MLF - IMPORTANT UPDATE on the Litigation involving the October 10, 2024 Special Assessment

Martin’s Landing Foundation Homeowners:

29SC Lake House LP, which is the entity that owns the Lakehouse Apartments in MLF has initiated legal action on behalf of MLF, against Ms. Nichols and certain MLF Board members, in connection with the recent Special Assessment notice and vote that you likely have seen. Please know that 29SC pursued the lawsuit only after it requested that MLF stop the Special Assessment vote, pointing out the reasons why, and that request was rejected. 

I write to make sure that you are better informed of the reasons under Georgia statutes, and under the MLF’s Declaration and Bylaws, why there are serious problems with the Special Assessment proceedings -- many of them affecting your fundamental rights to vote as Members of MLF.

29SC’s filings on behalf of MLF: Links to the following documents are available below for your consideration:

·      Answer and Affirmative Defenses of Certain Defendants

·      Resident Hub Censorship

·      Verified Petition for TRO Preliminary Injunctive Relief Declaratory Judgement

·      Order and Rule Nisi on Hearing for TRO

·      Verified Motion for TRO and Other Injunctive Relief

·      Moving Forward Post

Chief Judge Glanville’s Order & Rule Nisi setting a hearing on 29SC’s request for January 6, 2025 at 9:00 a.m.

Respondents’ Answer: And so that you have an even fuller picture, please see excerpts from the Answer & Affirmative Defenses of Certain Defendants that some of the Respondents filed last week.

As you will find, the Respondents try to divert attention from the unlawful Special Assessment at hand, to turn attention to side-shows, such as citing the fact that 29SC had in 2023 expressed a desire to amicably part ways with MLF (which is true), that the pool really needs renovating (which appears to be true), and that when in August the Board previously considered a September 2024 vote on the Special Assessment (which vote didn’t happen), 29SC’s Board reps did not know enough to immediately oppose it.

When 29SC first saw the actual “Notice of Special Assessment,” and saw the purported justification for exactly how the voting was supposed to go down, 29SC was able to take a deeper dive into Georgia law, the Declaration, and the Bylaws, and had an better understanding as to why none of those legal authorities allowed – or even supported – the vote as described in the Notice. 29SC then hired counsel, objected to the vote proceeding forward multiple times (including the night before the vote), objected again during the Board meeting on October 10th, cast its 300 votes against the Special Assessment, and continued to ask still-largely unanswered questions, until 29SC had no choice but to incur the cost of bringing litigation on MLF’s behalf to prevent the unlawful Special Assessment from moving forward.

As reflected in its filings, 29SC remains firmly against this Special Assessment that is the product of numerous violations of MLF Members’ voting rights, and stands against the precedent that this unlawful Special Assessment poses to MLF’s future. See, e.g., the Verified Petition.

“The [purported] Board’s” Recent mass communications: We have included for your further consideration a posting apparently made by “Admin,” purportedly “From: The Board of Directors” on December 3, 2024. There are a few observations about it that we would like to share with you:

(a) “the Board” appears to be deliberately “moving forward” with the pool repairs knowing that the Special Assessment was wrongful in nearly all respects (see the Verified Petition), and knowing that Chief Judge Glanville has ordered the Respondents to show cause why he should not enter an injunction against the Special Assessment;

(b) “the Board” has taken steps to snuff-out any discussion of their Special Assessment, now that the litigation has exposed its unlawfulness. (See also Facebook post, dated December 5, 2024); and

(c) “the Board” could very easily make the litigation filings available to you Members – the people who it affects the most – but in their “moving forward” post they have told you to go get it yourselves.

In addition to these concerns, you may ask yourself: who is “the Board” that posted these things? Rest assured that 29SC had nothing to do with “the Board’s” (whoever that is) posturing in the documents. 29SC absolutely disagrees with “the Board’s” efforts to conceal what they have done and to suppress discussion about it. The “moving forward” post demonstrates that there is only one side of this litigation that is advocating full compliance with law, fairness, and transparency – and it is not the purported “the Board” as the “moving forward” statement plainly shows.

The January 6th, 2025 Hearing before Chief Judge Glanville: As of this writing, the Respondents named in the lawsuit have continued their stubborn refusal to withdraw the improper Notice, the improper vote, and any further implementation of the unlawful Special Assessment. As a result, it appears that the January 6th, 2025, 9:00 a.m. hearing before Chief Judge Glanville remains on track. You are of course welcome to attend that hearing in person.

Thank you: Finally, a number of you have reached out in support of this effort to stop the unlawful Special Assessment from proceeding, and for that I just wanted to say: thank you. We are grateful for your support. 29SC will continue its pursuit to ensure that this Special Assessment is stopped, and that the MLF Member voting rights are fully enforced as required by law.