Waiea luxury tower in Honolulu’s Ward Village, the board sued contractor Nordic PCL Construction over window wall assemblies that produced sounds described as sonic booms, swimming pool corrosion, premature exterior weathering, and cracks in the parking garage. Developer Howard Hughes Corporation had filed its own $75 million claim against the contractor,12Hawaii News Now. Owners of One of Hawaii’s Most Exclusive Condos Sue Over Construction Defects and the developer ultimately agreed to pay $116.5 million to the association.
One California insurance broker estimated that 80 to 85% of all condo projects there eventually face defect litigation, driven in part by attorneys who solicit business from association boards as the ten-year statute of repose approaches. Developers pay three to four times more for insurance coverage on condos than on rental apartments as a result.13Terner Center for Housing Innovation, UC Berkeley. The Financial Impacts of Construction Defect Liability on Housing Development in California
Fights Over Insurance Proceeds and Post-Disaster Fees
After a hurricane or fire, owners often end up suing their own association over how the money and the monthly bills are handled. In Louisiana, owners at Metairie Towers in Jefferson Parish sued the condo association, its board, property manager GNO Property Management, and a public adjuster after Hurricane Ida struck on August 29, 2021, alleging mismanagement of tens of millions of dollars in insurance proceeds. Among the allegations: $400,000 in insurance indemnity funds were erroneously sent to a “cyber pirate.” Estimated repair costs reached $39 million for hurricane damage and $14 million for a subsequent water event, and the board reported that the roughly $13 million remaining after initial remediation was not enough to restore individual units. In June 2025, a Louisiana appellate court affirmed class certification, and the case reached an $8.85 million settlement.14FindLaw. AVMI LLC v. Metairie Towers Condominium Association15ClaimDepot. Metairie Towers Settlement
A similar conflict is unfolding in Southfield, Michigan. A November 2024 fire at Le Chateau Condominium destroyed an entire building, killed a 73-year-old resident, and displaced multiple families. Owners are protesting the association’s continued collection of monthly fees, with one resident reporting payments of $849 per month for a unit that no longer exists. The board has threatened foreclosure against owners who stop paying, and at least one owner has retained an attorney after the board rejected requests to abate fees until units are rebuilt.16ClickOnDetroit. Southfield Condo Owners Want Transparency From HOA After Deadly Fire
Fair Housing Claims Against Boards
Under the Fair Housing Act, associations can face liability either for direct discriminatory conduct by board members or for failing to intervene when residents create a hostile environment. Courts distinguish sharply between the two.
In Watters v. Homeowners’ Association at Preserve at Bridgewater (7th Cir. 2022), an African American couple alleged race discrimination and a failure to accommodate a disability. The Seventh Circuit allowed race claims to proceed against individual board members for personal conduct but shielded the association itself, finding no evidence the members had acted on its behalf during the alleged harassment. The reasonable accommodation claim failed because the plaintiffs did not establish the association was aware of the disability.17IL HOA Law. Seventh Circuit Holds Community Association Not Liable for Discriminatory Remarks by Board President
A related Indiana case, Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana v. New (S.D. Ind. 2023), produced a different result. A court ordered a resident who had made repeated discriminatory remarks to pay $100,000 in punitive damages and $50,000 in compensatory damages. The Twin Creeks Homeowners Association, which had issued cease-and-desist letters but declined to take legal action against the offender, settled separately for $262,500.17IL HOA Law. Seventh Circuit Holds Community Association Not Liable for Discriminatory Remarks by Board President
The Justice Department has also pursued enforcement. In United States v. Philadelphian Owners Association, DOJ alleged that the 776-unit Philadelphia complex denied a resident with a disability a reasonable accommodation for an emotional support animal. An October 2012 consent order required the association to pay $15,000 to the complainant, establish a $15,000 fund for other affected residents, and pay a $10,000 civil penalty.18U.S. Department of Justice. United States v. Philadelphian Owners Association
Board Authority, Fiduciary Duty, and Assessment Disputes
A recurring theme in owner-versus-board litigation is the gap between what boards think they can do and what the governing documents allow. Courts have consistently held that when bylaws conflict with the declaration of condominium, the declaration controls.
