HOA Lawsuit Possible Defense?

[Debtfreedeb]

Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1256 K states:

For a delinquent account the association shall provide the following written notice to the unit owner at the unit owner’s address at least 30 days before authorizing an attorney to begin collection activities.

It says the letter must be in bold letters. Must be certified mail with return receipt.

My mom was served with a lawsuit from her hoa but she wasn’t notified prior with a letter of any sort.

She had been in a previous bankruptcy back in 2014. We are wondering if the letter was mailed to the attorney and the attorney didn’t notify her?

So, my question is, with the way the Arizona Revised Statutes are written, would the hoa have been bound by law to send the notification to her address or would it be common or proper to have sent it to the attorney even though the law states it must be at the unit owner address? Does she have a possible legal defense with this? TIA

[justbroke]

If a person is represented, especially when represented for the specific issue in question, service on the attorney is service on the individual. Isn't this precisely why people retain an attorney? They retain them to receive all documents and papers that would normally be served on them as an individual.

I can't speak for Arizona or even Florida for that matter. It just makes sense, to me, that a person that is represented by an attorney, and the attorney is authorized to receive service, is served through that attorney.

Generally speaking, I'd never mess around with an HOA as they can rack up substantial legal fees and it is not a pretty sight when you see that bill. As you speculate, she may have been served in the bankruptcy to the bankruptcy attorney. I can't speak to whether service from then would still be sufficient for a lawsuit today.

Maybe despritfreya has specifics for Arizona.