Category Archives: Case Law: Assessments & Collection

Highland Greens Homeowners Ass’n v. De Guillen (In re De Guillen)

(2019) 604 B.R. 826

[Assessment Liens; Continuing Lien; Foreclosure] The BAP held that the Davis-Stirling Act does not allow for continuing assessment liens and imposes an affirmative duty on Associations to provide additional pre-lien notices to delinquent homeowners before recording any subsequent assessment lien.

In re: Maria A. Basave De Guillen, Debtor. Highland Greens Homeowners Association of Buena Park, Appellant, v. Maria A. Basave De Guillen, Appellee.

OPINION

[829] LAFFERTY, Bankruptcy Judge:

INTRODUCTION

Highland Greens Homeowners Association (“Highland Greens”) appeals the bankruptcy court’s order sustaining in part Debtor Maria Basave de Guillen’s objection to Highland Greens’ proof of claim. The bankruptcy court found that, under California law, Highland Greens’ recorded notice of lien for delinquent homeowners assessments on Debtor’s condominium did not secure amounts accruing after the recordation of the lien. Accordingly, the bankruptcy court limited Highland Greens’ secured claim to the amount of its recorded pre-petition state court judgment, classifying the remainder of the claim as unsecured.

We AFFIRM.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Pre-petition, Debtor fell behind on the homeowners association (“HOA”) dues on her condominium in Buena Park, California (the “Property”). As a consequence, Highland Greens recorded a Notice of Delinquent Assessment Lien (the “Notice”) against the Property on December 1, 2008.[i] Highland Greens recorded an amendment to the Notice in April 2011 (the “2011 Amendment”). Both the Notice and the 2011 Amendment purported to include, in the amount subject to the lien, unpaid assessments and charges accruing after the date of the notice.

In August 2011, Highland Greens sued Debtor in state court to enforce its lien and, in April 2012, obtained a default judgment for foreclosure and a money judgment of $21,398.02 (consisting of $10,140 principal, attorney’s fees of $10,273.12, and collection costs of $2,885, minus a $1,900.10 payment). The money judgment was subsequently recorded, and Highland Greens began the foreclosure process, but no sale was ever conducted.

Debtor filed a chapter 13[ii] case on February 28, 2018.[iii] On Schedule D, she listed two debts to Highland Greens secured by the Property, one for $8,000, described as “interest on claim,” and another for $40,000, described as “assessments and attorney’s fees.” Her proposed plan provided for payment of both claims in full, with interest at ten percent on the $40,000 claim.

Highland Greens then filed a proof of claim for $64,137.20, purportedly secured by the Property, with interest at twelve [830] percent. The itemization attached to the proof of claim indicated that it consisted of: (1) the April 2012 money judgment of $21,398.02; (2) $8,572.63 in interest on the judgment; (3) post-judgment assessments through February 1, 2018 of $14,060; (4) late charges of $690; (5) post-judgment interest of $7,207.44; (6) post-judgment attorney’s fees and costs of $13,729.11; less (7) a payment credit of $1,520. The attachment to the proof of claim explained that the post-judgment assessments were secured by the Property pursuant to the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (“CC&Rs”) recorded in 1964 against the Property. Highland Greens also asserted that it was entitled to twelve percent interest on any delinquent amounts pursuant to California Civil Code § 5650(b)(3).

Highland Greens attached eight pages of the CC&Rs to its proof of claim. The relevant provision (paragraph 12(b)) provides, among other things, that if a delinquency in assessments is not paid within ten days after delivery of a notice of default, the Board of Governors may file a claim of lien; the provision then lists the information that must be included in such claim of lien. The paragraph continues, “[u]pon recordation of a duly executed original or duly executed copy of such claim of lien by the Recorder of the County of Orange the lien claimed therein shall immediately attach and become effective, subject only to the limitations hereinafter set forth. Each default shall constitute a separate basis for a claim of lien or a lien.”

Debtor filed an objection to Highland Greens’ claim. She argued: (1) the claim should be disallowed in its entirety for lack of supporting documentation; (2) most of the claim should be reclassified as unsecured because Highland Greens did not comply with the procedures set forth in the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (“Davis-Stirling Act” or the “Act”), specifically, California Civil Code §§ 5660 and 5675, and there was no basis to find an equitable lien; (3) only the portion of the debt representing the amount owing under the judgment may be classified as secured; (4) the attorney’s fee portion of the claim should be disallowed as unreasonable and unsupported; and (5) the claim should not include future assessments because Debtor was current postpetition on those obligations.

Highland Greens filed an opposition in which it asserted: (1) the Notice recorded in 2008 complied with all procedural requirements and in any event had been adjudicated valid by the state court in the foreclosure lawsuit; (2) Debtor was barred by issue preclusion from challenging the validity of the lien; (3) Highland Greens was entitled under California Civil Code § 5650(b)(3) to twelve percent interest on the post-judgment assessments and related fees and costs; (4) Highland Greens was entitled to submit cost bills for its judgment enforcement activities, which increased the judgment amount; and (5) the assessment lien was a “continuing lien”; thus, assessments that became delinquent after the recordation of the lien were appropriately included in the amount secured by the lien, citing Bear Creek Master Ass’n v. Edwards, 130 Cal. App. 4th 1470, 1489, 31 Cal. Rptr. 3d 337 (2005).

Debtor filed a reply in which she argued that the Davis-Stirling Act prohibited Highland Greens from asserting a continuing lien. She contended that Bear Creek was not binding on the bankruptcy court and that federal courts in California had held to the contrary, citing In re Warren, No. 15-CV-03655-YGR, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49917, 2016 WL 1460844 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 13, 2016), and In re Guajardo, No. 15-31452 DM, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 769, 2016 WL 943613 (Bankr. N.D. Cal. Mar. 11, 2016).

[831] At the initial hearing on Debtor’s objection, counsel for Highland Greens stated that the HOA was relying on the assessment lien rather than the judgment lien as the basis for its security interest. The bankruptcy court requested further detail as to how the different components of the claim amount were calculated and continued the matter for further briefing, which the parties submitted.

At the final hearing on the claim objection, the bankruptcy court did not rule on the reasonableness of the attorney’s fees or any of the other arguments raised by Debtor. But it ruled that under applicable law there was no continuing lien based on the Notice. As such, the only basis for Highland Greens’ security interest was its judgment lien.[iv] Accordingly, the court sustained Debtor’s objection in part, allowing Highland Greens’ claim in full but reclassifying it as $29,970.65 secured (principal of $21,398.02 plus pre-petition interest of $8,572.63) and the $34,166.55 balance as unsecured. Shortly thereafter, the court entered its order on the Debtor’s claim objection, and Highland Greens timely appealed.[v]

JURISDICTION

The bankruptcy court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334 and 157(b)(2)(B). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 158.

ISSUE

Did the bankruptcy court err in sustaining in part Debtor’s objection to Highland Greens’ claim?

STANDARD OF REVIEW

This appeal involves issues of statutory and contract interpretation, which we review de novo. See Veal v. Am. Home Mortg. Serv., Inc. (In re Veal), 450 B.R. 897, 918 (9th Cir. BAP 2011) (citations omitted) an order sustaining or overruling a claim objection “can raise legal issues (such as the proper construction of statutes and rules) which we review de novo . . . .”); Renwick v. Bennett (In re Bennett), 298 F.3d 1059, 1064 (9th Cir. 2002) (“Under California law, the interpretation of a contract is a question of law which the court reviews de novo.”).

DISCUSSION

This appeal requires us to determine whether, under California law, Highland Greens’ assessment lien was a continuing lien on the Property such that it secured amounts that became delinquent after Highland Greens recorded its Notice. This is a question of first impression for this Panel, and it presents some challenges. First, the statute in question does not expressly address the issue of an HOA’s right to a continuing lien. Second, the statute references the governing documents (the CC&Rs), which may or may not create a contractual basis for a continuing lien. Third, California Courts of Appeal have differed significantly in their assessment of the policy to be enhanced by the Davis-Stirling Act, i.e., is the purpose of the Act to facilitate the expeditious collection of HOA assessments or to safeguard the notice rights of homeowners?

[832] These variables and complexities notwithstanding, we do not write on a blank judicial slate: as discussed below, two federal courts have opined that the Davis-Stirling Act does not provide for the continuing lien that Highland Greens seeks. Highland Greens relies principally on Bear Creek, an older California Court of Appeal decision to the contrary. But that decision, as discussed below, did not address the matter of continuing liens as the primary issue on appeal nor did it consider the Act’s notice provisions. The court of appeal instead focused on what it plausibly believed to be the policy underlying the Act—to facilitate HOAs’ collection of delinquent assessments. But its view is not supported by the legislative history or other California cases. The decision’s rationale was, at least indirectly, called into question by a more recent California Court of Appeal decision, Diamond v. Superior Court, 217 Cal. App. 4th 1172, 159 Cal. Rptr. 3d 110, as modified on denial of reh’g (July 12, 2013), confirming that the most fundamental and important purpose of the statute is to protect homeowners (not associations), and that the statutory requirements for precision in the notice of lien provided to homeowners must override any goals of expedition or convenience to associations.

As discussed below, we conclude that there are two independent bases on which to affirm the bankruptcy court’s order sustaining Debtor’s objection in part. First, the language of the Notice and 2011 Amendment conflicts with the applicable CC&Rs, which do not authorize a continuing lien. Second, the Davis-Stirling Act does not authorize a continuing lien. In reaching this latter conclusion, we agree with the reasoning of the other federal courts to consider this issue that a continuing lien is inconsistent with the Act’s notice provisions and the expressed legislative purpose of the Act.

A. The Davis-Stirling Act

We begin, as we must, with the language of the relevant statutes. See United States v. Ron Pair Enters., Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 241, 109 S. Ct. 1026, 103 L. Ed. 2d 290 (1989); Lee v. Hanley, 61 Cal. 4th 1225, 1232-33, 191 Cal. Rptr. 3d 536, 354 P.3d 334 (2015). The Davis-Stirling Act, enacted in 1985, authorizes condominium homeowners associations to levy assessments. Subject to certain limitations, a homeowners association “shall levy regular and special assessments sufficient to perform its obligations under the governing documents and this act.” Cal. Civ. Code § 5600.[vi] The Act also sets forth procedures for collecting delinquent assessments:

(a) A regular or special assessment and any late charges, reasonable fees and costs of collection, reasonable attorney’s fees, if any, and interest, if any, as determined in accordance with subdivision (b), shall be a debt of the owner of the separate interest at the time the assessment or other sums are levied.

(b) Regular and special assessments levied pursuant to the governing documents are delinquent 15 days after they become due, unless the declaration provides a longer time period, in which case the longer time period shall apply.

Cal. Civ. Code § 5650. In addition, it authorizes HOAs to recover reasonable collection costs, including attorney’s fees, late charges, and interest not to exceed twelve percent. Id. at § 5650(b)(1)-(3).

California Civil Code § 5675 provides for the placing of a lien on the owner’s interest in the condominium to secure delinquent assessments:

(a) The amount of the assessment, plus any costs of collection, late charges, and [833] interest assessed in accordance with subdivision (b) of Section 5650, shall be a lien on the owner’s separate interest in the common interest development from and after the time the association causes to be recorded with the county recorder of the county in which the separate interest is located, a notice of delinquent assessment, which shall state the amount of the assessment and other sums imposed in accordance with subdivision (b) of Section 5650, a legal description of the owner’s separate interest in the common interest development against which the assessment and other sums are levied, and the name of the record owner of the separate interest in the common interest development against which the lien is imposed.

Cal. Civ. Code § 5675. This section further requires that the notice of delinquent assessment must be signed by a designated person and include an itemized statement of charges; it also requires a copy of the notice to be mailed by certified mail to the record owner(s). Cal. Civ. Code § 5675(b)-(e). These notice requirements are to be strictly construed. Diamond, 217 Cal. App. 4th at 1189.

In applying these statutes, we are guided by (1) the plain language of the Davis-Stirling Act as interpreted by California federal and state courts; (2) the public policy behind the Act; and (3) principles of statutory construction. And, given that the Act references the “governing documents,” we also consider the terms of the applicable CC&Rs.

B. California Federal Cases Interpreting the Davis-Stirling Act

The Davis-Stirling Act itself does not provide for a continuing lien, and case law is scant regarding whether the Act may be fairly interpreted as so providing. Two federal courts in the Northern District of California have held that adding future assessments to a recorded lien securing delinquent assessments without recording a new lien is impermissible under the Davis-Stirling Act. In re Warren, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49917, 2016 WL 1460844; In re Guajardo, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 769, 2016 WL 943613.

In Guajardo, the bankruptcy court was tasked with determining the priorities between an HOA’s assessment lien and a federal tax lien for purposes of distributing the proceeds of a sale of property of the estate. The notice of delinquent assessment at issue in that case provided, “Additional monies shall accrue under this claim at the rate of the claimant’s regular monthly or special assessments, plus permissible late charges, costs of collection and interest, accruing subsequent to the date of this notice.” 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 769, 2016 WL 943613, at *1. The court held that this language was ineffective under both California contract law and the Davis-Stirling Act, for two reasons.

First, the CC&Rs at issue in that case provided that each “lienable default shall constitute a separate basis for a lien.” 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 769, [WL] at *3. The court found that the language of the notice that provided for the lien to include subsequent assessments and related charges was inconsistent with this provision. 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 769, [WL] at *3.[vii]

Second, and importantly, the court interpreted the language of California Civil Code § 5675 as limiting an assessment lien to the amount stated in the notice of delinquent assessment. Specifically, the statute [834] provides that the amount of the assessment (plus costs, late charges, and interest) shall be a lien on the owner’s separate interest. The statute further requires that the notice state the amount of the delinquent assessment and other sums. As such, the court found that adding future assessments to an existing lien would be “inconsistent with the portions of the Davis-Stirling Act requiring the unpaid amounts to be specifically set forth in the notice and in an attached accounting.” 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 769, [WL] at *3.

The bankruptcy court distinguished Bear Creek. As discussed below, in that case, the California Court of Appeal held that homeowners assessments that became due after the recordation of a lien notice were properly included in a judgment for lien foreclosure and breach of contract, based on the applicable CC&Rs and the provisions of the Davis-Stirling Act that, in turn, referenced the HOA’s governing documents. The Guajardo court noted that the CC&Rs in Bear Creek were much more specific as to future accruals than those at issue in the case before it, but the court also held that “the general imposition of a ‘present’ lien at the time of and by operation of the CCRs with respect to all future and potentially unknown assessments does not satisfy the notice and lien provisions of the Civil Code.” Id.

In Warren, the district court affirmed the bankruptcy court’s order sustaining a debtor’s objection to the secured claim of an HOA on grounds that the HOA’s lien was limited to the amounts stated in its notice of lien assessment. 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49917, 2016 WL 1460844 at *1. As in Guajardo, the lien notice in that case contained language that purported to constitute a prospective charge for future assessments and related costs. And like the bankruptcy court in Guajardo, the district court held that this language was impermissible under the Davis-Stirling Act. The court noted that the procedural notice requirements of the Davis-Stirling Act are to be strictly construed, citing Diamond, 217 Cal. App. 4th at 1191, and found that “[t]he Davis-Stirling Act limits the lien to the amount specified in the notice . . . .” 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49917, [WL] at *3-*4. The court went on: “Claimant should have filed additional liens to secure its interest in future unpaid assessments. To hold otherwise would offend the comprehensive notice scheme and homeowners’ rights to contest delinquent assessments as established in the Davis-Stirling Act.” 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49917, [WL] at *4.

C. California State Cases Interpreting the Davis-Stirling Act

In Bear Creek, the California Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment for lien foreclosure and breach of contract based on a condominium owner’s failure to pay assessments. 130 Cal. App. 4th at 1472. The primary issue before the court of appeal was whether an HOA may charge an owner assessments for lots on which condominium units were planned but had not yet been built. Id. In affirming the trial court’s foreclosure judgment, the court of appeal held that the definition of “condominium” in the Davis-Stirling Act included unbuilt lots in a qualifying condominium plan. Id. at 1481-82. The court of appeal also affirmed the trial court’s finding that the HOA had properly served lien notices on the owner. Id. at 1488. Finally, the court of appeal considered the appellant’s argument that the trial court had improperly determined the amount of the lien assessments because it included amounts that came due after the recordation of the lien notice; it found that those amounts were properly included. Id. at 1489.

[835] The court of appeal rejected the owner’s argument that no “recurring liens” were authorized under the relevant statutes such that the amount of the assessments secured by the lien was limited to the amount initially stated in the lien notice. The court noted that former California Civil Code § 1367 (recodified at § 5675), in describing the amounts to be secured by the lien, referenced former California Civil Code § 1366 (recodified at § 5600), which in turn referenced the homeowners association’s “governing documents.” Id. at 1488.

Specifically, California Civil Code § 1367(b) provided: “[t]he amount of the assessment, plus any costs of collection, late charges, and interest assessed in accordance with Section 1366, shall be a lien on the owner’s interest in the common interest development from and after the time the association causes to be recorded with the county recorder of the county in which the separate interest is located, a notice of delinquent assessment. . . .” Id. at 1488. The cross-referenced statute, former California Civil Code § 1366, provided, in relevant part: “the association shall levy regular and special assessments sufficient to perform its obligations under the governing documents and this title.”[viii]

The court next looked to the governing documents, specifically, the CC&R’s. The CC&Rs provided that “any demand or claim of lien or lien on account of prior delinquencies shall be deemed to include subsequent delinquencies and amounts due on account thereof.” Id. Further, the recorded lien notices provided that “[a]dditional monies shall accrue under this claim at the rate of the claimants’ regular monthly or special assessments, plus permissible late charges, costs of collection and interest, accruing subsequent to the date of this notice.” Id. Based on this language, the court of appeal held that “all of the sums included on the liens and lien notices are authorized by the CC & R’s and statutory law. The amounts here determined by the court to be owing as liens are no more than the amounts authorized by the governing documents and statutes.” Id.

The court of appeal opined that its holding was consistent with the legislative purpose of providing homeowners associations a quick and efficient means of seeking relief against a nonpaying owner:

Were the relevant provisions to be construed as [the owner] suggests, the described statutory purpose of providing for a quick and efficient means of enforcing the CC & R’s would be seriously undermined; each month, or at such other intervals as the assessments are charged under a given set of CC&R’s, the association would be required to record successive liens. A successive recordation requirement would impose a heavy—and needless—burden upon homeowners’ associations, fraught with risk to the association, and undue windfall to the delinquent homeowner, should any installment be overlooked. We are unwilling to construe Civil Code section 1367 to require such an oppressive burden. Both delinquent homeowners and the public at large are placed on notice, with the recordation of the initial assessment lien, that subsequent regularly and specially levied assessments, if they continue unpaid, will accrue in due course. The purpose of the lien notice and recordation will have been served, and the [836] association’s remedy justly preserved, by the initial recordation of lien.

Id. at 1489.

Two years after the decision in Bear Creek, the California Sixth District Court of Appeal held that the notice provisions of the Davis-Stirling Act are to be strictly construed. Diamond, 217 Cal. App. 4th at 1189. The issue in Diamond was whether “substantial compliance” with the pre-lien and pre-foreclosure notice requirements of the Davis-Stirling Act was sufficient to permit an HOA to proceed with foreclosure. The court of appeal held that it was not. In its opinion, the court of appeal examined the legislative history of the Act and concluded that it was intended to “protect the interest of a homeowner who has failed to timely pay an assessment levied by a homeowners association.” Id. at 1190-91. As such, the notice requirements were intended to be mandatory. Id.

The court of appeal noted that its conclusion was supported by California Supreme Court precedent, including Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 13 Cal. 3d 804, 815, 119 Cal. Rptr. 858, 532 P.2d 1226 (1975) (“If a provision of the [Civil] [C]ode is plain and unambiguous, it is the duty of the court to enforce it as it is written.”); Chase v. Putnam, 117 Cal. 364, 367-368, 49 P. 204 (1897) (“a lien which is the creature of statute can be enforced only in the manner prescribed by the statute.”). Diamond, 217 Cal. App. 4th at 1192-93.

D. Bear Creek does not control the outcome of this appeal.

Highland Greens argues that we must follow Bear Creek because there are no other California state court decisions on point. It points out that in the absence of a state supreme court decision on the issue, a federal court is obligated to follow a decision of an intermediate court of appeal unless there is convincing evidence that the highest court of the state would decide differently. Sec. Pac. Nat’l Bank v. Kirkland (In re Kirkland), 915 F.2d 1236, 1238-39 (9th Cir. 1990) (citing American Triticale, Inc. v. Nytco Services, Inc., 664 F.2d 1136, 1143 (9th Cir. 1981); Stoner v. New York Life Ins. Co., 311 U.S. 464, 467, 61 S. Ct. 336, 85 L. Ed. 284 (1940)).

In predicting how the state’s highest court would decide the issue, we look to “intermediate appellate court decisions, decisions from other jurisdictions, statutes, treatises, and restatements as guidance.” In re Kirkland, 915 F.2d at 1239 (citations omitted). Bear Creek appears to be the only California intermediate appellate decision addressing the propriety of continuing liens under the Davis Stirling Act. Nevertheless, for the reasons discussed below, we conclude that Bear Creek is factually distinguishable and that the California Supreme Court would not likely decide the issue in accord with Bear Creek.

In determining that delinquent HOA assessments which came due after the recordation of the lien notices were properly included in the amount secured by the lien, the court of appeal in Bear Creek relied primarily on the language of the CC&Rs and the lien notices, all of which provided that any lien for delinquent HOA assessments would be deemed to include subsequent delinquencies. Because certain provisions of the Act referred to the HOA’s governing documents, and those documents provided for a continuing lien, the Bear Creek court concluded that the continuing lien was consistent with the Act.

Here, however, the CC&Rs do not provide for a continuing lien; as such, Bear Creek is factually distinguishable in a critical respect, and we may ignore it. Further and importantly, relevant [837] to our anticipation of the California Supreme Court’s eventual view, the Bear Creek court of appeal did not take into account the Act’s notice provisions as they pertained to the issue of a continuing lien and failed to consider that, although one purpose of the Act may be to facilitate an HOA’s collection of delinquent assessments, see Bear Creek, 130 Cal. App. 4th at at 1489,[ix] the cases citing directly to legislative history emphasize that the purpose of the Davis-Stirling Act is to protect homeowners. See Diamond, 217 Cal. App. 4th at 1190 (“This bill goes to the heart of home owner rights, touching upon the key issue of when, if ever, a homeowners’ association should have the right to force the sale of a member’s home when the home owner falls behind on paying overdue assessments or dues.”) (quoting Assem. Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Sen. Bill No. 137 (2005-2006 Reg. Sess.) as amended Apr. 5, 2005, pp. 1-2); Huntington Continental Townhouse Ass’n, Inc. v. Miner, 230 Cal. App. 4th 590, 603-04, 179 Cal. Rptr. 3d 47 (2014) (same).

Although Diamond did not involve the identical issue raised here, the opinion’s thorough analysis of the legislative history and citations to precedent all supported its determination that the requirements of the Davis-Stirling Act must be strictly construed, and support the conclusion that the California Supreme Court would not follow Bear Creek. This conclusion is bolstered by the analysis in Guajardo and Warren. As noted by the District Court for the Northern District of California:

The Davis-Stirling Act reflects the legislature’s intent to impose and rigorously enforce its procedural requirements to protect the interest of the homeowner. See Diamond v. Superior Court, 217 Cal. App. 4th 1172, 1191, 159 Cal. Rptr. 3d 110 (2013) (the procedural notice requirements prescribed in the Davis-Stirling Act must be “strictly construed” such that “substantial compliance is insufficient”). Accordingly, the Court finds that the language of the 2008 Lien purporting to secure future assessments is not permissible under the Davis-Stirling Act.

In re Warren, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49917, 2016 WL 1460844, at *4.

Applying these principles to the matter before us, we conclude that here, the Notice and 2011 Amendment, which purported to secure future assessments, were (1) inconsistent with the applicable CC&Rs; and (2) impermissible under the Davis-Stirling Act, which limits the lien to the amount specified in the notice, see Cal. Civ. Code § 5675(a); in turn, the notice must include an itemized statement showing the delinquent assessments (and related fees and costs) owing at the time of the notice. See Cal. Civ. Code § 5660(b)See also In re Guajardo, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 769, 2016 WL 943613, at *2-*3.

E. Highland Greens’ arguments in support of its interpretation of the Davis Stirling Act are inconsistent with established principles of statutory construction.

In the absence of evidence of contrary legislative intent, courts are to follow [838] the principle of statutory construction, expressio unius est exclusio alterius, or “the expression of one thing in a statute ordinarily implies the exclusion of other things.” In re J.W., 29 Cal. 4th 200, 209, 126 Cal. Rptr. 2d 897, 57 P.3d 363 (2002). See also People v. Guzman, 35 Cal. 4th 577, 587, 25 Cal. Rptr. 3d 761, 107 P.3d 860 (2005) (“[I]nsert[ing] additional language into a statute violate[s] the cardinal rule of statutory construction that courts must not add provisions to statutes.”)(second and third alterations in original)(quoting Sec. Pac. Nat’l Bank v. Wozab, 51 Cal. 3d 991, 998, 275 Cal. Rptr. 201, 800 P.2d 557 (1990)); Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1858 (“In the construction of a statute or instrument, the office of the Judge is simply to ascertain and declare what is in terms or in substance contained therein, not to insert what has been omitted, or to omit what has been inserted; and where there are several provisions or particulars, such a construction is, if possible, to be adopted as will give effect to all.”).

Highland Greens argues that certain provisions of the Davis-Stirling Act support its contention that a continuing lien is permitted under that Act. First, it notes that California Civil Code § 5650 permits collection costs to be added to the amount secured by the lien, when those costs are generally incurred after the lien is recorded.[x] But this provision does not support Highland Greens’ position. To the contrary, the legislature’s omission of subsequent delinquent assessments from the list of charges authorized strongly indicates that it did not intend those amounts to be added.

Despite the above argument, Highland Greens also contends that, if we affirm the bankruptcy court’s ruling, it would mean that a delinquent owner would be able to stop a foreclosure sale by paying only the face amount of the lien without paying the costs of enforcing the lien, apparently assuming an HOA would need to record separate liens to secure collection costs. But, as Highland Greens points out, the statute explicitly provides that the lien may include collection costs.

Second, Highland Greens cites California Civil Code § 5720(b)(2), which permits an HOA to record a lien for less than $1,800 but requires the HOA to wait to foreclose until the amount of delinquent assessments exceeds that amount (or the assessments secured by the lien become more than twelve months delinquent).[xi] Highland Greens argues that, because this provision apparently allows for the addition of subsequent delinquent assessments to the lien amount, any lien may include such assessments without requiring a new [839] notice. But the fact that this provision applies only to liens securing amounts less than $1,800 supports the conclusion that it excludes liens securing higher amounts. In other words, the provision may fairly be interpreted as an exception to the general rule prohibiting addition of delinquencies without specific notice. Additionally, this provision, as written, promotes the purpose of protecting “owners’ equity in their homes when they fail to pay relatively small assessments to their common interest development associations.” Diamond, 217 Cal. App. 4th at 1190 (quoting Sen. Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Sen. Bill No. 137 (2005-2006 Reg. Sess.) Mar. 29, 2005, p. 1.). As stated by the district court in Warren:

Section 5720(b)(2) simply provides an association with the option to wait to record the lien until delinquent assessments exceed $1,800. Alternatively, the association may record the lien and wait a year to foreclose thereon… Section 5720(b)(2) does not allow an association to bypass the notice and recording requirements in Sections 5660, 5670, and [5675] merely because the initial lien secures an amount below the $1,800 threshold to initiate foreclosure proceedings.

In re Warren, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49917, 2016 WL 1460844, at *4 (footnote omitted).

F. Highland Greens’ policy arguments are contradicted by the California Court of Appeal’s holding in Diamond.

Finally, Highland Greens, (joined by amicus curiae Community Associations Institute), urges us to follow Bear Creek and reverse the bankruptcy court because to do otherwise would negatively impact all California HOAs and their members. Highland Greens contends that HOAs would have to record liens for delinquent assessments on a monthly basis to secure all amounts owed, and that doing so would result in higher collection costs that would then be passed on to the delinquent owner.

This argument is certainly consistent with the court of appeal’s comments in Bear Creek, 130 Cal. App. 4th at 1489. But it ignores the fact that the Davis-Stirling Act “reflects the legislature’s intent to impose and rigorously enforce its procedural requirements to protect the interest of the homeowner.” In re Warren, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49917, 2016 WL 1460844, at *4 (citing Diamond, 217 Cal. App. 4th at 1191). While we acknowledge that requiring HOAs to file “successive liens” imposes a burden, that is an issue for the legislature to address.

CONCLUSION

Because we find no error in the bankruptcy court’s interpretation of California law, we AFFIRM.


i Under California law, the recordation of such a notice, if it complies with certain statutory requirements, creates a lien against the owner’s interest in the subject property. Cal. Civ. Code § 5675.

[ii] Unless specified otherwise, all chapter and section references are to the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §§ 101-1532.

[iii] Debtor had filed a previous chapter 13 petition in July 2017. That case was dismissed pre-confirmation on February 16, 2018.

[iv] Under California law, the assessment lien merged into the judgment. Diamond Heights Village Ass’n, Inc. v. Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corp., 196 Cal. App. 4th 290, 301-02, 126 Cal. Rptr. 3d 673 (2011).

[v] Highland Greens filed its notice of appeal on September 4, 2018. It filed an amended notice of appeal six days later. Two appeal numbers were assigned due to administrative error. The appeals were thus consolidated, with all papers to be filed under BAP No. CC-18-1248.

[vi] The Davis-Stirling Act was renumbered in 2014. It is currently codified at sections 4000-6150 of the California Civil Code; it was formerly found at sections 1350-1378.

[vii] The CC&Rs, Notice, and 2011 Amendment contain language that is substantially similar to the documents at issue in Guajardo.

[viii] That section was recodified at California Civil Code § 5600(a) and contains substantively identical language.

[ix] In concluding that the purpose of the Act was to facilitate collection of delinquent assessments, the court of appeal in Bear Creek relied on quoted language from Park Place Estates Homeowners Ass’n v. Naber, 29 Cal. App. 4th 427, 432, 35 Cal. Rptr. 2d 51 (1994) (“Because homeowners associations would cease to exist without regular payment of assessment fees, the Legislature has created procedures for associations to quickly and efficiently seek relief against a non-paying owner.”). But the court of appeal in Park Place Estates did not support its conclusion by any citation to legislative history.

[x] California Civil Code § 5650 merely lists the types of costs that may be added to the amount of delinquent assessments. California Civil Code § 5675 provides that the assessed costs and interest will be part of the lien.

[xi] hat statute provides, in relevant part: An association that seeks to collect delinquent regular or special assessments of an amount less than one thousand eight hundred dollars ($1,800), not including any accelerated assessments, late charges, fees and costs of collection, attorney’s fees, or interest, may not collect that debt through judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure, but may attempt to collect or secure that debt in any of the following ways:… (2) By recording a lien on the owner’s separate interest upon which the association may not foreclose until the amount of the delinquent assessments secured by the lien, exclusive of any accelerated assessments, late charges, fees and costs of collection, attorney’s fees, or interest, equals or exceeds one thousand eight hundred dollars ($1,800) or the assessments secured by the lien are more than 12 months delinquent… Cal. Civ. Code § 5720(b)(2).

Eith v. Ketelhut

(2018) 31 Cal.App.5th 1

[Commercial Use; Board Deference] A Board’s determination of whether a business or commercial activity affects the residential character of a HOA was entitled to judicial deference.

[Certified for Partial Publication]

OPINION

In Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Clubdominium Homeowners Assn. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 249 [87 Cal.Rptr.2d 237, 980 P.2d 940] (Lamden), our Supreme Court cautioned courts to give judicial deference to certain discretionary decisions of duly constituted homeowners association boards. The judicial deference rule does not encompass legal questions that may involve the interpretation of the covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) of a homeowners association. Courts decide legal questions.

Here, homeowners cultivated a vineyard for the purpose of making wine to be sold to the public. The CC&Rs did not prohibit the cultivation of a vineyard for this purpose, but they did prohibit “any business or commercial activity.” The operation of the vineyard may have constituted “business or commercial activity” in the literal sense of that term. But a literal interpretation in the present case would elevate form over substance and lead to absurd results. (See SDC/Pullman Partners v. Tolo Inc. (1997) 60 Cal.App.4th 37, 46 [70 Cal.Rptr.2d 62] [“literal language of a contract does not control if it leads to absurdity”].) Because the wine was made, bottled, and sold commercially offsite, and the activity at the vineyard did not affect the residential character of the community, we conclude there was no business or commercial activity within the meaning of the CC&Rs. The homeowners association board acted within its discretion in allowing the continued operation of the vineyard, and its decision is entitled to judicial deference.

This appeal is from a judgment and a postjudgment award of attorney fees and costs in favor of Jeffrey Ketelhut and Marcella Ketelhut (the Ketelhuts) and other parties. The Ketelhuts cross-appeal from the award of attorney fees and costs. In the appeal from the judgment, the central issue is whether the Ketelhuts, homeowners in a residential common interest development, violated a restrictive covenant requiring that they not use their property for any business or commercial activity. The Ketelhuts operated a vineyard on their property. After harvesting the grapes, they sent them to a winery to be made into wine. They sold the wine over the Internet.

Other homeowners objected to the operation of what they considered to be a commercial vineyard in violation of the prohibition against any business or commercial activity. The board of directors (Board) of the homeowners association — Los Robles Hills Estates Homeowners Association (HOA) — decided that the vineyard was not being used for business or commercial activity.

Plaintiffs/homeowners Felipa Richland Eith and Jeffrey Eith (the Eiths), Thomasine Mitchell and John Mitchell (the Mitchells), Stacy Wasserman, [5] Philip Chang, Morrey Wasserman, and Eileen Gabler (hereafter collectively referred to as plaintiffs) brought an action against the Ketelhuts, HOA, and Board members Michael Daily, Jeanne Yen, and Frank Niesner (hereafter collectively referred to as defendants). The court conducted a lengthy bifurcated trial on the eighth and ninth causes of action. The eighth cause of action concerned whether the operation of the vineyard was a prohibited business or commercial activity. The ninth cause of action sought to quiet title to a common area.

The trial court did not decide whether the operation of the vineyard was a prohibited business or commercial activity. Instead, it invoked the judicial deference rule of Lamden, supra, 21 Cal.4th 249. Pursuant to this rule, the trial court deferred to the Board’s decision that the vineyard was not being used for business or commercial activity. The court entered judgment in favor of defendants on both the eighth and ninth causes of action. The resolution of these two causes of action rendered the remaining causes of action moot.

The trial court correctly applied the Lamden judicial deference rule to the Board’s decision that the Ketelhuts’ operation of the vineyard was not a prohibited business or commercial use. We further conclude that, as a matter of law, it is not a prohibited business or commercial use. In addition, we reject plaintiffs’ claim that the judgment is void because the trial judge did not disclose contributions made by defendants’ counsel to his campaign for re-election to the superior court. We affirm the judgment as well as the postjudgment award of attorney fees and costs.

Factual Background

In 1966, the Janss Corporation (Janss) developed a 28-lot residential subdivision (Los Robles Hills Estates) in the City of Thousand Oaks. The subdivision is a common interest development subject to the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act. (Civ. Code, § 4000 et seq.) “Common interest developments are required to be managed by a homeowners association [citation], defined as `a nonprofit corporation or unincorporated association created for the purpose of managing a common interest development’ [citation], which homeowners are generally mandated to join [citation].” (Villa De Las Palmas Homeowners Assn. v. Terifaj (2004) 33 Cal.4th 73, 81 [14 Cal.Rptr.3d 67, 90 P.3d 1223].)

Janss created HOA to manage the development. It deeded to HOA an 18.56-acre parcel that the trial court and parties referred to as a “common area.” The deed provides, “This conveyance is made on condition that said property shall be used solely for purposes of recreation or decoration or both, and in the event that said property is otherwise used, it shall automatically revert to grantor herein.”

[6] The development is subject to a recorded declaration of the CC&Rs. Paragraph 1.01 of the CC&Rs provides, “No lot shall be used for any purpose (including any business or commercial activity) other than for the residence of one family and its domestic servants ….” Subparagraph 3 of paragraph 2.03 provides that “[f]or good cause shown … deviations from the applicable deed restrictions” may be allowed “to avoid unnecessary hardships or expense, but no deviation shall be allowed to authorize a business or commercial use.” Paragraph 5.07 provides, “Every person acquiring a lot … covenants to observe, perform and be bound by this Declaration of Restrictions.”

In June 2003, the Ketelhuts purchased in the development a 1.75-acre lot on Pinecrest Drive (the Property). In 2005, they planted a vineyard consisting of 600 plants. The plants extended “just under .4 acres” into the 18.56-acre common area. In their brief, defendants acknowledge, “Unbeknownst to the Ketelhuts and [HOA], some of the grape plants encroached on the [common area].” In 2011, when HOA learned of the encroachment, its counsel wrote a letter to the Ketelhuts’ counsel “demanding that [the Ketelhuts] immediately remove the vines from the common area, as well as any other items that may be located upon the Association’s common area.”

Before planting the grape vines, the Ketelhuts submitted a landscape plan (exhibit 244) to the Board. It was approved by the Board’s architectural committee (the Committee). The plan divided the Property into three separate vineyards. One would grow grapes for Cabernet Sauvignon, the second for Sangiovese, and the third for Merlot. The plan did not indicate the number of grape vines that would be planted. The Ketelhuts did not inform the Board or the Committee that the grapes grown on the Property would be used to make wine that would be offered for sale to the public.

Pranas Raulinaitis, who served on the Committee in 2005, testified that the Committee members “viewed the [vineyard] as an amazing [aesthetic] enhancement to the neighborhood.” It “never entered into [his] mind” that “the vineyard was being planted for commercial sale of wine to the public.”

The first harvest was in 2008. At that time, Jeffrey Ketelhut “harvested the grapes … with the intention of bottling them for sale.” He “commenc[ed the] wine business in 2009.” Jeffrey Ketelhut admitted that “the sale[] of wine is a business” and that the vineyard “operates like a business.” But he characterized the vineyard “as a hobby where I do it in my spare time.” “[M]y purpose in getting involved wasn’t to generate a profit and this become a livelihood. This was a hobby. I enjoy gardening …. [T]hat was therapy for me.” The Ketelhuts never determined whether, excluding attorney fees, the vineyard generated a profit. Including attorney fees, it has not generated a profit in any year.

[7] Although the Ketelhuts’ tax returns were not produced, Jeffrey Ketelhut testified that he had filed Internal Revenue Service schedule C (form 1040) for the vineyard. Pursuant to Evidence Code sections 459 and 452, subdivision (h), we take judicial notice that schedule C is entitled “Profit or Loss From Business (Sole Proprietorship).” We also take judicial notice that, since 2009, page 1 of the instructions for schedule C has provided, “Use Schedule C (Form 1040) to report income or (loss) from a business you operated or a profession you practiced as a sole proprietor. An activity qualifies as a business if your primary purpose for engaging in the activity is for income or profit and you are involved in the activity with continuity and regularity. For example, a sporadic activity or a hobby does not qualify as a business.” (Italics added.)

In 2009, the Ketelhuts filed in Ventura County a fictitious business name statement showing that they were doing business at the Property as “Los Robles Hills Winery” and “Puerta del Cielo Vineyards.” They applied for and obtained a “Type 17 and Type 20 license [from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control], which [permits] retail and wholesale [sales] over the internet only.” They also obtained “a Thousand Oaks business license.” The licenses showed that the business was located at the Property. But in 2012, the location of the business was changed to a Camarillo address.

The Ketelhuts began selling wine in May 2010. With one exception, they have sold only wine made from grapes grown on the Property. The exception occurred in 2011, when they made wine from sauvignon blanc grapes that they had purchased. In 2015, the Ketelhuts harvested 2,000 pounds of grapes. They invited family, friends, and neighbors to participate in the harvesting. Jeffrey Ketelhut testified, “[I]t took us an hour-and-a-half to pull down all the grapes.”

After the grapes are harvested, they are transported to “Camarillo Custom Crush [in Camarillo], where all the winemaking takes place.” Camarillo Custom Crush puts the wine into bottles that bear the Ketelhuts’ personal label. The Ketelhuts do not store wine on the Property. They have a storage facility in Malibu. They do not ship bottles of wine from the Property.

“In a typical year,” the Ketelhuts are “fortunate” to produce two barrels of wine. “[A] single barrel can hold up to 30 cases.” Each case contains 12 bottles. Thus, the maximum typical annual production is 720 bottles of wine. But in 2009, the Ketelhuts “produced 132 cases,” which is 1,584 bottles of wine.

At the time of trial in November 2015, the wine production was “dwindling” because they had “los[t] vines [due] to drought.” The original 600 [8] plants had been reduced to about 400. Jeffrey Ketelhut estimated that production for 2014 and 2015 would be 50 cases per year. The wine for these years was still being stored in barrels.

The Ketelhuts retain ownership of the bottled wine. They advertise on Facebook, Twitter, their personal website, “and through [their] wholesale accounts.” The logo “Los Robles Hills Winery” and their website address are displayed on the exterior of their truck, which they park in the driveway of the Property. “[T]hey keep the truck covered” while it is on the Property.

The Ketelhuts “sold wine to a number of restaurants and hotels in the local area.” But because of plaintiffs’ lawsuit, they “let those [local sales] lapse.” At the time of trial, they were “still offer[ing] retail sales and wholesale sales,” but were probably giving “at least 60 percent” of their wine to “charity.” For the last two years, their retail sales have been “zero.” Their wines appear on the menu at “a few” restaurants.

Exhibit No. 35 contains copies of pages from the Ketelhuts’ website. The pages are dated May 22, 2014. The wines for sale range in price from $27 to $42 per bottle.

In January 2011, the Ventura County Star published an article about the Ketelhuts’ “winery.” The article said that they “were hosting wine tastings by appointment at [their] home tasting room.” In March 2011, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control informed the Ketelhuts that someone had complained about the wine tastings. The Ketelhuts denied hosting wine tastings on the Property.

In its statement of decision, the trial court found: “There was … no retail traffic to the premises or tasting room on the premises at [the Property]. What was accomplished [there] was cultivation of the grapes, picking of the grapes, and transportation of the grapes to Camarillo.”

Some homeowners complained about the vineyard. In August 2011 counsel for plaintiffs Felipa Eith and Stacy Wasserman wrote a letter to the Ketelhuts “indicating that the commercial vineyard was a violation of the CC&Rs and that [they] should stop that aspect of [their] business.” The letter did not demand that the Ketelhuts stop growing grapes on the Property. It demanded that they “[c]ease operating a commercial vineyard.” The letter also demanded that the Ketelhuts “[r]emove all encroaching plants, irrigation and any other vineyard materials … from the … common area.”

The Board, which consisted of five homeowners, investigated the Ketelhuts’ operation of the vineyard. It interviewed other homeowners. In [9] June 2011, it conducted a meeting that was open to all of the homeowners. The Ketelhuts appeared and answered questions. After the meeting, three of the five board members — defendants Daily, Yen, and Niesner — concluded that the Ketelhuts were not using the Property for a nonresidential purpose in violation of paragraph 1.01 of the CC&Rs. They found that there was no prohibited business or commercial activity on the Property.

Board member Daily considered the vineyard to be “landscaping” rather than a business. He explained: “They were growing grape vines just like I grow fruit trees and Mr. Krupnick [a homeowner] grows avocado trees, and people grow grass in their yard. It was landscape.” “[T]herefore I wasn’t going to, as a board member, try to restrict them from growing grapes. Like I wouldn’t restrict anybody else from growing fruit or whatever.” “Their growing grapes was part of their landscape plan.”

On the other hand, Daily understood that “the growing phase of their winery was part of the business.” “You have to have grapes in order to make wine.” Daily continued: “I believe that aspect to their business [growing grapes] is acceptable because it’s their landscape.” “The growing of grapes is certainly not something prohibited by the CC&R’S and if somebody takes those grapes in a very limited way without impact on the community, then I don’t really care what they do with them. They can make jelly and sell it. That’s fine with me.” “I considered that [the Ketelhuts] were going to do something that was not going to have a negative impact on the community and therefore it was allowable.”

Daily did not “know how to define the difference between business and commercial” activity. He said: “[W]hen I think of commercial activity, I think of something, you know, in a building, you know, off site. That’s what I think of as commercial activity.”

Board member Yen testified that “commercial activity” within the meaning of the CC&Rs “is something that would cause a stress in the community, whether it be traffic, whether it be individuals, that it’s something that disrupts our quality in our community and impacts your neighbors. That’s commercial activity.” Yen did “not see picking grapes to go to Custom Crush [a]s impairing any activities in the community or in any way creating blockage to the community or a problem for the community.”

Procedural Background

Plaintiffs filed a complaint consisting of nine causes of action. The trial court bifurcated the eighth and ninth causes of action and tried them first. The trial began in July 2015 and ended in November 2015.

[10] The eighth cause of action is against HOA and the Ketelhuts. It seeks declaratory and injunctive relief. It requests “a judicial determination and decree that the CC&Rs and Grant Deed prohibit” the Ketelhuts from (1) operating their “Business” and “commercial enterprise,” including the vineyard, on the Property and the common area, and (2) encroaching on the common area. The eighth cause of action also requests the issuance of a permanent injunction prohibiting the Ketelhuts from operating their business on the Property and encroaching on the common area.

The ninth cause of action is against all defendants. It seeks to quiet title to the common area. It claims that each of the 28 lot owners has an undivided 1/28th ownership interest in the common area and is “entitled to the non-exclusive possession” of that area. The ninth cause of action sought a judicial declaration that HOA has “no estate, right, title or interest” in the common area.

The remaining seven causes of action are for nuisance; trespass; breach of the CC&Rs; breach of HOA’s fiduciary duty; breach of fiduciary duty by Board members; and “willful, wanton misfeasance and gross negligence.” In its statement of decision, the trial court said it had ordered that “[t]he remaining causes of action, for which a jury had been demanded, would be set for trial as may be necessary following determination of the Declaratory Relief and Quiet Title causes of actions.”

Prior to trial on the eighth and ninth causes of action, all plaintiffs except Felipa Eith dismissed the entire action against HOA and Board members.

Statement of Decision

On the eighth cause of action for declaratory and injunctive relief, in its statement of decision, the trial court said that it was “faced with … whether or not to exercise its independent analysis of whether or not what the Ketelhuts were doing is a business or commercial activity, or to determine if the HOA had the discretionary authority to allow the Ketelhuts to do what they did under what is commonly known as the business judgment rule.” The court applied the “deferential business judgment standard adopted by [Lamden, supra, 21 Cal.4th 249].”

