David H. Rogel

Bio

David Rogel chairs the firm’s Community Association Litigation Group. For more than twenty years, Mr. Rogel has concentrated his practice on the law governing common interest ownership associations. In that time, he has represented condominium, cooperative and homeowner’s associations as well as homeowners and developers. Currently, he represents over 200 community associations as their General Counsel. Mr. Rogel is also one of only 190 attorneys statewide who is a Board Certified Specialist in Condominium and Planned Development Law.

An AV-rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory (the highest level attainable), Mr. Rogel’s career at Becker began as a litigator, an area in which he continues to practice. Mr. Rogel’s litigation experience includes representation before administrative bodies and state and federal courts. Mr. Rogel has appeared for his clients in numerous arbitrations governed by Section 718.1255, Florida Statutes. As part of his practice, Mr. Rogel has represented his clients in many appeals, including appeals before the Third District Court of Appeals covering Miami-Dade and Monroe County.

Mr. Rogel has been involved in significant post-disaster legal work. He handled large insurance claims following Hurricanes Andrew, Opal, Wilma and Katrina. He has litigated and negotiated claims involving State Farm Insurance, QBE, Nationwide and Citizens. He has also litigated coverage issues regarding both disaster and non-disaster related claims, where insurance companies have denied coverage.

After Hurricane Andrew, Mr. Rogel became involved in what was one of the first and is still the largest termination of a condominium – Naranja Lakes. Over ten years, the termination wove its way through both the Circuit and Bankruptcy Courts.

During and since then, Mr. Rogel’s experience with termination extended to terminations in properties whose age or development problems made them no longer viable. In Sunny Isles Beach alone, Mr. Rogel’s involvement in terminations included both representation of associations, unit owners and developers who both sought and attempted to avoid termination.

While Mr. Rogel’s practice is concentrated in the community association arena, his practice has also involved litigation, bankruptcy and other areas. He and colleagues who focus in those areas work together to provide a broad range of legal services. Mr. Rogel’s litigation and non-litigation experience allows him to provide clients a unique broad scope of legal knowledge which assist clients in achieving their goals and avoiding or minimizing liabilities.

Before joining Becker, Mr. Rogel’s practice included both civil and criminal litigation. This included time during which Mr. Rogel was prosecutor with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

EXPERIENCE

As General Counsel for both commercial and residential Community Associations, Mr. Rogel:

• Drafts governing documents and amendments thereto
• Dispenses legal and practical advice regarding day-to-day disputes between Associations, Owners, Developers and Governmental Entities
• Prepares contracts, addendums and modifications and assists in contractual negotiation and contractual dispute resolution
• Appears in administrative and legal proceedings
• Officiates over meetings
• Serves as registered agent
• Gives legal advice regarding requirements of the documents and the laws relating elections, financial operations, insurance, assessment collection and maintenance, repair and replacement, including construction-related issues
• Prepare clients for elections, meetings of the Board and members, disasters

Some of the more important appellate decisions in which Mr. Rogel has represented his clients successfully are:

• S. Farrington v. Casa Solana – Establishing the business judgment rule in community association settings.
• Brickell Biscayne v. The Palace Condominium Association, Inc. – Stood for the proposition that Developers were required to pay assessments like other owners, including assessments for litigation against them
• Flagler Federal v. Crestview – Affirmed an Association’s right to amend its governing documents to prohibit leasing, were challenged by a bank who held a mortgage
• BHB v. Bonefish Yacht Club – Upheld the right to use an easement to beachfront property by a homeowner’s association
• Nine Island v. Siegel – Reversing an award of attorneys’ fees to a homeowner’s association in an ongoing arbitration and litigation proceedings over the right of access to a unit

Mr. Rogel’s arbitration experience includes many cases involving recalls of Boards of Directors. Mr. Rogel has represented Boards seeking to avoid a recall as well as owners who pursue the removal of Board members.

As part of his litigation experience, Mr. Rogel has been involved in many disputes addressing developer financial obligations during and after developer control. Mr. Rogel also provides advice regarding financial operations of condominium, cooperative and homeowner’s associations, including budgeting and reserve issues. Mr. Rogel has spoken before The Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants regarding reserves, including the pooling of reserves for funding of deferred maintenance and replacement costs.

RECOGNITION

• Recognized in the 2024 and 2025 editions of The Best Lawyers in America®, one of the oldest and most revered peer review publications, in Community Association Law.