Dave’s earlier post on an Appellate Court’s recent ruling regarding the amendment of association bylaws reminds me of a matter that our firm handled a few years ago. At the time, two of our attorneys were representing a client in a personal injury suit against an age-restricted community. The community had based its defense on the tort immunity statute. Once I knew what the community’s attorneys were basing their defense on, I suggested we file a motion requiring the community to prove it had gone through the required statutory steps to have the tort immunity amendment adopted. This meant proving to the Court that it held a validly announced meeting, and had in its possession all of the ballots that had been cast in that vote. When the community was unable to produce this documentation, the Judge found in favor of our client. Community associations need to be aware that it is just as important when adopting the tort immunity amendment that the ballots and all of the other documentation of the vote are maintained and accessible in the event proof of their existence and or validity in needed in the future. In addition to tort immunity amendments, associations must expand their review in determining what documents it will keep and for what period of time, in the event it is ever needed.