The trial court ruled: “The Court finds here that the defendant HOA and its individual directors acted in good faith in addressing the activities of the defendants Ketelhut, and that this decision should not be re-examined within the context of this litigation…. As noted in Beehan v. Lido Isle [Community Assn.] (1977) 70 Cal.App.3d 858 @ 865 [137 Cal.Rptr. 528], `The board of directors may make incorrect decisions, as well as correct ones, so long as it [11] is faithful to the corporation and uses its best judgment.’ … The Court finds that this board of directors used it[s] best judgment and acted in a reasonable manner under the circumstances presented to it. As such, the Court does not grant the relief that plaintiffs seek, but finds in favor of the defendants on the cause of action for declaratory relief.” (Italics added.)

On the ninth cause of action to quiet title to the common area, the trial court found that the area was deeded to HOA in 1966. “[N]o fractional interest in the property was deeded to any homeowners. Since that time, there have been no other documents, recorded or otherwise, that purport[] to grant to the homeowners the 1/28 fractional interest that they are seeking in this action.” Therefore, “title to the 18.5 acre common area is confirmed and quieted to [HOA].”

Judgment

On the eighth and ninth causes of action, the trial court entered judgment in favor of defendants. The judgment does not mention the remaining seven causes of action. In its statement of decision, the trial court said, “The rulings here made moot plaintiffs[‘] remaining causes of action. The case is therefore not set for further trial on those issues.”

Thus, the judgment disposed of all nine causes of action and is appealable under the one final judgment rule of Code of Civil Procedure section 904.1, subdivision (a). “Judgments that leave nothing to be decided between one or more parties and their adversaries … have the finality required by section 904.1, subdivision (a). A judgment that disposes of fewer than all of the causes of action framed by the pleadings, however, is necessarily `interlocutory’ (Code Civ. Proc., § 904.1, subd. (a)), and not yet final, as to any parties between whom another cause of action remains pending.” (Morehart v. County of Santa Barbara (1994) 7 Cal.4th 725, 741 [29 Cal.Rptr.2d 804, 872 P.2d 143].)

PLAINTIFFS’ APPEAL

The Judgment Is Not Void Because of the Trial Judge’s Alleged Disqualification

A. Factual and Procedural Background

The complaint was filed on August 31, 2011. The case was assigned to Judge Henry J. Walsh.

[12] After a contested judicial election, Judge Walsh was reelected in 2012. On February 10, 2016, the Commission on Judicial Performance admonished Judge Walsh for failing to disclose contributions made to his 2012 campaign by attorneys who had appeared before him after the election. The Commission noted, “In 2010, effective January 1, 2011, subdivision (a)(9)(C) was added to Code of Civil Procedure section 170.1 to require judges to disclose campaign contributions of $100 or more.”

On the same day that Judge Walsh was admonished, he signed the judgment in the instant case.[1] The next day, plaintiff Felipa Eith filed a request for a stay of all further action by Judge Walsh pending a hearing on a not yet filed motion to disqualify him.

On March 2, 2016, Felipa Eith filed a motion to disqualify Judge Walsh for cause pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 170.1. The ground for the motion was that the judge had received campaign contributions from defendants’ counsel and had not disclosed them to plaintiffs. Eith alleged, “Recent inspection of recorded and filed election documents (Form 460) establishes that during the pendency of the instant action Judge Walsh solicited, accepted and kept secret from Plaintiffs and plaintiffs’ counsel, monetary contributions to his campaign from defense counsel [firm, partners, or staff attorneys] in the amount of $2,600.00 ….” (Original brackets.) A minute order entered nine days later on March 11, 2016, states: “Without conceding the merit of allegations of prejudice made by Ms. Eith, the court recuses itself from the case, and refers it to the supervising civil judge for re-assignment.”

Plaintiffs filed a motion for a new trial. They argued that Judge Walsh’s failure to disclose the campaign contributions denied them their right to a fair trial. Plaintiffs claimed that, if Judge Walsh had made a timely disclosure, they “would certainly have sought his disqualification in 2012 to preclude the possibility that he would preside at trial.”

Judge John Nho Trong Nguyen denied the motion for a new trial. He ruled, “When the facts are viewed as a whole they show that no person aware of them might reasonably entertain a doubt that Judge Walsh would be able to be impartial.”

[13]

B. Analysis

Plaintiffs argue that the judgment is void because Judge Walsh was disqualified years before the trial when he failed to disclose contributions made by defendants’ counsel. If Judge Walsh were so disqualified, the judgment would be void. In Christie v. City of El Centro (2006) 135 Cal.App.4th 767, 776 [37 Cal.Rptr.3d 718], the court “conclude[d] that because [the trial judge] was disqualified at the time he granted the City’s motion for nonsuit, that ruling was null and void and must be vacated regardless of a showing of prejudice.” The court rejected the city’s claim “that the grant of nonsuit need not be overturned because [the judge] was not disqualified until later” when a motion to disqualify him was granted: “[D]isqualification occurs when the facts creating disqualification arise, not when disqualification is established. [Citations.] The acts of a judge subject to disqualification are void or, according to some authorities, voidable. [Citations.] Relief is available to a party who, with due diligence, discovers the grounds for disqualification only after judgment is entered or appeal filed. [Citations.] Although a party has an obligation to act diligently, he or she is not required to launch a search to discover information that a judicial officer should have disclosed. [Citations.]” (Id. at pp. 776-777.)

The relevant statute is Code of Civil Procedure section 170.1, subdivision (a)(9), which provides: “A judge shall be disqualified” if: “(A) The judge has received a contribution in excess of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1500) from a party or lawyer in the proceeding, and either of the following applies: [¶] (i) The contribution was received in support of the judge’s last election, if the last election was within the last six years. [¶] (ii) The contribution was received in anticipation of an upcoming election. [¶] (B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the judge shall be disqualified based on a contribution of a lesser amount if subparagraph (A) of paragraph (6) applies.” (Italics added.) Subparagraph (A) of paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) provides that a judge shall be disqualified if “[f]or any reason: [¶] (i) The judge believes his or her recusal would further the interests of justice. [¶] (ii) The judge believes there is a substantial doubt as to his or her capacity to be impartial. [¶] (iii) A person aware of the facts might reasonably entertain a doubt that the judge would be able to be impartial.” (Italics added.)

(1) The California Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics Opinions (CJEO) issued an opinion on mandatory disqualification based on a contribution of more than $1,500: CJEO Formal Opinion 2013-003 (). CJEO concluded, and we agree, that the $1,500 disqualification threshhold “applies to the individual lawyer appearing in the matter.” (Id. at p. 11.) “[T]he Legislature did not intend the $1,500 threshold for disqualification to apply to aggregated contributions from multiple individuals from the [14] same law firm, nor to all individuals practicing law in a contributing law firm. A judge receiving such contributions however, is also required to make a determination as to whether disqualification is called for under section 170.1, subdivision (a)(6)[A](iii) and (9)(B).” (Ibid.) “[M]andatory disqualification for individual attorney contributions over the $1,500 threshold, together with discretionary disqualification for aggregated and law firm contributions, sufficiently ensures the public trust in an impartial and honorable judiciary.” (Ibid.)

In their opening briefs, plaintiffs list the contributions of all of the lawyers who allegedly represented defendants during the five years of litigation. No lawyer contributed more than $1,500 to Judge Walsh’s campaign. Thus, the mandatory disqualification provision is inapplicable. (Code Civ. Proc., § 170.1, subd. (a)(9)(A).)

(2) Plaintiffs have failed to show that Judge Walsh was disqualified because “[a] person aware of the facts might reasonably entertain a doubt that [he] would be able to be impartial.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 170.1, subd. (a)(6)(A)(iii).) Thus, we reject plaintiffs’ claim that Judge Nguyen abused his discretion in denying their motion for a new trial. (See Garcia v. Rehrig Internat., Inc. (2002) 99 Cal.App.4th 869, 874 [121 Cal.Rptr.2d 723] [“`”`The determination of a motion for a new trial rests so completely within the court’s discretion that its action will not be disturbed unless a manifest and unmistakable abuse of discretion clearly appears'”‘”]; Boyle v. CertainTeed Corp. (2006) 137 Cal.App.4th 645, 649-650 [40 Cal.Rptr.3d 501] [“an appealed judgment is presumed correct, and plaintiff bears the burden of overcoming the presumption of correctness”].)

[[/]][*]

……………………………………………………………………..

The Trial Court Properly Applied the Judicial Deference Rule Adopted by Our Supreme Court in Lamden

(3) In its statement of decision, the trial court applied the rule of judicial deference adopted by our Supreme Court in Lamden, supra, 21 Cal.4th 249. The plaintiff homeowner in Lamden complained that a condominium development’s community association had wrongly decided to treat a termite infestation “locally (`spot-treat’).” (Id. at p. 252.) The plaintiff wanted the association to fumigate the building. The Supreme Court stated, “[W]e adopt [15] today for California courts a rule of judicial deference to community association board decisionmaking that applies … when owners in common interest developments seek to litigate ordinary maintenance decisions entrusted to the discretion of their associations’ boards of directors. [Citation.]” (Id. at p. 253.) The rule is as follows: “Where a duly constituted community association board, upon reasonable investigation, in good faith and with regard for the best interests of the community association and its members, exercises discretion within the scope of its authority under relevant statutes, covenants and restrictions to select among means for discharging an obligation to maintain and repair a development’s common areas, courts should defer to the board’s authority and presumed expertise.” (Ibid.)

The Supreme Court explained: “The formulation we have articulated affords homeowners, community associations, courts and advocates a clear standard for judicial review of discretionary economic decisions by community association boards, mandating a degree of deference to the latter’s business judgments sufficient to discourage meritless litigation …. [¶] Common sense suggests that judicial deference in such cases as this is appropriate, in view of the relative competence, over that of courts, possessed by owners and directors of common interest developments to make the detailed and peculiar economic decisions necessary in the maintenance of those developments. A deferential standard will, by minimizing the likelihood of unproductive litigation over their governing associations’ discretionary economic decisions, foster stability, certainty and predictability in the governance and management of common interest developments.” (Lamden, supra, 21 Cal.4th at pp. 270-271.)

Some courts have narrowly construed the Lamden rule. In Affan v. Portofino Cove Homeowners Assn. (2010) 189 Cal.App.4th 930, 940 [117 Cal.Rptr.3d 481], the court observed: “It is important to note the narrow scope of the Lamden rule. It is a rule of deference to the reasoned decisionmaking of homeowners association boards concerning ordinary maintenance…. The Supreme Court’s precise articulation of the rule makes clear that the rule of deference applies only when a homeowner sues an association over a maintenance decision that meets the enumerated criteria. [Citations.]” (See also Ritter & Ritter, Inc. Pension & Profit Plan v. The Churchill Condominium Assn. (2008) 166 Cal.App.4th 103, 122 [82 Cal.Rptr.3d 389].)

Most courts have broadly construed the Lamden rule. In Haley v. Casa Del Rey Homeowners Assn. (2007) 153 Cal.App.4th 863, 875 [63 Cal.Rptr.3d 514], the court concluded that Lamden “reasonably stands for the proposition that the Association had discretion to select among means for remedying violations of the CC&R’s without resorting to expensive and time-consuming litigation, and the courts should defer to that discretion.”

[16] In Harvey v. The Landing Homeowners Assn. (2008) 162 Cal.App.4th 809, 820 [76 Cal.Rptr.3d 41] (Harvey), the CC&Rs allowed the board “to designate storage areas in the common area.” They also gave the board “the exclusive right to manage, operate and control the common areas.” (Ibid.) The court held, “Under the `rule of judicial deference’ adopted by the court in Lamden, we defer to the Board’s authority and presumed expertise regarding its sole and exclusive right to maintain, control and manage the common areas when it granted the fourth floor homeowners the right, under certain conditions, to use up to 120 square feet of inaccessible attic space common area for rough storage.” (Id. at p. 821.)

