Legal victory!

I’m happy to announce that International Village has reached a settlement with its insurance carriers in the case we filed against them for wrongfully denying coverage in one of the lawsuits filed by Ilan Weiss (the so-called “defamation” lawsuit he filed against me as a Director). The carriers have agreed to pay the association $60,000 as well as provide us with legal defense going forward, which means the insurance company will pay all our attorney fees going forward to defend against the Weiss lawsuit. The $60,000 settlement reimburses the association for all of the fees and costs the association incurred in suing the insurance carriers and also reimburses the association for its fees and costs while defending against the original lawsuit filed by Mr. Weiss. In a separate agreement, the association will receive an additional $11,000 from our insurer to reimburse us for our legal fees and costs in defending against several other cases filed by Mr. Weiss and his attorney F. Blane Carneal.  Most of those cases have now been dismissed.

We’re very pleased we were able to achieve a very satisfying settlement with the insurance carriers that not only makes the association whole, but also helps ensure that this Board of Directors and future Board members are protected against malicious and meritless lawsuits by Mr. Weiss in the future. If it was Mr. Weiss’ intention to bankrupt the association or this board member with his groundless lawsuits, he has clearly failed. There is no question that this outcome is a great victory over Ilan Weiss, and it calls for celebration.

In other news, the Board of Directors recently appointed unit owner Murat Kizikli to fill a seat left vacant by a former director. Mr. Kizikli is a professional engineer who owns the engineering company that saved the association nearly $1 million on our 40-year certification last year by providing an honest second opinion after an earlier engineering report commissioned by AMG called for hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary spending. Mr. Kizikli, who fell in love with our beautiful community and recently decided to purchase a unit here, is an exceptional asset to International Village, and we’re thrilled he has agreed to volunteer his time and talents to the Board of Directors. Please join me in welcoming him aboard.

John Labriola

International Village President