Apportionment Not Required. Weiss v. Citrus Heights, LLC, Case No. D058614 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Aug. 2, 2012) (unpublished) is yet a stark reminder in these economic times of fee exposure that can be visited upon foreclosed owners of homeowner association interests. The Jumbo Lemon. 1925. In this one, homeowners in […]
Appellate Court Tells Everyone That Some Claims May Not Be Compensable. Homeowner Association (HOA)/homeowner disputes seem to be very acrimonious. However, depending on who prevails, there may be fee exposure under Civil Code section 1354 (CC&R enforcement) or Civil Code section 1717 (contractual fee enforcement). But, each side may have to wait until
Statutory Language Did Not Encompass Losing Homeowners, So Concluded in a “Reluctant” Decision By the Appellate Court. This next case demonstrates judicial restraint based on the appellate court’s construction of the governing statutory language. If they could have done otherwise, they would have — we surmise — but the panel left this “loophole”
Civil Code Section 1363.09(b) Was One Basis For Award. Lingle v. Quail Ridge Residential Assn., Case No. A129505 (1st Dist., Div. 4 May 17, 2012) (unpublished) is a case where an HOA prevailed against a homeowner challenging conduct resulting in the election of HOA’s board of directors. Unfortunately for homeowner, the lower court
Homeowner Had to Pay Fees of About $35,000, But Appellate Court Had To Face An Olio Of Civil Code Section 1354 “Prevailing Party” And Stay/Preliminary Injunction Bond Issues. Okay, here we go with another homeowners association (HOA)-homeowners fight that, ta! da!, produced an ultimate fight over who was owed attorney’s fees and costs.
$58,212 Was the Fee Price Tag for Noncompliance With Mediation Condition Precedent. Usually, we see what happened in the next case occurring instead under California Association of Realtor (CAR) sale/purchase form contracts, which have attorney’s fees clauses that are conditioned upon one or both parties attempting to mediate a dispute before resorting to
Second District, Division 7 Has Nice Discussion of Fees/Costs Distribution of Surplus Fees After HOA Delinquency Foreclosure. For anyone practicing homeowner association law, this next case is a great primer on the expenses and fees that can be obtained by the foreclosing trustee in an HOA delinquency nonjudicial foreclosure lawsuit or its aftermath.
Entitlement and Breach Were Established. Well, whether the Holidays or not, neighborhood disputes in common area developments always produce interesting results–often times with someone bearing the sting of fees as the losing parties or both parties walking away after incurring lots of fees. The former was the case in Toler v. LeFevre, Case
HOA, on Remand, Will Get to Renew Request for $252,767 in Defense Fees. Here is an interesting one where an appellate court reversed the denial of a fee award as an abuse of discretion. The reason: HOA clearly prevailed when plaintiff dismissed 8 of 10 claims (some of them based on a fee-shifting
Actions Involved Enforcement of CC&Rs, With Trial Court Reasonably Awarding a Lodestar Amount After Reductions. Yet again, we have a homeowner-HOA dispute resulting in substantial fee awards against a homeowner and in favor of two set of defendants. Seltzer v. Eugene Burger Management Assn., Case No. A128552 (1st Dist., Div. 3 Oct. 19,