In Watts v. Oak Shores Community Assn. (2015) 235 Cal.App.4th 466, 473 [185 Cal.Rptr.3d 376] (Watts), this court rejected the plaintiffs’ claim “that the rule applying judicial deference to association decisions applies only to ordinary maintenance decisions.” We reasoned: “It is true the facts in Lamden involve the association board’s decision to treat termites locally rather than fumigate. But nothing in Lamden limits judicial deference to maintenance decisions.” (Ibid.) “[T]here is no reason to read Lamden so narrowly.” (Ibid.) “Common interest developments are best operated by the board of directors, not the courts.” (Ibid.) We applied the judicial deference rule to the board’s adoption of rules and imposition of fees relating to short-term rentals of condominium units. We noted that, in Dolan-King v. Rancho Santa Fe Assn. (2000) 81 Cal.App.4th 965, 979 [97 Cal.Rptr.2d 280] (Dolan-King), “the court gave deference to an association board’s decision denying an owner’s application for a room addition on aesthetic grounds.” (Watts, supra, 235 Cal.App.4th at p. 473.)

Based on Lamden, Haley, Harvey, Watts, and Dolan-King, the judicial deference rule applies to an association board’s discretionary decisions concerning the operation of the common interest development, e.g., the board’s maintenance and repair decisions (Lamden), its selection of the appropriate means to remedy a violation of the CC&Rs (Haley), its designation of storage space in a common area (Harvey), its adoption of rules relating to short-term rentals (Watts), or its approval or rejection of a homeowner’s improvement plan (Dolan-King). As we observed in Watts, “Common interest developments are best operated by the board of directors, not the courts.” (Watts, supra, 235 Cal.App.4th at p. 473.)

Here, the Board made a decision concerning the operation of the common interest development. The Board decided whether the Ketelhuts violated the CC&Rs’ prohibition against the use of the Property for business or commercial activity. The Board reasoned that the CC&Rs’ prohibition did not encompass the operation of the vineyard because it did not affect the residential character of the community. Board member Daily testified, “I [17] considered that [the Ketelhuts] were going to do something that was not going to have a negative impact on the community and therefore it was allowable.” Board member Yen did “not see picking grapes to go to Custom Crush [a]s impairing any activities in the community or in any way creating blockage to the community or a problem for the community.”

(4) We do not defer to the Board’s interpretation of the CC&Rs. The interpretation of CC&R’s is a legal question to be decided by the courts, not the Board. “CC&R’s are interpreted according to the usual rules for the interpretation of contracts generally, with a view toward enforcing the reasonable intent of the parties. [Citations.]” (Harvey, supra, 162 Cal.App.4th at p. 817.) “`”[N]ormally the meaning of contract language … is a legal question.” [Citation.] “Where, as here, no conflicting parol evidence is introduced concerning the interpretation of the document, `construction of the instrument is a question of law, and the appellate court will independently construe the writing.'” [Citation.]'” (Cohen v. Five Brooks Stable (2008) 159 Cal.App.4th 1476, 1483 [72 Cal.Rptr.3d 471]; see also Legendary Investors Group No. 1, LLC v. Niemann (2014) 224 Cal.App.4th 1407, 1413 [169 Cal.Rptr.3d 787] [“contract interpretation is a legal question for the court”].)

(5) In our review of the CC&Rs, we conclude that the Board correctly interpreted the prohibition of business or commercial activity. The prohibition does not encompass activity that has no effect on the community’s residential character. The purpose of the prohibition is to preserve the community’s residential character.

The trial court properly deferred to the Board’s discretionary decision that the Ketelhuts’ operation of the vineyard did not violate the prohibition against business or commercial activity because it did not affect the community’s residential character. The Board made its decision “upon reasonable investigation, in good faith and with regard for the best interests of the community association and its members.” (Lamden, supra, 21 Cal.4th at p. 253.) The Board interviewed homeowners and conducted a public hearing at which the Ketelhuts answered questions. Yen testified that the Board’s decision was “based on our looking at it from the scope of the community: Is it creating any stress for the community, is it impairing the community’s functioning, is it invasive to the community, and have we received any complaints regarding what is happening.” “Our decision and focus of discussion was on the impact o[n] the community.”

“Common sense suggests that judicial deference in such cases as this is appropriate, in view of the relative competence, over that of courts, possessed by owners and directors of common interest developments ….” (Lamden, supra, 21 Cal.4th at pp. 270-271.) The Board members lived in the community and had discussed the Ketelhuts’ vineyard with other homeowners. They [18] were in a much better position than the courts to evaluate the vineyard’s effect on the community. We “should defer to the [B]oard’s authority and presumed expertise.” (Id. at p. 265.)

The Board Correctly Decided That the Operation of the Vineyard Is Not Prohibited Business or Commercial Activity

As an alternative holding, we conclude that as a matter of law, the Ketelhuts’ operation of the vineyard is not prohibited business or commercial activity because it does not affect the community’s residential character.

No signs advertising wine sales are posted on the Property. Although the Ketelhuts’ logo “Los Robles Hills Winery” and their website address are displayed on the exterior of their truck, “they keep the truck covered” while it is on the Property. The wine is made and bottled in Camarillo. The bottled wine is stored in Malibu. It is not shipped from the Property. The trial court found that there is “no retail traffic” to the Property, which does not have a wine-tasting room. The court said, “What was accomplished [on the Property] was cultivation of the grapes, picking of the grapes, and transportation of the grapes to Camarillo.”

Had the Ketelhuts retained the wine for their personal use or given it away to friends or charity, there would have been no basis for finding business or commercial activity. All activities relating to the vineyard would have been permissible. That the Ketelhuts offered the wine for sale over the Internet did not transform their use of the Property into prohibited business or commercial activity. At all times the operation of the vineyard was fully consistent with residential use. No homeowner familiar with the vineyard’s operation would have had reason to suspect that the vineyard was being used to produce wine for sale to the public. The business or commercial activity of making and selling the wine did not occur on the Property. Board member Daily testified, “They were growing grape vines just like I grow fruit trees and Mr. Krupnick grows avocado trees, and people grow grass in their yard.” Moreover, instead of being a blight on the community, the vineyard was an aesthetic enhancement. Pranas Raulinaitis, who served on the Committee that approved the Ketelhut’s landscape plan in 2005, testified that the Committee members “viewed the [vineyard] as an amazing [aesthetic] enhancement to the neighborhood.”

We recognize that the growing of grapes on the Property is an integral part of the Ketelhuts’ winemaking business. As Daily testified, “You have to have grapes in order to make wine.” But absurd consequences would flow from construing the CC&Rs as prohibiting any business or commercial activity whatsoever irrespective of its effect on the residential character of the community.

[19] For example, some appellate attorneys work at home, reading records, doing research, and writing briefs, but meet with clients elsewhere. Although these attorneys are engaged in the business of practicing appellate law at their home offices, their business activities do not affect the residential character of their communities.

It would be absurd to construe the CC&Rs as prohibiting such harmless conduct, just as it would be absurd to construe them as prohibiting the Ketelhuts from operating their vineyard. “`In construing a contract the court … should adopt that construction which will make the contract reasonable, fair and just [citation]; … [and] should avoid an interpretation which will make the contract … harsh, unjust or inequitable [citations], or which would result in an absurdity [citations] …'” (Wright v. Coberly-West Co. (1967) 250 Cal.App.2d 31, 35-36 [58 Cal.Rptr. 213].)

There will be instances, of course, where a homeowner’s activity constitutes prohibited business activity even though the business is primarily conducted off the residential premises. For example, if a homeowner conducted a trucking business off the premises except that the trucks were stored on the premises when not in use, the homeowner might be in violation of the business prohibition. The presence of the commercial trucks would detract from the community’s residential character. (See Smart v. Carpenter (2006) 2006-NMCA-056 [139 N.M. 524, 134 P.3d 811].)

[[/]][*]

……………………………………………………………………..

Disposition

The judgment and postjudgment award of attorney fees and costs are affirmed. The parties shall bear their own costs on appeal.

Perren, J., concurred.

PERREN, J., Concurring. —

I concur.

In a vain effort to “define what may be indefinable,” Justice Potter Stewart opined, “I know it when I see it ….”[1] In like manner, the dissent “know[s] unfairness when [it] sees it” — when it sees how the Ketelhuts harvest their [20] grapes and make and sell their wine. (Dis. opn. post, at p. 20.) The majority sees it otherwise. In my opinion this is not a matter for such subjectivity. Rather, we should defer to the good faith exercise of discretion and “`the board’s authority and presumed expertise.'” (Maj. opn. ante, at p. 15, quoting Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Clubdominium Homeowners Assn. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 249, 253 [87 Cal.Rptr.2d 237, 980 P.2d 940].)

Both the majority and the dissent appeal to “`Common sense.'” (Maj. opn. ante, at p. 15; dis. opn. post, at p. 22.) In doing so they quote from Lamden: I join with them and set forth the full closing of that opinion: “Common sense suggests that judicial deference in such cases as this is appropriate, in view of the relative competence, over that of courts, possessed by owners and directors of common interest developments to make the detailed and peculiar economic decisions necessary in the maintenance of those developments. A deferential standard will, by minimizing the likelihood of unproductive litigation over their governing associations’ discretionary economic decisions, foster stability, certainty and predictability in the governance and management of common interest developments. Beneficial corollaries include enhancement of the incentives for essential voluntary owner participation in common interest development governance and conservation of scarce judicial resources.” (Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Clubdominium Homeowners Assn., supra, 21 Cal.4th at pp. 270-271, italics added.)

This dispute and the resulting expense and acrimony are strong testament to the wisdom of such deference.

YEGAN, J., Dissenting. —

I know unfairness when I see it. The judgment should be reversed because plaintiffs are entitled to a ruling from the trial court that Jeffrey Ketelhut and Marcella Ketelhut (the Ketelhuts) were conducting a business in violation of the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions running with the land. (CC&Rs.) It does not matter whether the Ketelhuts could win an award for having the most beautiful vineyard in the world. It does not matter whether the wine from the grapes rivals the finest wines of the Napa Viticulture. As I shall explain, the facts unerringly point to the conclusion that the Ketelhuts were conducting a vineyard business on their property (the Property).

There will, of course, be situations in which the conducting of a business at a residence in violation of the CC&Rs will be so trivial to the neighborhood that it will be deemed not to be in violation of the CC&Rs. There is no reason to list them and one is only limited by imagination. As Colonel Stonehill said, “I do not entertain hypotheticals. The world, as it is, is vexing enough.” (True Grit (Paramount Pictures 2010).) So here, we need only decide whether the maintenance of the vineyard as a business is in violation of the CC&Rs.

[21]

Judicial Deference Rule

The judicial deference rule applies where an association board “exercises discretion within the scope of its authority under relevant statutes, covenants and restrictions to select among means for discharging an obligation to maintain and repair a development’s common areas.” (Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Clubdominium Homeowners Assn. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 249, 265 [87 Cal.Rptr.2d 237, 980 P.2d 940] (Lamden).) In Lamden our Supreme Court concluded that the courts should defer to the board’s treatment of a termite problem because it was “a matter entrusted to [the board’s] discretion under the [CC&Rs] and [now repealed] Civil Code section 1364 ….” (Id. at pp. 264-265.) Here, there is no statute or provision in the CC&Rs entrusting to the discretion of the Los Robles Hills Estates Homeowners Association Board of Directors (Board) whether a homeowner is engaging in prohibited business or commercial activity within the meaning of the CC&Rs. This is a straightforward legal question to be decided by the courts, not members of the Board who lack legal expertise. (See Smart v. Carpenter (2006) 2006-NMCA-056 [139 N.M. 524, 134 P.3d 811, 814] [it “is a question of law” whether homeowner violated covenant prohibiting “`commercial activity or business’ on any tract in the Subdivision”].)

