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Litigation UPDATE!! by Kevin Wine, Feb 06, 2026, 12:01 AM, reply, branch, edit

The hearing on the election lawsuit "Order to Show Cause" took place on Monday, February 2 in New Brunswick Superior Court. I was there, along with the Association's insurance company appointed defense attorney who had the unenviable task of defending the indefensible. One other Board member was in the audience, Vincent Marchitto.

Judges try to maintain an appearance of neutrality at these proceedings, but you can usually get an idea of which way they are leaning from the type of questions they ask the attorneys, their mannerisms, and many other clues. It became pretty obvious where this was going when at one point the Judge said "the rules are the rules are the rules", gently emphasizing each "rules" by pounding his first on the bench, "they are not advisory, they are not recommendations, they are not suggestions. They are the rules."

Regrettably, none of the other four Board members who voted to violate the election regulations were present, especially our previous Board President Mohiuddin Syed and current Board President Matthew Phillips. There were several "teaching moments" at this hearing that both would have (maybe) benefited from. It was also regrettable that the Board had fired former Association counsel Susan Radom back in December so she couldn't be in the hot seat defending her questionable legal advice to the Board. I still remember her taunting me at the November 5th election meeting from the zoom screen "if you don't like how this election was run you can file a complaint in superior court just like you did once before." Indeed I can.

The discussion went on for about 90 minutes of side-ways arguments, during which defense counsel tried to get a one week extension to file an answer to my original complaint, which is what I would have expected him to do in the first place. At one point the Judge told him "I gave you the option of filing an answer, or a motion. You chose to file a motion", and that was the end of that request. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. The evidence was irrefutable. Eventually defense proposed to settle the case with a consent order, I agreed to give it a try, the Judge said he would hold-off of issuing his order until Tuesday, so counsel and I meet after the hearing to sketch out a framework. It took one more day, but by 5PM Wednesday we had an agreement between both parties, and the Judge signed it Thursday afternoon. It is done, and a matter of public record. They "lost". I "won". lol:

https://savethehill.org/Legal/C-204-25/2026-2-5_ConsentOrderSigned.pdf

The fall 2026 elections will be moved up to the first week of June. There will be 5 seats up for election - the two that were up this fall anyway, occupied by Kevin Wine (me) and Anthony Blanco, plus the three that were up in the improperly conducted 2025 election, which are currently occupied by Mohiuddin Syed, Mark Kelsey, and Vincent Marchitto. The election will be open for nominations, just like a normal annual election. I'm sure that Anthony Blanco, Vincent Marchitto, and Kevin Wine will be running, along with two more candidates to make a team of 5. I don't know what the other trustees will be doing.

The election process will begin with the call for nomination mailing, some time in late March. The election will be conducted by an unaffiliated 3rd party law firm or accounting firm. The management company will NOT be involved in the election this time. The election will be conducted on paper - sorry about that for the owners that liked electronic voting, but the Judge strongly agreed with me that the Association failed to properly amend its bylaws to permit electronic voting. This can be fixed, for the 2027 elections, but for this year it's back to paper ballots. Several more protections will be in place to insure fairness and compliance with the election laws. The case will remain open until the 2026 election concludes, in case we need to file additional motions to enforce the consent order. You can read the rest of the details in the link above.

This is not just a victory for me and Anthony and Vincent, it is a victory for the entire Association. After 7 years of tyrants with the "we are going to do whatever we want and if you don't like it, sue us" attitude, the Board has finally been given a reminder that the rules matter, and there are consequences for not following those rules. There are reasons the rules exist, and we will all be better off that they will now be followed.

Kevin