April 26, 2026 | Mark Luis Foster

A Florida attorney who represented three HOA homeowners in a lawsuit against their HOA is now serving time in jail. According to News6 Orlando:

Bruce Burtoff, 77, was jailed for contempt of court March 4 because he refused to identify two of his clients who anonymously sued their HOA using the pseudonyms Jane Doe and Joe Doe, court records show.

At issue, according to the report, is that two of three anonymous plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against North Shore at Lake Hart Homeowner’s Association back in 2020, alleging there was gross mismanagement of the HOA. The property is described as a 1,049-home community located in southeast Orange County.

One of the plaintiffs did identify herself: Lynn Sandford. “His incarceration is one of the most unfair, no justice situations I’ve ever witnessed,” she told the station.

Eight current and former HOA board members and officers were named as defendants in the suit. The story doesn’t describe the mismanagement or misdeeds that are being alleged.

Apparently Sandford and the anonymous Does were originally represented by Burtoff, who also lives in the HOA. In 2023, Burtoff filed notices in court indicating he was withdrawing as the attorney representing Jane Doe and Joe Doe due to “irreconcilable differences.” That’s when the HOA filed to have Burtoff disclose the names of the anonymous plaintiffs in the case.

“Defendants have a right to, and must obtain, the identities and contact information for Jane and Joe Doe, especially if their counsel withdraws and they are proceeding in this matter pro se [on their own behalf],” the HOA’s attorney wrote.

Why the John and Jane Doe routine?

“Plaintiffs Jane Doe and Joe Doe request anonymity for fear of reprisal, retribution and retaliation against them by the Defendants,” the complaint stated.

If you read the whole article from the station, the case goes seriously off the rails. Just a teaser:

Five previous versions of the lawsuit had also been thrown out, court records show. In his dismissal order, Circuit Court Judge Emerson Thompson described the residents’ complaint as “incoherent.”

“(The complaint) does not clearly allege which board members acted improperly during a particular period of time,” Thompson wrote. “Nor does the complaint specify who the board members were when an alleged unauthorized act occurred or what the act was as it relates to specific board members.”

Legal fees for the whole shebang are now $300K.  That sounds like a mighty big special assessment coming, if you ask me.

You can read the whole gnarly Florida mess HERE.