The inapplicability of the judicial deference rule is supported by Dover Village Assn. v. Jennison (2010) 191 Cal.App.4th 123 [119 Cal.Rptr.3d 175] (Dover Village). There, the issue was whether a sewer pipe was ordinary “common area to be maintained and repaired by the Association” or “`[an] exclusive use common area'” designed to serve a particular homeowner who would be responsible for its maintenance. (Id. at pp. 126, 127.) The association decided that the sewer pipe was the defendant homeowner’s responsibility because it exclusively serviced his condominium. The appellate court concluded that the sewer pipe was not an exclusive use common area. It rejected the association’s argument that, under Lamden, it should defer to the association’s decision: “The argument fails because it confuses a legal issue governed by statutory and contract text with matters that genuinely do lend themselves to board discretion. [¶] … [¶] There is an obvious difference between a legal issue over who precisely has the responsibility for a sewer line [or whether a homeowner is engaged in prohibited business or commercial activity within the meaning of the CC&Rs] and how a board should go about making a repair that is clearly within its responsibility…. [W]e know of no provision in the Davis-St[e]rling Act or the CC&R’s that makes the Association or its board the ultimate judge of legal issues affecting the development.” (Id. at p. 130.)

The court considered Lamden to be “a nice illustration of matters genuinely within a board’s discretion.” (Dover Village, supra, 191 Cal.App.4th at [22] p. 130.) Unlike Lamden, the legal issue here is not genuinely within the Board’s discretion. In Lamden the Supreme Court noted, “Common sense suggests that judicial deference in such cases as this is appropriate, in view of the relative competence, over that of courts, possessed by owners and directors of common interest developments to make the detailed and peculiar economic decisions necessary in the maintenance of those developments.” (Lamden, supra, 21 Cal.4th at pp. 270-271.) In contrast to Lamden, the Board is not equipped to determine whether the Ketelhuts were engaged in business or commercial activity in violation of the CC&Rs.

If the judicial deference rule applied here, there would be few board decisions to which it did not apply. The judicial deference rule “does not create a blanket immunity for all the decisions and actions of a homeowners association.” (Affan v. Portofino Cove Homeowners Assn. (2010) 189 Cal.App.4th 930, 940 [117 Cal.Rptr.3d 481].)

The Vineyard Is Business or Commercial Activity Within the Meaning of the CC&Rs

The majority opinion concludes that, as a matter of law, the Ketelhuts’ operation of the vineyard is not a prohibited business or commercial activity because it does not affect the residential character of the community. But paragraph 1.01 of the CC&Rs does not say, “No lot shall be used for any purpose (including any business or commercial activity [that does not affect the residential character of the community]) other than for the residence of one family and its domestic servants ….” (Italics added.) “`”In construing a contract which purports on its face to be a complete expression of the entire agreement, courts will not add thereto another term, about which the agreement is silent. [Citation.]”‘ [Citation.]” (Ratcliff Architects v. Vanir Construction Management, Inc. (2001) 88 Cal.App.4th 595, 602 [106 Cal.Rptr.2d 1].) On its face paragraph 1.01 prohibits any business or commercial activity without qualification or exception. Subparagraph 3 of paragraph 2.03 of the CC&Rs provides that “[f]or good cause shown … deviations from the applicable deed restrictions” may be allowed “to avoid unnecessary hardships or expense, but no deviation shall be allowed to authorize a business or commercial use.” (Italics added.) How can the operation of a commercial vineyard not qualify as commercial use?

There may be cases where business or commercial activity is so de minimis or concealed that it does not violate the CC&Rs, such as the example given in the majority opinion of an appellate attorney with a home office who sees no clients on the premises. But the Ketelhuts’ operation of their commercial vineyard was neither de minimis nor concealed. They filed a fictitious business name statement and were issued both a business license [23] and an alcoholic beverage sales license. The licenses originally indicated that the business was located at the Property. Board member Yen testified: “[A] notice of intent to sell [alcoholic beverages] … was posted on their front where their mailbox was, and it needed to be posted elsewhere because you’re not supposed to be advertising a business in the community. So they were advised not to post it there.” The Ketelhuts advertised on Facebook, Twitter, their personal website, “and through [their] wholesale accounts.” They filed an Internal Revenue Service schedule C (form 1040) to report their business income or loss. The logo “Los Robles Hills Winery” and their website address were displayed on the exterior of their truck. Although the Ketelhuts covered the truck while it was parked on the Property, the logo and website address were openly displayed when they drove the truck to and from the Property.

The Ketelhuts sought and obtained publicity for their winery by giving an interview to the local newspaper, the Ventura County Star. In January 2011 the newspaper published an article about the winery. Until he read the article, plaintiff John Mitchell was not aware that the Ketelhuts were growing grapes for a commercial purpose. Mitchell “knew that they weren’t supposed to be doing an activity like that because of the CC&Rs,” which “exclude any business activity.”

A copy of the newspaper article was marked as exhibit 54, but it was neither offered nor received into evidence. I quote from the article because it was before the trial court, witnesses testified as to its content, Felipa Eith quoted from the article during her examination of Jeffrey Ketelhut, and the article arguably is judicially noticeable not to prove the truth of the facts reported, but to prove the extent to which the commercial nature of the vineyard was publicized. (Evid. Code, §§ 452, subd. (h), 459.)

The article takes up the entire front page of the newspaper’s Sunday “Business” section (“Section E”). It is entitled, “GRAPE expectations[:] T.O. [Thousand Oaks] couple’s home vineyard about to pay off.” The article includes photographs of the vineyard, the Ketelhuts, and bottles of wine produced from grapes grown at the vineyard. The bottles are labeled, “Los Robles Hills.” One of the photographs of the Ketelhuts is captioned, “Jeff and Marcella Ketelhut, owners of the commercial vineyard in the Conejo Valley, enjoy discussing the challenges of wine production.” (Italics added.) The article includes the website address of the Ketelhuts’ winery.

The article states in part: “For Jeff and Marcella Ketelhut, the dream of owning a winery has come to fruition on the slopes near their Thousand Oaks home.” “The Ketelhuts are not yet making a profit but said they are selling their wine, at $35 a bottle, through their website, by word of mouth and by [24] hosting wine tastings by appointment at their home tasting room. [¶] … The couple also has planted a selection of olive trees on the property and hopes to begin producing cured olives and olive oil for sale in the near future. [¶] They said they are exploring ways to expand their commercial enterprise, given the potential they believe exists in the Conejo Valley. [¶] `We wanted to try it for a few years, and initially it was more of a fun thing, but now we’re barely doing any marketing and the stuff is flying off the shelves,’ said Marcella.” The article observes that “the Ketelhuts’ Los Robles Hills Winery [is] on the list of 15 [wineries] that make up the Ventura County Wine Trail.” Jeffrey Ketelhut testified that in 2010 the Ketelhuts had become “members of the Ventura County Wine Trail.”

Through the newspaper article, the Ketelhuts proclaimed to Ventura County residents that they were operating a commercial vineyard on the Property. It is understandable that homeowners, such as John Mitchell, would be alarmed by this development, which appeared to be a blatant violation of the CC&Rs’ prohibition against “any business or commercial activity.” Homeowners could view the article as a public flaunting by the Ketelhuts of their violation.

The majority opinion states, “No homeowner familiar with the vineyard’s operation would have had reason to suspect that the vineyard was being used to produce wine for sale to the public.” (Maj. opn., ante at p. 18.) But the newspaper article put the entire community on notice that the Ketelhuts were operating a commercial vineyard.

Moreover, the vineyard was in plain view of the homeowners. Richard Monson testified that, “[w]hen [he] drove past the Ketelhuts’ home,” he “noticed the grapevines on the hillside.” Because the grapevines were visible to everyone, they would be a continual source of aggravation to homeowners who objected to a commercial agricultural operation in their community. The majority opinion says that the vineyard was an “aesthetic enhancement.” (Maj. opn., ante at p. 18.) But to the homeowners who objected to its presence, it was an eyesore.

The Ketelhuts’ commercial vineyard was not permissible because, as Board member Daily testified, “Their growing grapes was part of their landscape plan.” The landscape plan, which was approved in 2005 by the Board’s architectural committee (the Committee), did not indicate that the vineyard would be used to grow grapes to make wine that would be offered for sale to the public. In 2005 the Ketelhuts did not inform the Committee of this future commercial use. Had it been so informed, the Committee probably would not have approved the landscape plan.

Difficulties may arise in applying the majority opinion’s standard of whether business or commercial activity affects the residential character of [25] the community. With such a vague standard, where does one draw the line between activity that affects and activity that does not affect residential character? This is a purely subjective determination.

A New Meaning for CC&Rs

Traditionally, CC&Rs are restrictions and limitations on land use. Now at the whim of the Board, CC&Rs mean “choices, creativity, and recommendations.” A homeowner has a choice and may be creative in the use of property. The traditional CC&Rs have been transformed into recommendations that the Board may elect not to enforce. Rather than having the force of law, the CC&Rs have the backbone of a chocolate éclair. And, of course, the Board’s composition may change and there will be inconsistency in just how much business or commercial activity will be allowed.

CC&Rs play a vital role in protecting the reasonable expectations of parties when they purchase land. This concept is lost in the majority opinion. Future buyers in the development should be expressly advised that business or commercial activity is allowed at the discretion of the Board. This may actually devalue the land.

Finally, to monetarily punish plaintiffs with attorneys’ fees is not only unfair, it is unconscionable. The Ketelhuts were the “first movers.” They created the entire problem by operating a commercial vineyard and publicizing it in the local newspaper. They are at fault and they should pay for it.

[*] Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rules 8.1100 and 8.1110, this opinion is certified for partial publication. The portions of this opinion to be deleted from publication are identified as those portions between double brackets, e.g., [[/]].

[1] The Eiths “posit that the 2/10/16 handwritten date appearing adjacent [to] the signature line [on the judgment] is suspect” and “therefore unreliable.” The Eiths contend that the handwritten date “was likely backdated.” (Capitalization & boldface omitted.) We reject the contention because it is based on speculation. There is a “presumption that judicial duty is properly performed.” (People v. Coddington (2000) 23 Cal.4th 529, 644 [97 Cal.Rptr.2d 528, 2 P.3d 1081], overruled on another ground in Price v. Superior Court (2001) 25 Cal.4th 1046, 1069, fn. 13 [108 Cal.Rptr.2d 409, 25 P.3d 618].) The Eiths have not overcome this presumption.

[*] See footnote, ante, page 1.

[*] See footnote, ante, page 1.

[1] Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) 378 U.S. 184, 197 [12 L.Ed.2d 793, 84 S.Ct. 1676] (conc. opn. of Stewart, J.).

Mashiri v. Epsten Grinnell & Howell

(2017) 845 F.3d 984

[FDCPA; Collection Notice] Homeowner successfully alleged that HOA law firm violated FDCPA because pre-lien notice payment demand timeline was inconsistent with the right under the FDCPA to dispute the debt within 30 days of receipt of letter.

Asil Marhiri (argued), Mashiri Law Firm, San Diego, California, for Plaintiff-Appellant. Anne Lorentzen Rauch (argued), Mandy D. Hexom, and Rian W. Jones, Epsten Grinnell & Howell APC, San Diego, California, for Defendants-Appellees.

OPINION

[985]  PAEZ, Circuit Judge:

Zakia Mashiri (“Mashiri”) appeals the dismissal of her complaint alleging that the  [986]  law firm of Epsten Grinnell & Howell and attorney Debora M. Zumwalt (collectively, “Epsten”) committed unlawful debt collection practices in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 et seq., the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“Rosenthal Act”), Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1788 et seq., and the California Unfair Competition Law, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200, et seq. Mashiri alleges that Epsten sent her a debt collection letter in May 2013 demanding payment of an assessment fee from her homeowners’ association. She alleges that the letter contained language that overshadowed and conflicted with her FDCPA right to thirty days in which to dispute the debt. On a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the district court dismissed Mashiri’s FDCPA claims, concluding that the collection letter satisfactorily explained her right to dispute the debt and therefore did not improperly threaten to record a lien. Because Mashiri’s state law claims were dependant on her FDCPA claims, the court also dismissed Mashiri’s Rosenthal Act and Unfair Competition Law claims. 

