Hill Wallack LLP partner Michael S. Karpoff, Esq. was honored recently by the Community Associations Institute’s College of Community Association Lawyers (“CCAL”) as co-author of the 2019 CAI Law Seminar Best Manuscript. Karpoff, a fellow of the CCAL, was joined by co-authors Kevin M. Hirzel, Esq., Edward Hoffman, Jr., Esq., and Todd A. Sinkins, Esq., in preparing and presenting a paper and program entitled Religion in Community Associations: Fair Housing or Free Speech? Thou Shalt Not Violate the Law.

The 40^th Annual Community Association Law Seminar was held in New Orleans January 23 through 26, 2019. The Law Seminar explored trends and practices in community association law for attorneys and other industry professionals. The Religion in Community Associations program presented legal requirements, obligations, options, and ideas for community associations concerning religious practices of residents, to help attorneys and other professionals advise and guide their clients appropriately. The paper was selected as the Best Manuscript by the Law Seminar Planning Committee and the CCAL Board of Governors.

To read the full manuscript, click here.

For more information on this or any other issue concerning your community association, please contact one of our Community Associations attorneys. For breaking news or updates on new blog posts, follow us on Twitter at: @njcondolaw, on Facebook at: njcondolaw, and on LinkedIn at: Hill Wallack Community Association Attorneys.

Hill Wallack LLP‘s Community Association Practice Group will be exhibiting at the 2015 New Jersey Cooperator’s Condo, HOA and Co-op Expo on Saturday, May 9, 2015, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Join board members, property managers, building owners and real estate professionals and meet building service companies, attend educational seminars and get your questions answered by a member of our team at Booth 600.

For more information or to register to attend, click here!

On December 3, 2014, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided Dublirer v. 2000 Linwood Avenue Owners, Inc., which created a new test for determining whether the New Jersey State Constitution protects free speech on private property in community associations. In Dublirer, the Court determined that the determination must “focus on ‘the purpose of the expressional activity undertaken’ in relation to the property’s use” and to consider the “general balancing of expressional rights and private property interests” to determine “‘the fairness of the restrictions imposed’ with regard to residents’ free speech rights.”

Hill Wallack LLP‘s Community Association Practice Group will be exhibiting at the 2014 New Jersey Cooperator’s Condo, HOA and Co-op Expo on Wednesday, May 7, 2013, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. Join board members, property managers, building owners and real estate professionals and meet building service companies, attend educational seminars and get your questions answered by a member of our team.

Hill Wallack LLP Partner Caroline Record, Esq. is among the featured panelists of experts at the Educational Seminar titled “Breaking Bad – The Insiders Guide to By-Laws & Rules.” This seminar will discuss how by-laws and rules are the keys to maintaining a harmonious community, provided that they are reasonable and properly enforced. The panel will discuss the keys to drafting, enacting and enforcing by-laws and house rules. Topics to be explored include when to change by-laws/rules; the proper and legal method of changing them; the role of your association’s attorney; how your governing documents affect by-laws/rules, and much more.

For more information or to register to attend, click here!

Recent judicial opinions in New Jersey have caused some confusion over alternative dispute resolution and restrictions on signs in communities. As a result of these cases, there are new twists to issues which previously appeared settled, causing association managers, board members and attorneys to seek definitive rules to guide their actions. Hill Wallack LLP Partner Michael S. Karpoff, Esq. will explore the current status of the law regarding these important issues and discuss standards and suggestions for association leaders and advisors to deal with such matters.

This seminar will be held at the Kings Grant Open Space Association Community Room, 50 Landings Dr., Marlton, NJ, on Friday, April 12, 2013. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Managers receive two hours of continuing education credit for attending this program. Registration fee includes continental breakfast.

For more information on this seminar or to register to attend, please click here.

By Jonathan H. Katz, Esq.

Yogi Berra famously quipped “it’s like déjà vu all over again” regarding Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris repeatedly hitting back-to-back home runs in the Yankees’ games in the early 1960s.

That same wisdom is apropos of a new dispute between a unit owner and her community association in Barnegat Township, which implicates the New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mazdabrook Commons Homeowner’s Association, Inc. v. Khan.

As reported in the Press of Atlantic City, Anita Carbonara has two signs in support of President Barack Obama in the windows of her Barnegat Township home. The Board of Trustees at the Heritage Point, Ms. Carbonara’s homeowners’ association, wants the signs removed. Ms. Carbonara previously made a request to the Board to allow her to display the signs, but despite the fact that the association does not appear to have a written sign policy or any such restrictions, the Board denied her request. Ms. Carbonara steadfastly refuses to remove the signs.

As we discussed in our recent blog post and client alert on the Mazdabrook case, the overall impact of the Supreme Court’s decision is that associations cannot absolutely ban a unit owner’s right to post a political sign on his or her own property even if that property is subject to community rules and regulations. Yet, the Court reaffirmed an association’s right to enact reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on signs, such as limiting the number or location. Moreover, written criteria for signs must exist prior to enforcement.

However, the Supreme Court left undecided the issue of other methods of expression, such as posting signs in flower beds adjacent to a unit or on the common property, particularly where such methods may have a greater impact on commonly owned facilities or the rights of other association residents.

Again, we caution management and board members who are seeking to enforce sign restrictions to consult with association counsel to determine whether current rules and restrictions or proposed regulations pass constitutional muster.

But with respect to the dispute between Heritage Point and Ms. Carbonara, to borrow another phrase from Yogi, “it ain’t over til it’s over.”

If you have a question about sign restrictions or any other issue concerning your community association, please contact one of our Community Associations attorneys. For breaking news or updates on new blog posts, follow us on Twitter at: @njcondolaw.