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2023 HOA Case Law Review
By Steven J. Tinnelly, Esq.
The two cases covered here are unique in that they both involve colorful scenarios in which an association’s board of directors sought to perpetuate their own power by failing to hold required elections and circumventing the will of their membership.
LAKE LINDERO HOA V. BARONE
In Lake Lindero Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Barone, (2023) 89 Cal.App.5th 834, ("Lake Lindero"), the association was properly served with a petition signed by more than 5% of its 459 members to conduct a recall election to remove the entire sitting board. After the board refused to act on the petition within the required statutory timeframe, the petitioning members exercised their rights to conduct the meeting themselves. They sent notice of the recall election to the association’s members, retained a third-party inspector of elections, and prepared/distributed the election materials to the association’s membership.
The special meeting was...
2022 HOA Case Law Review
By Nicholas A. Rogers, Esq.
California Appellate Courts issued several important opinions addressing issues in community association law in 2022, including whether to award prevailing party attorney fees in an election challenge, affirming rules relating to Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), the importance of complying with the pre-litigation Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) requirements, the consequence of failing to accurately complete an application for association insurance, and the role of equity in enforcement disputes.
PREVAILING PARTY ATTORNEY FEES
Artus v. Gramercy Towers Condominium Association (2022) 76 Cal.App.5th 1043
The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (CID Act) provides that in an action to enforce the governing documents, the prevailing party is awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs. A long line of published appellate opinions have affirmed a prevailing party’s right to such fees is mandatory....