Homeowners Associations: Justice Fybel Provides A Great Quote Regarding Fees Often Times Spent By Both Sides In These Disputes

Quote Comes from 2002 Unpublished Opinion.

     We would like to thank Justice Richard Fybel of the Fourth District, Division 3 for a great quote from a prior unpublished opinion involving a homeowner association-property owner dispute.

     In Niguel Shores Community Association v. Buehler, 2002 WL 31121089 (4^th Dist., Div. 3 Sept. 25, 2002), both sides spent over a combined $220,000 in attorney’s fees after several years of acrimonious litigation over whether property’s home construction deviated from approved plans. Here is how he described this $220,000+ fee expenditure—“enough in many parts of the world to build an entire home or even a small town.” True, true.

     Above:  Valley of Senegal. c1900-1910.  Village scene with

      oxcarts.  Library of Congress.

     Although both sides appealed the fee determination, it was affirmed on appeal. The trial court had actually erred in failing to apply the proper lodestar analysis, but the appellate court applied the doctrine of estoppel in affirming because the homeowner association griping about the lowness of its actual $10,000 fee award failed to cite the lower court to the proper lodestar principles.

     Association also argued that an award of 20% or less of fees was a per se abuse of discretion, relying on Deane Gardenhome Assn. v. Denktas, 13 Cal.App.4^th 1394 (1993) and Hadley v. Krepel, 167 Cal.App.3d 677 (1985). However, the Fourth District, Division 3 found these results were dependent on different circumstances, with neither decision establishing a per se threshold for determination of reasonable fee amounts.

     Thanks for a great quote, Justice Fybel.

     BLOG UNDERVIEW—Niguel Shores Community Association is located in South Orange County, which seems to draw a fair amount of the homeowner association-property owner disputes over fees. Deane Gardenhome was authored by (now) Retired Justice Wallin, with the decision containing the famous “fees being the tail that wags the litigation dog” quote that we showcase in our blog’s Mission Statement.