Third floor flooding into my ground level unit.

Before giving you a legal answer, I would want to review your CC&Rs to make sure exactly how your Units and Common Area are defined. In many modern condominiums, they are set up the way your HOA has told you. The HOA is responsible for all of the common area, including the exterior, the hallways, and the plumbing and electrical inside the walls. Ordinarily, the HOA should be responsible for damage to the inside of your unit caused by a failure of its common area plumbing. However, some CC&Rs specifically cancel such liability and require Unit owners to carry HO6 coverage. Maybe the HOA is right and maybe not. There are lots of different ways CC&Rs for different HOAs deal with such issues. It is possible that the property management company hired by the HOA assumes that's how your CC&Rs work, because that's how the CC&Rs for other HOAs work. Someone needs to carefully review your CC&Rs to determine which flavor you have. Your HO6 carrier will figure out whether or not you and it are entitled to reimbursement from the HOA or its insurer. Once your HO6 carrier pays you, then it can pursue your claim against the HOA for reimbursement, if you have one. That's called "subrogation." Who says your HO6 insurance company won't pay for a second claim? If they issue the policy and accept the premium, then it has to pay anything covered by the policy. If they write an exclusion for water damage, go to another insurance company. That's one of the principal reasons for having an HO6. Your HO6 carrier will figure out whether or not you and it are entitled to reimbursement from the HOA or its insurer. Once your HO6 carrier pays you, then it can pursue your claim against the HOA for reimbursement, if you have one. That's called "subrogation." If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack