Carlesimo may know the public records laws, but lawsuit indicates that he isn't inclined to obey them
As a candidate for city council, Emilio Carlesimo has a lot to say about the Florida's Sunshine Law and public records laws. Carlesimo has repeatedly stated that he knows all of the laws as he is bound under the same laws in his position as the current vice-president of a large condominium association's elected Board of Directors. On the city council campaign trail, he has promised that he would never allow himself to get into any such legal trouble with public records.

According to a recent lawsuit filed against Carlesimo and the rest of MacArthur Beach and Racquet Club's condo board by condo unit owner Charlotte McGowan, he's already broken that campaign promise. While Carlesimo claims that he knows Florida's public records and condo records laws, the lawsuit indicates that he doesn't feel inclined to obey them.

McGowan, 73, is a single woman who works full time as a medical technologist. She owns and lives in a condo in the MacArthur Beach complex.

The lawsuit accuses the five-member board of "Fraud on the Court" by providing false evidence to a condominium dispute arbitrator. Additionally, the lawsuit states that the condo board refused to provide McGowan with requested association documents.

Florida's condo records laws are equivalent to Florida's public records laws. In the latter, anyone is entitled to copies of any and all public records upon request. In the condo version of the law, condo unit owners are allowed the same rights as though the condominium association is a government, and this includes the right to review and receive copies of association documents.

McGowan, represented by Englewood attorney Kerry Mack, asserts that when she requested various copies of minutes of condo board meetings in an attempt to fight legal actions that the board was taking against her, she was refused. McGowan states that she was told by condo management that she could review the records at the condo's offices but that she was not allowed to have any copies. She further claims that the condo association hid key documents from her that would have aided her in her defense in the legal actions that the condo board were taking against her.

Interviewed on Saturday, McGowan stated that she repeatedly asked board members, including Carlesimo, to provide her with condo board meeting minutes and other association documents, but was refused each time after being told that she was free to read them but that she couldn't have any copies. McGowan singled out Carlesimo as the worst offender: "He was the meanest of the bunch, he absolutely refused to listen to my requests."

That's a big, big no-no. Florida Statute 718.111 (15c) reads, in part, as follows: "The official records of the association are open to inspection by any association member or the authorized representative of such member at all reasonable times. The right to inspect the records includes the right to make or obtain copies at [a] reasonable expense, if any, of the association member."

The court papers indicate that Carlesimo appears to be the lead board member who was involved in pursuing prior legal actions against McGowan. Those prior actions form the basis of McGowan's lawsuit against the condo association. Carlesimo is not named as a specific defendant. The five-member board, which Carlesimo serves on as vice president, represents the corporation itself and is the actual named defendant.

The nightmare begins
McGowan asserts that the condo association wanted to rip out her walls in order to replace pipes to accommodate a neighbor upstairs from her. The neighbor wanted to install a clothes washer and dryer, appliances that the unit wasn't originally designed to accommodate.

According to the lawsuit, Carlesimo's board wanted keys to McGowan's unit to install PVC pipes for the new appliances, but the reason given to McGowan for the plumbing work was routine maintenance and mold prevention.

That's when things started going horribly wrong for McGowan. She suspected that she wasn't being told the truth. She refused to turn over copies of keys to her unit.

In response to McGowan's refusal to turn over her keys, Carlesimo and the board voted to take legal action against McGowan in order to obtain a key and to install the PVC pipes. An arbitrator was brought in to hear the case. McGowan then requested condo records of board meetings in order to prepare her defense, but Carlesimo's condo board and the condo management team refused McGowan's request for copies of board meeting minutes.

According to the complaint filed by McGowan's attorney, the condo association's manager threatened to "...enter her unit at any time for any reason whether she was home or not and whether she allowed his entry or not; and he would break down the door if she refused to provide a key" (page 14 of PDF file).

McGowan lost in arbitration. The lawsuit claims the loss was a direct result of McGowan's inability to mount a proper defense, and that was due to the fact that she was unable to use the requested documents as evidence exhibits.

McGowan stated that she felt terrorized by the board and by management and that she was genuinely afraid of giving a key to her unit to board members or to the condo's manager.

The nightmare continues
After losing in arbitration, McGowan filed suit through attorney Kerry Mack. Mack's complaint, filed in July of this year, states that not only did the condo association violate her client's rights by refusing to comply with Florida's condominium records laws, but that by refusing to provide records to aid in her defense, the condo board was able to present false evidence against McGowan, hence Mack's allegation of "Fraud on the Court" as filed against the board.

Mack argues that there is no provision in the condo association's docs or in their rules that would require her client to hand over a key to her unit (page 14 of PDF file). Mack further argues that there is no state statute that makes such a requirement.

As to Carlesimo's personal involvement, attorney's bills included in the court filing indicate that Carlesimo met with attorney Robert Moore to help prep Moore for the arbitration case (page 29 of PDF file). Carlesimo is the only board member named in the court filing as aiding in Moore's legal preparation, thus making it appear that he was and is the lead board member in pushing these issues against McGowan.

The suit seeks a de novo trial by jury. In a de novo trial in this case, all of the facts would be heard from the beginning as though the arbitration never took place.

If you go to MacArthur Beach, DON'T USE THE STAIRS!
A second, unrelated, lawsuit against MacArthur Beach is also winding its way through the court system. The Hartford Insurance Company is suing the association for negligence in a Worker's Comp reimbursement lawsuit (full text of court filing, PDF file, 39 pages).

The lawsuit claims that contracted painter John Cepelones was injured when a stairway "failed" in June of 2005 due to MacArthur Beach's failure to properly maintain its stairwells. The lawsuit further states that the stairwell was an obvious and foreseeable safety hazard. The lawsuit seeks "damages in excess of $75,000" plus costs and legal fees.

John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.