Comments on Conflict of Interest

I do not understand how volunteers serving Eastman members can have a conflict of interest.

Why do you think that is the case?

Bill

Answer:

It is the responsibility of any volunteer Board member to act in the best interest of the entity for which the Board exists. In the Eastman Community Association the Board exists to serve the best interest of all ECA owners. By definition all ECA Board members are also owners of the community; therefore any legal opinion coming from any Board member who is a lawyer would represent a material risk that the Board member/lawyer's independent professional judgment would be compromised.  Obviously they are not independent of the community that they live in.

Furthermore, there is a danger that if any Board matter or decision were to go before a court there is potential that a court will hold that the lawyer/Board members' communication with other Board members or management, while she/he was wearing his/her "Director hat" and not his/her "lawyer hat" to be discoverable in litigation. In my Board experience, when a lawyer was/is a member of a Board, they always refused to provide any legal opinion on any legal matter before that Board, citing that it would be a violation of their legal ethics.

How is it then, that in communication to Geraldine Logan on September 4, 2014, Board President Maynard Goldman denied her request for an independent legal opinion on the merits of Question #6 for the recently completed Referendum on the Center project? Since the decision to insert Question #6 was made by the Board and therefore by Mr. Goldman, he must recuse and disqualify himself from any such judgment, as indeed must all ECA Board members.

I have never in my professional career experience known any professional be it a lawyer, CPA, Doctor or other professional to violate ethical principles in this fashion. So too, by her silence regarding this matter is Ms. Schulman as a lawyer, violating ethical principles. It is certainly their prerogative to risk their own professional credentials as they see fit, however on the other hand it is irresponsible to risk any financial loss to the members of this community because of their attitude towards the rights of the owners of the community. Mr. Goldman is deliberately setting up this conflictual situation with Eastman owners’ rights.

Submitted by Robert Logan