§ 10B-9. Filing disputes; exhaustion of association remedies.

(a) The Commission may hear any dispute between or among parties.

(b) A party must not file a dispute with the Commission until the party makes a good faith attempt to exhaust all procedures or remedies provided in the association documents.

(c) However, a party may file a dispute with the Commission 60 days after any procedure or remedy provided in the association documents has been initiated before the association.

(d) After a community association finds that a dispute exists, the association must notify the other parties of their rights to file the dispute with the Commission. The association must not take any action to enforce or implement its decision for 14 days after it notifies the other parties of their rights.

(e) Except as provided in Section 10B-9A, when a dispute is filed with the Commission, a community association must not take any action to enforce or implement the association's decision, other than filing a civil action under subsection (f), until the process under this Article is completed.

(f) Any party may file a civil action arising out of an association document or a law regulating the association's powers and procedures at any time. The court may stay all proceedings for at least 90 days after the court is notified that a dispute has been properly filed under this Article so that a hearing under Section 10B-13 may be completed. Whether or not a stay is issued, the court may hear the action de novo only if a hearing panel assigned to the dispute has not issued a decision under Section 10B-13(e). (1990 L.M.C., ch. 33, § 1; , § 1.)

Editor's note—Section 10B-9 is quoted in Campbell v. Lake Hallowell Homeowners Association, 831 A.2d 465 (2003).