Michael L. Hyman, with Siegfried, Rivera. Michael L. Hyman, with Siegfried Rivera.

To help relieve Florida's courts from routine disputes between community associations and their unit owners, the state's laws call for associations to file for nonbinding arbitration with the state agency that regulates condominiums prior to going to court. However, according to a recent ruling by the Fourth District Court of Appeal, that certainly does not mean such arbitration proceedings under the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Condominiums must completely run their course prior to seeking emergency relief in local circuit court.