Florida couple sues condo association for 'false imprisonment' after board threatened to call authorities if they left their apartment and deactivated their access to common spaces when they tested positive for COVID

A Florida couple have filed a lawsuit against their condo association claiming they were falsely imprisoned in their home after informing them of their positive coronavirus test results. 

Steven and Nancy Iscowitz, who own a condo at Palmetto Place in Mizner Park in Boca Raton, Florida, filed the lawsuit against the condo association on December 28.

'Property owners deserve to be treated fairly. Condominium owners Steven and Nancy expected that their private health information would be protected and respected,' the couple's attorney, Jeff Kominsky, told DailyMail.com in a statement. 

'Instead, given their COVID-19 diagnosis, the evidence that I have seen strongly suggests that the Condominium Association treated my clients unjustly. We will continue to aggressively enforce our clients’ rights as property owners until we attain the justice they deserve.' 

Florida couple Steven and Nancy Iscowitz, who own a condo at Palmetto Place in Mizner Park , filed a lawsuit against their condo association, claiming false imprisonment 

In the lawsuit, the couple claimed that after they tested positive for COVID-19 in July, the condo association deactivated their key fobs, which stopped them from entering the building's common areas, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. 

They also claimed that the condo association threatened them, saying that they would have them 'removed from the building and/or arrested' if they left their apartment without permission and that they violated their trust by telling other residents about their test results. 

The lawsuit noted that the couple tested positive for coronavirus on the same day that the condo association sent out a letter telling residents to inform them if they received a positive COVID result. 

In the letter, property manager Leianna Dodd was said to have written, 'Under no circumstance will your identity or unit number ever be disclosed.' 

The Iscowitzes said that their key fobs were deactivated, preventing them from accessing common spaces including their building swimming pool  

The couple said that the building tried to force them to quarantine inside their apartment for 14 days. A hallway in their Palmetto Place at Mizner Park building is pictured (file image) 

The couple then dutifully reported their positive test result to the condo association. 

After three days, the couple claimed that they received a letter from the condo association notifying them that their access to the building's common spaces was being revoked and that they needed to isolate themselves inside their apartment for two weeks, leaving only if it was for a medically-necessary purpose.  

The couple said in the lawsuit that they were told they would need to show negative COVID tests before they would be allowed to use the common spaces again and that the authorities would be called if they left their premises. 

Then, the couple said, their key fobs which would've given them access to those spaces were deactivated without their permission, which stopped them from freely moving around the building. 

The couple said in suit that they were prevented from accessing the elevators, the pool area, their storage units and their second unit on the premises. 

Kominsky told the South Florida Sun Sentinel said that it was 'clear the gave no notice to my clients the association was going to turn off my client’s fobs.'

The lawsuit said that on July 16, the condo association then sent an email to all residents stating that the building's pool and fitness center were being closed because 'two residents ... refused to comply with the building’s request to quarantine and provide a negative test before utilizing the common areas.'

Although the Iscowitzes were not named in this email, the condo association was said to have filed a civil complaint against them, which referred to the couple by their names, to try to force them into quarantine.  

As a result of the lawsuit, Kominsky told DailyMail.com, the other condo residents were able to figure out the couple's names.    

'The association early on represented to the that their health information would be protected,' the couple's attorney, Jeff Kominsky, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. 'And that clearly did not happen here.'

He added that 'What they really can’t do is take my client’s health information and discriminate them — and use their private health information to my client’s disadvantage to use the things they’re legally entitled to use.' 

The condo association later dropped its lawsuit.   

The Iscowitzes are seeking damages of more than $30,000 for false imprisonment, invasion of privacy and negligence, and other charges.

In July, a husband and wife in Key West, Florida, were believed to be the first people to be arrested for violating quarantine orders after testing positive for coronavirus. 

Jose Freire Interian, 24, and Yohana Gonzalez, 26, were arrested on July 29 after officials alleged that the couple had repeatedly ignored quarantine orders and gotten caught on tape while walking their dog, grocery shopping and getting their car washed - without even wearing a face mask.  

They were charged with second-degree misdemeanor charges of breaking quarantine during a public health emergency and violating emergency management, according to the Washington Post.