Aberdeen Country Club Mandatory Membership Lawsuit: Harris Ruling

The lawsuits over Aberdeen Country Club’s mandatory membership rule grew out of a 2004 amendment that required all new buyers in part of the Boynton Beach community to join the club, and the courts that looked at it were not friendly to the association. A Palm Beach County judge ruled the amendment unenforceable in 2008, the lead sub-community settled in 2010 by buying its way out for $550,000, and a Florida appellate court later gave individual new owners their own window to sue. Aberdeen still operates as a mandatory-membership community today, but the litigation reshaped what Florida HOAs can and cannot impose on residents after the fact.

What the 2004 Amendment Did

Aberdeen is a gated development of roughly 2,200 homes across 25 sub-communities, built around an 18-hole Jim Fazio golf course.¹ From the club’s incorporation in 1986 through 2004, joining was voluntary.²

In 2004, the Aberdeen Property Owners Association recorded an amendment that carved the community into an “Eastern Residential Area” and a “Western Residential Area.” Future buyers in the Western Area would be required to become club members. Existing Western Area owners were grandfathered, and Eastern Area residents were unaffected.³ The measure passed by fewer than 20 votes, and opponents accused the association of gerrymandering the voting districts to secure the outcome.⁴

The financial exposure was substantial. The club’s 2023 schedule showed joining fees between $65,500 and $75,000, with annual dues of roughly $12,500 to $17,400 depending on membership class, plus monthly capital contributions, a food and beverage minimum, and a holiday assessment.⁵ Current joining fees have climbed to $100,000 for golf, $93,000 for tennis, and $90,500 for social, with only $100 refundable on resale.⁶ The new 2004 rules also barred members from canceling until age 80 or serious illness.⁴

Opposition organized quickly. Residents in Bristol Lakes, a family-oriented sub-community whose homes didn’t even face the golf course, said the requirement was depressing property values and driving buyers to competing developments. About 50 members resigned from the club before the new rules took effect in November 2004.⁴⁷

The Bristol Lakes Lawsuit and Settlement

Bristol Lakes Homeowners Association sued the Aberdeen POA in 2007, arguing the governing documents had been unlawfully changed.⁷⁸

The POA moved to disqualify Judge French, pointing to his own dispute with his personal HOA at the Hamlet Country Club and letters he had written expressing views on mandatory membership. In April 2009, the Fourth District Court of Appeal granted a writ of prohibition, finding a “well-grounded fear” of bias with an “actual factual foundation,” and removed him from the case.⁹

With a new judge in place, the parties settled in 2010. Bristol Lakes homeowners ratified the deal 136 to a handful. The sub-community paid the Aberdeen Golf & Country Club $550,000 in four annual installments of $137,500, and in exchange every Bristol Lakes homeowner received a “Bristol Lakes No Fee Bulk Trial Membership,” releasing them from the financial obligations imposed by the 2004 amendment. The agreement also indemnified Bristol Lakes against claims from other Aberdeen sub-associations.¹⁰

Harris v. Aberdeen and the Timing Problem

The settlement did not close the door on individual claims. Leslie K. Harris, who bought in Bristol Lakes in October 2006, sued the Aberdeen POA, the country club, and the Bristol Lakes HOA in 2010. She wanted a declaration that she was not required to join or pay, and she alleged that Bristol Lakes HOA had breached its fiduciary duty by settling.³

The trial court threw out her case on statute-of-limitations grounds, reasoning that the five-year clock under Florida Statutes § 95.11(2)(b) started running when the amendment was recorded in 2004.³¹¹¹² The available record does not show what happened on remand.

Similar Fights at Other Florida Communities

Aberdeen was one of several Florida communities litigating the same question at roughly the same time.

Willoughby (Martin County): In Granuzzo v. Willoughby Golf Club (2008), the circuit court voided a 2003 amendment requiring homeowners to hold at least social membership. Owners had bought in 1995 with documents saying homeownership carried no interest in the club. Even with a 67 percent supermajority vote, the court declared the amended declaration “void and unenforceable” from inception and ordered fees refunded. The parties later settled privately, grandfathering existing owners while keeping the mandate for future buyers.¹³⁸
Ironhorse (West Palm Beach): Ten homeowners challenged a $2,900 annual mandatory fee at the 324-home Ironhorse community. Circuit Judge Kenneth Stern ruled in 2008 that the developer could not unilaterally change the documents to force residents to pay, and the Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed in December 2009.¹⁴
The Hamlet (Delray Beach): The association settled by agreeing to waive mandatory club membership for future buyers.⁸

Why Courts Strike These Amendments Down

Florida law lets an HOA amend its governing documents, usually by supermajority, but the amendments have to be reasonable and cannot destroy the community’s original development plan. That standard, drawn from Flamingo Ranch Estates v. Sunshine Ranches Homeowners (1974) and Holiday Pines Property Owners Association v. Wetherington (1992), is known as the “general scheme or plan of development” test. Retrofitting mandatory country club membership onto a community where it had been voluntary crossed that line in the Aberdeen, Willoughby, and Ironhorse rulings.¹⁵

Associations have tried to lean on the Florida Supreme Court’s 2002 decision in Woodside Village Condominium Association v. Jahren, which held that condominium owners are on notice their declaration can be amended. The Granuzzo court rejected the analogy, holding that condominiums are “a more highly regulated and restricted form of property ownership” and that Woodside Village does not extend to traditional subdivisions.¹³

Chapter 720 of the Florida Statutes, the Homeowners’ Association Act, defines an HOA as one where “membership is a mandatory condition of parcel ownership” and sets out procedures for amending governing documents, but it doesn’t answer whether an association can impose mandatory country club membership by amendment. That gap has been left to the courts.¹⁶

Where Aberdeen Stands Today

Despite the rulings, Aberdeen Golf & Country Club continues to operate as a mandatory-membership community. Its current website tells prospective residents that all new buyers are required to become club members, with joining fees due in full at closing.⁶ If you’re buying into Aberdeen or a similar Florida community with a post-purchase membership mandate, the litigation history is a reminder to read the recorded declaration carefully, check whether your sub-community has its own settlement or carve-out on file, and understand that the enforceability question in Florida has been answered case by case rather than by statute.

1
Aberdeen Golf & Country Club. Aberdeen Golf & Country Club
2
CauseIQ. Aberdeen Golf and Country Club
3
FindLaw. Harris v. Aberdeen Property Owners Association
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Sun-Sentinel. Country Club Battle Heads to Court
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Aberdeen Golf & Country Club. Membership at Aberdeen 2023
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Aberdeen Golf & Country Club. Membership
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CCFJ. FL Residents Challenge Mandatory Club Membership
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HOA Leader. Mandatory Club Membership: Aberdeen Golf & Country Club
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vLex. Aberdeen Property Owners Association v. Bristol Lakes Homeowners Association, 8 So.3d 469
10
Bristol Lakes HOA. Notice of Recording Supplement and Agreement to the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions of Bristol Lakes at Aberdeen
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vLex. Harris v. Aberdeen Prop. Owners Ass’n, Inc., 135 So.3d 365
12
Carlton Fields. Harris v. Aberdeen Prop. Owners Assoc., Inc.
13
CCFJ. Granuzzo v. Willoughby Golf Club, Case No. 432004CA1006
14
Palm Beach Post. Appeals Court Rules Ironhorse Homeowners
15
Florida Bar Journal. Adrift in the Amendments Sea: Florida Courts Struggle for Logic and Consistency, Part II
16
Florida Senate. Chapter 720, Florida Statutes