Etta Lerner’s Damage Claim

WITH NO SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION THE THEN BOARD MAJORITY – INCLUDING MS. LEE AND MS. ROSENSTEIN --MADE AN UNJUSTIFIED GIFT OF $9,000 OF WF FUNDS TO A FELLOW MEMBER OF THE BOARD MAJORITY WF HOA

Board Majority paid Ms. Etta Lerner $9,000 for an alleged claim purportedly caused by a small amount of water spilled onto her kitchen floor (that was wiped clean by two towels) that allegedly ruined her kitchen floor. The WF employee who used the two towels to wipe up the water asserted that there was no damage to Ms. Lerner’s kitchen floor. The Majority Board authorized the payment of $9,000 despite absolutely no documentation. There were no photographs, no inspection, no bills and no evidence that any repairs were ever actually made, let alone in the amount of $9,000.

Without any such supporting evidence, we contend that the only reasonable conclusion that can be made is that the payment of $9,000 to Ms. Lerner was a gift of WF HOA funds to Ms. Learner, who was then a member of the WF Board and a member of the Board Majority. Ms. Dilonell and Ms. Maull inspected the purported water damage mid2019. Ms. Dilonell concluded that any damage present on Ms. Lerner’s kitchen floor was due to normal wear and tear. She suggested that a flooring expert be retained. Ms. Maull replied that Etta Lerner was one of her great supporters and that they should do whatever Etta wants.

Etta Lerner (aka Unit 251) for many years had previously been the President of the HOA. Most recently she was a member of the Board of Directors in 2020. She was a strong and vocal supporter of Judit Maull and voted in lock step with the Majority Board members.

The Board of Directors approved the $9,000 payment to Etta Lerner to replace the floor of her entire unit based upon her claim that an employee of Windsor Fountains spilled water onto her kitchen floor.

Board members Sabrina Rosen and Jessica Lee represented to the Board that James Pittman, then an employee of the WF HOA, caused raw sewage to spill on the kitchen floor and on into the hallway of unit 251.

Leemon McHenry and Frida Dilonell requested any correspondence, invoices from the plumber, photographs and any other supporting documentation regarding the alleged damage to unit 251.

Nate Wright from Horizon Management claimed he could not find any documents at all. In the correspondence below, Mr. Wright evaded questions, obstructed the inquiry and refused to cooperate with the request for documents.

Mr. McHenry and Ms. Dilonell were highly suspicious of Ms. Lerner’s claim for $9,000, because on its face it was nonsensical. They decided to conduct their own investigation. They interviewed the Windsor Fountains employee, James Pitmann, and also the plumber from HDZ. Both Mr. Pitmann and the plumber from HDZ contradicted the representations made by Sabrina Rosen, Jessica Lee and later Ms. Rosenstein. It must be remembered that Mr. Pitmann is the only independent witness to the spilling of water onto Ms. Lerner’s floor. Ms. Rosen and Ms. Lee did not witness the spillage of water.

Ms. Lerner never even made a written claim. Ms. Lerner even failed to make an in person oral claim to the entire Board. She relied entirely upon the members of the Board Majority to make her $9,000 claim for her.

It was Mr. Pitmann who was called by Etta Lerner and who responded to Ms. Lerner’s request for assistance because water was not draining from her sink. Mr. Pittman witnessed that no water was draining. No water had spilled on the kitchen floor. He was using the WF wet vac to empty the sink and a small about of water fell on the kitchen floor. Ms. Lerner refused to provide any towels and so, instead, Mr. Pitmann retrieved two (2) towels and returned to Unit 251 and wiped up the water using the two WF towels. Some days later, Ms. Lerner claimed that the water from her sink that had spilled on her floor had “ruined” her kitchen floor.

Mr. Pitmann asserts that there was no damage to Ms. Lerner’s kitchen floor caused by the exceedingly brief time the water actually was present on Ms. Lerner’s kitchen floor. Furthermore, Mr. Pitmann denied the presence of any sewage water.

This story about raw sewage never made any sense because there are no sewage lines in the kitchen! Therefore, it is impossible that raw sewage would back up in a second story unit (with no sewage line being present) without backing up into the first story unit. Furthermore, there was no report of raw sewage present in the kitchen of the first story unit. Accordingly, the story was later revised to a version where the purported sewage water came from the wet vac. However, the minutes documenting the $9,000 payment state that it was water on the floor, not sewage, that caused the need for the $9,000 “repair.”

The story put forward by the Board Majority to somehow justify their $9,000 payment to Etta Lerner is nonsensical because in any event the “liquid” was quickly cleaned up that very same evening by Mr. Pitmann.

The members of the present Board Majority who refused to reconsider Ms. Lerner’s claim in light of the evidence provided by Mr. Pitmann and the HDZ plumber are: Jessica Lee and Amy Rosenstein. They are now seeking re- election to the Board.

Supporting documentation for this Section is set forth under the Section entitled, Supporting Documentation Re: Gift of WF Funds to Ms. Lerner.