especially in the civil suit. That would make everyone on the board libel. I hope these people sue the pants off of everybody. That's the only way any of them are going to learn!

that they must retain (and provide if asked) the minutes of board meetings.

I have not seen anything about the HOA Board on the news. You are right - they may be complicit.

Further, if they are brought into a lawsuit it will be interesting to see if their D & O insurance provider will support/defend the board. They may not if the board did not reveal their allowance or sanctioning of Zimmerman's activities. Also, I think it is made more interesting by the fact that Zimmerman is not a unit owner but just a tenant.

It's possible that they may be liable even if the fact that Zimmerman was armed was never mentioned at a meeting. If they simply knew about the neighborhood watch program and didn't have some rules about carrying weapons or fully vetting volunteers they could be held responsible.
In New York and New Jersey neighborhood watch groups have to meet strict standards or suffer big law suits if something goes wrong.

But it does not matter - liability is liability. If the Board or a member knew what Zimmerman was doing and did not instruct him to stop they have a problem.

According to the City Manager.

http://www.sanfordfl.gov/investigation/docs/Zimmerman_Martin_shooting.pdf

Someone like Zimmerman would probably boast about it.

Did Zimmerman claim he was a watch patrol on the 911 calls.

In the civil case, discovery will be fun.

for Neighb. watchers stated specifically that they are NOT
supposed to be carrying a weapon.