Post: NJ: Has a Crime Been Committed Here??

Posted by ghtix on 2/03/10

After approx. 5 months of wrangling back & forth & jumping
through the Association's hoops & roadblocks, my attorney
& I finally go to inspect my Condominium Association’s
books & records that we requested last August. This was
held in the office of the Association’s lawyer. The
Secretary & Treasurer were in the back room & did not
participate – only myself, my attorney & their attorney
were present.

Last year the Association sued me (frivolously) because I
challenged election methods. Although there was no legal
grounds by which the judge could uphold my argument, he
agreed with me morally and in principle, and ordered the
plaintiffs to pay their legal bill personally – out of
their own pockets – instead out of Association funds -
because they refused to arbitrate all along.

I suspected that the money for their legal bill came out
of Association funds and this was at the root of my
request to examine books & records. So, when we got to the
bank statements, we saw that someone had taken a black
marker to several of them and that several entries / lines
had been blacked out. Their lawyer, who was present, said
that this was “privileged” information and that this
information was “redacted.”. We disagreed that it was
privileged information and were very concerned that the
bank statements had been defaced. (including totals) Their
attorney said that if Association money
was “hypothetically” used to pay their lawyer during the
case, we were not privy to the amount they paid.

Now, I don’t care how much their legal bill was – I DO
care that whatever money was removed was probably not put
back into the Association account. I can’t yet determine
this by looking at defaced bank statements. I/we need to
definitely determine if/when money was removed, and
if/when it was put back - if it was.

Questions:

Am I not entitled to view clean bank statements?

Is such information really “privileged” because I was the
other party in the past lawsuit, and are there grounds for
them to deny me access to this information?

How can I determine if money was indeed removed to pay
their past legal bill – and, more importantly, whether it
was ever returned to the account?

And, bottom line – has a crime been committed? If so, how
exactly do I proceed in pursuing this?

Is time of the essence?

We only got to inspect & copy the records last Saturday
and have yet to study them in detail – the above is based
on what we saw when they were being collected & copied. I
know my lawyer will weigh in when he gets to examine
everything, but I am very concerned right now and am
putting the basic situation out here for any feedback &
comments, which I would appreciate.

Also - I am additionally concerned that if I were to put
my unit up for sale, and a prospective buyer wanted to
review the Association records, I could lose a potential
buyer if they came upon these defaced & "redacted" records.

Also - one unit in our building is up for "short sale" and
I am wondering whether this owner's lender would be
concerned if they came upon this. Should I/we maje them
aware of this? BTW, tyhis owner was Association president
when the lawsuit happened and when the money
was "hypothetically" removed.

Thanks for any insight.

Posts on this thread, including this one

NJ: Has a Crime Been Committed Here??, 2/03/10, by ghtix.

Re: Has a Crime Been Committed Here??, 2/04/10, by ghtix.