Cases: Homeowner Associations – Page 17

SLAPP Awards: HOA President And Attorney Suffer Adverse Fee Award When Losing Anti-SLAPP Motion Brought By Adjoining Golf Course Manager

February 2, 2009

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Does Require Better Fee Allocation through a Separate Motion. One of the nice things about blogging is that we do get interactive input from a variety of individuals. Bill Leys, The Deck Expert, who has a blog at Waterproofdeckcoatingadvice.com, liked one of our recent HOA blogs and, in turn, […]

HOA Fee Award: Homeowner Assessed With Fees, And Appellate Court Chastises Litigant For Not Using Small Claims Court Alternative

Cases: Homeowner Associations

January 31, 2009

Fourth District, Division 1 Expresses Displeasure That Inexpensive Forum Was Not Pursued. In our category “Cases: Homeowner Associations,” we have discussed cases where HOAs or homeowners prevailed (or neither side prevailed) in disputes involving proper interpretation of CC&Rs—usually involving maintenance, repair, or view protection disputes. Attorney’s fees are usually the ultimate battle, because they

Homeowner Associations: “No Prevailing Party” Determination Means No Fee Award For Either Side In Mold Insurance Proceeds Dispute

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Prevailing Party

January 25, 2009

Ruling Affirmed Where Homeowner Spent Fees of At Least $35,088.50 and HOA Spent At Least $92,335.25. In our category “Cases: Homeowner Associations,” we have examined numerous contests between homeowners and homeowner associations (HOA) in common interest developments where attorney’s fees are often the real battle because most CC&Rs and Civil Code section 1354 allow

Homeowner Association Disputes: If You Want To Collect Fees From Winning, Make Sure Your Opponent Is A Legal Entity!

Cases: Homeowner Associations

January 22, 2009

Fees Properly Declined To Victorious Defendant Where One Suing Plaintiff Was Not A Legal Entity And The Other Plaintiff Was Not Sued Individually–First District, Division 5 Affirms Refusal To Award Fees in a Unique Case. In our category “Cases: Homeowner Associations,” we previously have canvassed decisions awarding attorney’s fees to either HOAs or homeowners

M&M’s 2008 “Top Ten” Attorney’s Fees Cases

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: SLAPP

December 31, 2008

Part 2 of 2 – We Finish Off With The Last Five Cases And An “Honorable Mention” Oh, the suspense … and the ball has not yet dropped from above Times Square. You have to go to our prior post to see the first part of this list. Here is the rest of

HOA Fee Award: No Error Where No Evidence Submitted To Backup Argument That Claimed Fees Were Unreasonable

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

December 15, 2008

Fourth District, Division Three Finds the Lack of Evidence to be Dispositive. If you are going to challenge a fee claim as being unreasonable or excessive in nature, you need to be prepared to present evidence to back up these arguments. The failure to do so will likely lead to affirmance of a fee

Attorney’s Fees Not Recoverable As Compensatory Damages Under Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act or “Tort of Another” Doctrine

Cases: Fees as Damages, Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

December 2, 2008

Fourth District, Division Three Reverses Wide-ranging Fee Award and Remands For Narrower Determination. We have seen the litigants in the next case before. (See our posts of June 2, 2008 and August 27, 2008, where the McMahons have suffered adverse fee awards and sanctions in a long-standing battle with a homeowners association.) Here,

Homeowner Associations Garner Two Substantial Fee Awards Under Civil Code Section 1354(c)

Cases: Homeowner Associations

November 29, 2008

First District, Division Four and Second District, Division Two Uphold Two Fee Awards in Favor of HOAs. One of the themes that emerges from our review of appellate decisions is how staggering and financially ruinous litigation can be if a litigant is on the short end of the “prevailing party” determination stick. Although sometimes

Fourth District, Division Three Affirms Attorney’s Fees Award In Two Real Estate Cases

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

November 20, 2008

Seller Hit With Fees In a Water Accumulation Concealment Case; Neighbors Obtain Fees Against Neighbors In Tree Obstruction View Case. In these interesting financial times, we find that real estate disputes still fester and produce interesting posts on attorney’s fees issues. The next two cases do not disappoint, originating from our local Santa Ana

HOA Dispute: No Prevailing Party Found In Upscale Homeowner Dispute Where One Homeowner Recovered $2,000 In Damages For Fraud

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Prevailing Party

November 5, 2008

Fourth District, Division Three Determines That Thrust of Lawsuit Was Not CC&R Enforcement and Lower Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion In Finding No One Was the Prevailing Party For Purposes of a Fee Award. Plaintiff and defendants are next-door neighbors in a South Orange County upscale residential common area project subject to CC&Rs.