Fee Entitlement Was Justified Under Davis-Stirling Act And Vexatious Litigant Statutes.
We have posted many times on how attorney’s fees and costs are the “tail that wags the dog in litigation” in homeowner-HOA disputes, resulting in hefty awards for the prevailing party or resulting in a large expenditure fees even though no one is deemed to have prevailed. Harter v. Rancho Rios Homeowners Assn., Case No. D081285 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Mar. 20, 2024) (unpublished) is an example of this for a non-prevailing, in pro per plaintiff.
Plaintiff, who was declared to be a vexatious litigant and was required to post $50,000 as security, lost a demurrer successfully brought by HOA to his lawsuit. The trial court awarded HOA prevailing party fees of $43,703.18. Homeowner unsuccessfully appealed, which resulted in the grant of a fees/costs in HOA’s favor to the tune of $156,476.33 (inclusive of the $43,703.18 prior award) and an order to release the $50,000 security to partially satisfy the fee award. Plaintiff again appealed.
Unfortunately for him, plaintiff lost. The appellate court found two bases for fee entitlement: the Davis-Stirling Act (Civil Code § 5975(c)) and the vexatious litigant statutes (CCP §§ 391(c), 391.3). The fee award was found to be no abuse of the lower court’s discretion, and the denial of a continuance request was not erroneous under the circumstances.