Attorney: Seaport Landing resident’s suit against Board of Trustees about revenge

LYNN – Misappropriation of $1 million, missing paperwork and preferential treatment are at the heart of a lawsuit filed by one Seaport Landing condominium owner against his own Board of Trustees.However, attorney Edmund Allcock, representing the board, said the lawsuit seems more about seeking revenge than justice.”There is some serious bad blood,” he said. “He has sued this board before. This isn’t his first lawsuit.”John DeFazio is suing the Seaport Landing Condominium Trust and specifically Guy Citro, Quintina Woods, David Zeller and Leonard D’Avolio on behalf of himself and “derivatively for the beneficiaries” of the condominium trust. According to court papers DeFazio, who did not immediately return phone calls, is accusing D’Avolio of misappropriating $1 million when he served as treasurer of the Board of Trustees from 2007 to 2011 and he wants an audit to prove it.The documents also state that DeFazio wants Woods and Citro removed as Trustees for failure to investigate D’Avolio for the alleged financial improprieties.”It’s my understanding the money was spent on building repairs,” Allcock said.He also said the Trustees deny the allegations of wrongdoing and will likely instruct him to file a motion for dismissal although the board has not yet done so.Court papers state that DeFazio made numerous requests for what he called crucial financial documents from 2007, 2008 and 2009 but “to this very day complete financial records for these critical years has not been produced.”Allcock said all records have been produced and DeFazio’s case is largely built on “hyper technicalities.””I received a large packet of information from the association’s prior attorney with letters that document that the records were actually produced,” he said. “He is saying they were not ‘sufficiently produced.'”Allcock said that means the records were not produced exactly as DeFazio wanted but nonetheless DeFazio had “every opportunity to review the records.”The Trustees also agreed to an audit, as long as DeFazio agreed to pay for it, Allcock said, “but he wanted the association to pay for it.”DeFazio’s suit also finds fault with the Trustees for failing to follow past practice in regards to elections. According to court papers, during an election held in 2011 to fill two vacant seats on the board resident David Gass was awarded a seat after garnering 52.5 percent of the vote but DeFazio, who came in second with 31.1, percent was not. The lawsuit states that the Trustees declined to seat DeFazio because he did not obtain more than 50 percent of the vote, which is required under the condominium’s charter. DeFazio argues that past practice shows they have awarded seats to candidates, including Zeller, Woods and Citro, who had failed to obtain 50 percent or more of the vote.DeFazio also lodged a complaint that the Trustees have shown preferential treatment, granting financial waivers to some residents, which he claims are unlawful.Allcock said it is unclear, in some instances, exactly what DeFazio is looking for with his lawsuit.”He was looking for records to see who was delinquent on condo fees,” he said. “The Association doesn’t give that information out. There are privacy and fair debt collection laws.”Allcock said he believes that some of the tension centers on work done to the building that DeFazio and perhaps other tenants disagreed with.”The board doesn’t believe any money has been misplaced,” he said. “It believes the funds were spent on construction that benefits everybody and there is more to be done to make the place a great place to live.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].