Sand Cay unit owner gets $397,000 judgment

A federal jury awarded a Sand Cay unit owner a $397,000 judgment against the property’s condominium association and found that the association breached its declaration of condominium.

In a complaint filed in March 2010 in the U.S. District Court’s Tampa Division, John Hawkins, of Providence, R.I., alleged that during the course of renovations between 2004 and 2010, contractors hired by Sand Cay’s board damaged his unit.

According the lawsuit, contractors installed windows and sliding-glass doors to the unit upside down, causing continuing water-leak damage, and cut the interior wall of the closet to the master bedroom with a saw “in an unworkman-like manner.”

The complaint alleges that between July and November 2005, an unknown person moved into the unit, lived in it for an unknown period of time and damaged Hawkins’ furnishings, wall and window treatments, emptied his liquor cabinet and “in plain English ‘trashed his unit,’” causing Hawkins to file a report with Longboat Key police.

The suit estimated Hawkins’ out-of-pocket expenses at $156,766 but claimed that he also lost $370,622 in rental income over the six-year period because he was unable to rent his unit, which is now “plagued by a mold infestation … ”

Hawkins sought damages in excess of $1 million against the board on charges of breach of fiduciary responsibility, negligence and breach of contract.

In a motion to dismiss, attorneys for the association argued that, according to Florida condominium laws and the association’s bylaws, the association did not have a fiduciary duty to unit owners.

The motion states that Hawkins failed to show that the Association had the duty to prevent third parties from accessing units or that he entered into a contract with the Association.

Hawkins still owns the unit, according to Manatee County property records, which last sold for $180,000 in April 1981.