HOA’s and Association Attorney’s in Florida are watching closely the outcome of the Appellate Case Pudlit vs. Westwood Gardens HOA, Case No.: 4D14-1385.  The 4^th DCA on May 27, 2015 provided an opinion that basically blew homeowner’s associations out of the water.  In this case the 4^th DCA opined that the governing documents of an association that has an extinguishment clause in it regardless of when the mortgage was originated trumped the Florida Statutes.  What this means is that the Association is not entitled to ANY assessments or other charges that came due prior to the transfer of title due to mortgage foreclosure.  The Florida Statute that governs Homeowner Associations was not enacted until July of 2007.  That version of the Statute did not include the “safe harbor” provision until the revision which was enacted July of 2008.  Prior to this case, Associations were easily awarded recovery of assessments per the Statute so long as the mortgage was recorded after the enactment of the HOA Statute.  The discussion of arguing recovery for assessments when a mortgage was recorded pre July 2007 is something to be addressed for another day.  If you have one of those types of cases, be sure to contact an attorney that is familiar with these types of arguments.  Let’s just say there is some bad law currently in place but there are still arguments that can be made.  In the Motion for Re-hearing that has been filed by Westwood Gardens, they clearly identify the case law that the Court should be following and respectfully have requested the 4^th take another look at the case.  As we all watch this case closely we can only hope that the 4^th DCA will reverse their decision.  Most HOA’s do not have the money nor have willing members that will vote in order to amend the governing documents which would eliminate the headache this case and others have caused.  We will keep you posted……