In Davis v. Lakewood Property Owners Association (Mo. App. W.D. 2017), homeowners challenged how the board calculated annual assessment increases. The board used a formula in the 1973 bylaws to apply cumulative Consumer Price Index adjustments going back more than 40 years, while the 1973 declaration only permitted increases based on the prior year’s CPI change. A trial court initially sided with the board under the business judgment rule, but the Missouri Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the board’s calculations exceeded its authority and were not protected by the business judgment doctrine. The Missouri Supreme Court declined further review.19Carmody MacDonald P.C. Court of Appeals to Board: Follow Your Governing Documents
California courts have set similar limits. In Palm Springs Villas II HOA v. Parth (2016), a California appeals court held that the business judgment rule does not automatically shield directors who fail to exercise reasonable diligence or act beyond their authority. And in Raven’s Cove Townhomes v. Knuppe Development (1981), the court found that a board’s failure to adequately fund a reserve account was itself a breach of fiduciary duty.
Special assessments draw their own challenges, particularly when the purpose looks retaliatory. In Whitney Woods Homeowners’ Association v. Steagall (Ohio 10th Dist. 2025), the association imposed a $500-per-lot special assessment to cover attorney fees incurred responding to a HUD racial discrimination complaint filed by the Steagalls. The trial court let the $500 assessment stand but ruled the association could not charge the Steagalls for other costs tied to the HUD claim, since those arose from discrimination allegations rather than enforcement of the declaration. The court also struck down $125-per-week fines because the Steagalls were never given a proper opportunity to be heard. The Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals affirmed.20Supreme Court of Ohio. Whitney Woods Homeowners’ Assn. v. Steagall
Insurance and Lending Pressure Behind the Litigation
Insurance costs are both a cause and a consequence of this litigation. A 2025 survey by the Foundation for Community Association Research found that 91% of associations experienced premium increases, with 17% reporting hikes exceeding 100%. Twenty percent lost access to one or more insurance carriers entirely.21Community Associations Institute Advocacy. Navigating Insurance Pressures in Today’s Condo Market Umbrella and excess liability policies have seen increases of 10 to 70% in a single year, driven by what the industry calls “social inflation”: larger jury awards, more aggressive litigation funding, and shifting juror attitudes.8Deeley Insurance Group. Market Trends in Community Association Insurance
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s 2022 updates to condo lending requirements have added another layer of pressure. A Community Associations Institute survey found that 72% of associations reported being affected by the updated guidelines, and 22 to 28% experienced lender denials attributable to questionnaire issues rather than actual building safety concerns. CAI has urged the Federal Housing Finance Agency to make the lists of ineligible projects public, narrow eligibility requirements using evidence-based criteria, and subject any permanent guidelines to public comment.22Community Associations Institute Advocacy. Condominium Housing Leaders Urge Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to Modify New Lending Requirements
Slip-and-Fall and Other Personal Injury Claims
Personal injury suits against condo associations most often involve slip-and-fall accidents in lobbies, parking garages, stairways, and pool decks. Associations and their property managers have a duty to keep shared spaces reasonably safe and to address known hazards. One Florida case involving a homeowner who slipped on accumulated water in a condo parking garage settled for $165,000.23Hallandale Law. Condominium HOA Slip Trip Fall
Courts sometimes narrow liability, particularly when the injured person already knew about the hazard. In a Georgia case, a tenant sued a condo association and property management company after falling on poorly lit stairs, invoking the “necessity rule” despite having previously complained about the lighting. An appellate court ruled that the necessity rule only applies in landlord-tenant relationships and dismissed the claim, because the tenant could not establish that relationship with the condo board or its management company.
In Florida, injured parties have two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury claim against a condo association. Under the state’s comparative fault rules, a plaintiff can recover damages as long as they bear less than 50% of the responsibility, with any award reduced proportionally.23Hallandale Law. Condominium HOA Slip Trip Fall