Cases: Homeowner Associations

Homeowner Associations/Prevailing Party: HOA Was Not Liable For Fees And Costs When It Obtained Injunctive Relief Before Dismissing Its Complaint Voluntarily

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Prevailing Party

  Defendant Not Entitled to Fees Where Contractually-Based Complaint Voluntarily Dismissed And Not Entitled to Costs Under Discretionary Prevailing Party Provision.      Homeowner association (HOA)/homeowner disputes have resulted in us doing a fair amount of posts under our category “Homeowner Associations.” Here is one more to add to the list, with a homeowner seeking $64,572.84 […]

Allocation/Appealability/Homeowner Associations/Reasonableness Of Fees: $190,065 Fee Award Affirmed in “Acrid Dispute Between Neighbors” Under CC&Rs

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Appealability, Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Trial Court’s Significant Reductions in Requested Fees Obviated Need to Apportion With Mathematical Precision.      The next case illustrates a result we see often in appellate decisions when apportionment of fees is necessary as between compensable and noncompensable claims: a lower court’s reduction of fee requests obviates the need to perform a CPA-like audit of

Homeowners Associations: Civil Code Section 1354 Did Not Allow Third Party To Recoup Fees From Losing Homeowner

Cases: Homeowner Associations

Section 1354 Only Applies in Homeowner-Homeowner Association Disputes.      The scope of Civil Code section 1354, which permits homeowner associations and homeowners to recover attorney’s fees in actions to enforce an HOA’s governing documents, was at issue in the next case out of our local Santa Ana appellate court.      In Chen v. Association Lien

Intervenors: Prevailing Intervenor Neighbor In Homeowner/HOA Lawsuit Over Permit Denial Properly Awarded Attorney’s Fees Of $49,650

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Intervenors

Second District, Division 6 Finds Intervenor Was In Same Position As Parties to the Lawsuit for Fee Shifting Purposes.      Here is a case involving an interven0r for our category “Intervenors”–a category that we have not posted on for some time. The case is Larson v. Las Posas Hills Homeowners Assn., Case No. B219066 (2d

Homeowners Association/Standard Of Review/Allocation/Substantiation of Fees: Substantial Cross-Fee Awards Affirmed Across The Board In Acrimonious Tree View Dispute

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Standard of Review, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

Second District, Division 1 Finds No Abuse of Discretion in Various Fee Awards.      It is amazing how ocean views, privacy, and trees all seem to be in the mix of many neighbor/homeowner association disputes. The next one is no exception, producing substantial cross-fee awards under Civil Code section 1354 that probably only made the

Homeowner’s Associations And SLAPP: Judgment And Fee Awards Correctly Awarded Against Homeowner Trustee As An Individual

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: SLAPP

Fourth District, Division 1 Sees No Error in Individual Assessment.      In San Diego Country Estates Assn., Inc. v. Ward, Case No. D055182 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Nov. 22, 2010) (unpublished), an HOA and homeowner (a trustee of his revocable inter vivos trust) got embroiled in a retaining wall construction dispute in which trustee was

Civil Code Section 1717: Award To Prevailing Party Under Settlement Stipulation Entirely Proper

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Section 1717

Second District, Division 2 Finds Settlement Stipulation Allowed for 1717 Fee Recovery.      In Duenas v. Fraccionamiento Villas Del Mar, S.A., Case No. B219112 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Sept. 30, 2010) (unpublished), parties to a Baja California condominium dispute settled, reached a stipulation that all issues but a note payment issue in favor of plaintiff—including

Homeowners Associations: $65,707.80 Fee Award To HOA Affirmed On Appeal.

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

  Block Billing Per Se Will Not Tank a Fee Request.      Under our category "Homeowner Associations," we have reviewed numerous decisions where homeowners or HOAs feel the sting of "victory or defeat," even if ABC’s famous "World of Sports" mantra was not directly in play. Well, we have another one to share with you—where

Homeowners Associations And Section 1717: Homeowner Demonstrating Inapplicability of CC&Rs Entitled To Fee Award Under Civil Code Section 1717

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Section 1717

Reciprocity Principle Underlying Section 1717 Required Reversal of Fee Denial.      Here is a decision emphasizing that Civil Code section 1717 reciprocity principles will prevail, even where a successful litigant shows that the contract (in this case, CC&Rs) was inapplicable. The fees clause had to be construed as mutual in nature. The lower court did

Undertaking: Court Of Appeal Holds That A Judgment Solely for Costs and Attorney’s Fees In HOA Dispute Is Automatically Stayed By Appeal, Without The Need For A Bond

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Standard of Review, Cases: Undertaking

Fourth District, Div. 1 Concludes That Not All Attorney’s Fee Awards Are Equal For Purposes Of Automatic Stay On Appeal.      In the next case, the Court of Appeal has gifted us with a 47 page opinion arising from the fact that homeowners in a condominium association installed two sandstone-colored windows, rather than two dark-brown

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