We hold that the district court erred. Mashiri has alleged a plausible claim for relief because the collection letter contains language that overshadows and conflicts with her FDCPA debt validation rights when reviewed under the “least sophisticated debtor” standard. We also reject Epsten’s argument, raised for the first time on appeal, that in sending the collection letter, it merely sought to perfect a security interest and is therefore subject only to the limitations in § 1692f(6). We hold that Epsten is subject to the full scope of the FDCPA. We reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.

I.

Mashiri alleges that she owns a home in San Diego, California and is a member of the Westwood Club homeowners’ association (“HOA”).1 As a member, Mashiri incurs annual assessment fees. Mashiri failed to pay in a timely manner the $385 fee assessed in July 2012.

In a collection letter dated May 1, 2013 (the “May Notice”), Epsten, on behalf of the HOA, sought to collect Mashiri’s overdue assessment fee, as well as corresponding late, administrative, and legal fees. The May Notice also included a warning that failure to pay the assessment fee would result in the HOA recording a lien against Mashiri’s property. This notice is required by section 5660 of the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 4000 et seq., which governs the collection of overdue homeowners’ association assessments.2 The May Notice stated, in pertinent part:

This letter is to advise you that $598.00 is currently owing on your Association assessment account. Failure to pay your assessment account in full within thirty-five (35) days from the date of this letter will result in a lien being recorded against your property upon authorization of the Board of Directors. All  [987]  collection costs incurred will be charged to your account.

Unless you notify this office within 30 days of receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid. If you notify this office in writing within thirty (30) days of receiving this notice that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, we will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of the judgment against you (if applicable) and a copy of [] such verification or judgment will be mailed to you.

. . . .

You have the right to inspect the association records pursuant to Corporations Code Section 8333. You may submit a written request to meet with the Board to discuss a payment plan for this debt. You shall not be liable to pay the charges, interest and costs of collection if it is determined the assessment was paid on time to the Association. You have the right to dispute the assessment debt by submitting a written request for dispute resolution to the association pursuant to the association’s “meet and confer” program required in Civil Code Section [5900] et seq., and the Board offers to participate in dispute resolution. You have the right to request alternative dispute resolution with a neutral third party pursuant to Civil Code Section [5925] et seq. before the association may initiate foreclosure against your separate interest, except that binding arbitration shall not be available if the association intends to initiate a judicial foreclosure.

. . . .

IMPORTANT NOTICE: IF YOUR SEPARATE INTEREST IS PLACED IN FORECLOSURE BECAUSE YOU ARE BEHIND IN YOUR ASSESSMENTS, IT MAY BE SOLD WITHOUT COURT ACTION.

. . . .

This is a communication from a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Accompanying the May Notice, Epsten included copies of Mashiri’s account statement and the HOA’s assessment collection policy.

On or about May 20, 2013, in a letter to Epsten, Mashiri disputed the debt and requested that Epsten validate it. Mashiri also stated that she never received a bill for the July 2012 assessment fee. Approximately two weeks later, on June 5, Epsten responded with another copy of Mashiri’s account statement.

On June 18, 2013, Epsten, on behalf of the HOA, recorded a lien on Mashiri’s property in the amount of $928, reflecting the $598 she previously owed and $330 in additional legal fees. Three days later, on June 21, Mashiri sent the HOA a check for $385. In a letter accompanying the check, Mashiri disputed the balance of the debt. As required by the Davis-Stirling Act, on June 24, Epsten notified Mashiri of the lien. Cal. Civ. Code § 5675(e).

Mashiri ultimately filed her complaint alleging violations of the FDCPA, the Rosenthal Act, and the Unfair Competition Law based on the contents of the May Notice. Epsten subsequently moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. The district court granted Epsten’s motion to dismiss, concluding, inter alia, that the May Notice “complied with the clarity and accuracy requirements” of the FDCPA and therefore “did not threaten to take action that could not legally be taken” as prohibited by the FDCPA. The district court dismissed Mashiri’s state law claims as dependant on  [988]  her FDCPA claims. Mashiri timely appealed.

II.

We review de novo a dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6). Ariz. Students’ Ass’n v. Ariz. Bd. of Regents, 824 F.3d 858, 864 (9th Cir. 2016). For purposes of our review, we accept the complaint’s well-pleaded factual allegations as true and construe all inferences in favor of Mashiri. Id. The “complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 173 L. Ed. 2d 868 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). “The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 556, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 167 L. Ed. 2d 929 (2007)).

III.

Congress enacted the FDCPA “to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to insure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent State action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692(e). In furtherance of these stated goals, “[t]he FDCPA subjects ‘debt collectors’ to civil damages for engaging in certain abusive practices while attempting to collect debts.” Ho v. ReconTrust Co., NA, 840 F.3d 618, 620 (9th Cir. 2016).

Mashiri challenges the district court’s ruling that she did not allege a plausible violation of § 1692g of the FDCPA, and its corresponding dismissal of the § 1692e(5) and state law claims that depended on her § 1692g claim. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692g. She argues that the May Notice violated § 1692g for two reasons. First, she contends that the May Notice demanded payment sooner than the expiration of the debtor’s thirty-day dispute period. Second, she claims that by threatening to record a lien within thirty-five days, irrespective of whether she disputed the debt, Epsten failed to explain effectively a debtor’s right to dispute the debt. Epsten counters that it was not attempting to collect a debt and therefore the May Notice needed to comply only with the obligations in § 1692f(6) of the FDCPA relating to enforcement of security interests. Epsten further argues that even if it is subject to § 1692g, it complied with the statutory requirements. We turn first to whether Epsten is subject solely to § 1692f(6), and then discuss whether Mashiri has sufficiently alleged a violation of § 1692g and related claims.

A.

For the first time in its answering brief, Epsten argues that it is subject only to § 1692f(6)3 because it sent the May Notice to perfect the HOA’s right to record an assessment lien against Mashiri’s property under California Civil Code section 5660. “Ordinarily, we decline to consider arguments raised for the first time on appeal.” Dream Palace v. Cty. of Maricopa, 384 F.3d 990, 1005 (9th Cir. 2003).  [989]  We have, however, recognized an exception where “the issue presented is purely one of law and either does not depend on the factual record developed below, or the pertinent record has been fully developed.” Cold Mountain v. Garber, 375 F.3d 884, 891 (9th Cir. 2004) (quoting Bolker v. Commissioner, 760 F.2d 1039, 1042 (9th Cir. 1985)). Here, Epsten presents a legal issue concerning the applicability of FDCPA provisions when a debt collector seeks, in part, to perfect a security interest and preserve the creditor’s right to record a lien. The pertinent facts, including the communications between Epsten and Mashiri, are not disputed. In addition, Mashiri responded to Epsten’s argument in her reply brief and therefore suffers no prejudice if we consider the argument. See Dream Palace, 384 F.3d at 1005. Accordingly, we address the issue.

The FDCPA defines “debt” as “any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(5) (emphasis supplied); see also Ho, 840 F.3d at 621 (“For the purposes of the FDCPA, the word ‘debt’ is synonymous with ‘money.'”). “The FDCPA imposes liability only when an entity is attempting to collect debt.” Ho, 840 F.3d at 621.

The contents of the May Notice plainly belie Epsten’s contention that it did not attempt to collect a debt. The May Notice requested payment of Mashiri’s homeowner’s assessment fee, stating: “This letter is to advise you that $598.00 is currently owing on your Association assessment account. Failure to pay your assessment account in full within thirty-five (35) days from the date of this letter will result in a lien being recorded against your property.” See supra at 5 (emphasis added). Mashiri’s obligation to pay the assessment fee relates to her household and arises from her membership in the HOA. The overdue assessment fee is a debt under § 1692a(5).

Epsten nonetheless argues that, based on the definition of a “debt collector” under § 1692a(6),4 entities engaged in the enforcement of security interests are subject only to § 1692f(6). There was, however, no existing security interest for Epsten to enforce at the time it sent the May Notice because a lien had yet to be recorded against Mashiri’s property. Rather than seeking to enforce an existing security interest or lien, the May Notice sought to collect Mashiri’s overdue assessment fee and to make necessary disclosures that would perfect the HOA’s security interest and permit it to record a lien at a later date. See Cal. Civ. Code § 5660 (providing that “[a]t least 30 days prior to recording a lien upon the separate interest of the owner of record to collect a debt that is past due under Section 5650, the association shall notify the owner of record in writing by certified mail” of specified information).5

 [990]  In addition, Epsten’s interpretation of § 1692a(6) is incorrect. As we recently observed in Ho, “[i]f entities that enforce security interests engage in activities that constitute debt collection, they are debt collectors.” 840 F.3d at 622. Ho addressed whether a trustee’s communications—limited solely to pursuing non-judicial foreclosure—were debt collection activities for purposes of the FDCPA. Id. at 619-20, 623. In contrast to this case, the trustee sought to enforce a secured loan and sent a notice of default that did not request payment but instead “merely informed Ho that the foreclosure process had begun, explained the foreclosure timeline, apprised her of her rights and stated that she could contact [the lender] (not [the trustee]) if she wished to make a payment.” Id. at 623. We held that where an entity is engaged solely in the enforcement of a security interest and not in debt collection, like the trustee and unlike Epsten, it is subject only to § 1692f(6) rather than the full scope of the FDCPA. See id. at 622 (“We do not hold that the FDCPA intended to exclude all entities whose principal purpose is to enforce security interests. . . . We hold only that the enforcement of security interests is not always debt collection.”).

Because Epsten sent the May Notice as a debt collector attempting to collect payment of a debt—irrespective of whether it also sought to perfect the HOA’s security interest and preserve its right to record a lien in the future—it is subject to the full scope of the FDCPA, including § 1692g and § 1692e. See id. Epsten’s attempt to escape liability under § 1692g and § 1692e therefore fails.

B.

As noted above, Mashiri argues that she alleged a violation of § 1692g on two grounds. First, she argues that the May Notice requested payment by a date that was inconsistent with a debtor’s right to dispute the debt within thirty days from receipt of the notice. Second, she argues that Epsten’s threat to record a lien within thirty-five days of the date of the letter overshadowed her right to dispute the debt. We address each of these arguments below, and hold that Mashiri has alleged a plausible § 1692g violation on both grounds.

The FDCPA requires a debt collector to send the debtor a written notice that informs the debtor of the amount of the debt, to whom the debt is owed, her right to dispute the debt within thirty days of receipt of the letter, and her right to obtain verification of the debt.6 Because the  [991]  notice must inform the debtor of her right to obtain verification of the debt, the notice is commonly referred to as a “validation” notice. However, “[t]he statute is not satisfied merely by inclusion of the required debt validation notice; the notice Congress required must be conveyed effectively to the debtor.” Swanson v. S. Or. Credit Serv., Inc., 869 F.2d 1222, 1225 (9th Cir. 1988).

Importantly, notice of the debtor’s right to dispute the debt and to request the name of the original creditor must not be overshadowed or inconsistent with other messages appearing in the communication.7 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b). Overshadowing or inconsistency may exist where language in the notice would “confuse a least sophisticated debtor” as to her validation rights. Terran v. Kaplan, 109 F.3d 1428, 1432 (9th Cir. 1997). In other words, “[u]nder the law of this circuit, whether the initial communication violates the FDCPA depends on whether it is likely to deceive or mislead a hypothetical ‘least sophisticated debtor.'” Id. at 1431 (internal quotation marks omitted).

1.

Turning to Mashiri’s first basis for a § 1692g violation, Mashiri claims that the May Notice did not provide a debtor thirty days in which to dispute the debt. We have previously observed that a § 1692g violation would result if a debt collector demanded payment prior to the expiration of the thirty-day dispute period to which debtors are entitled. As we explained in Terran:

A demand for payment within less than the thirty-day timeframe necessarily requires the debtor to [forgo] the statutory right to challenge the debt in writing within thirty days, or suffer the consequences. For this reason, requiring a payment that would eliminate the debt before the debtor can challenge the validity of that debt directly conflicts with the protections for debtors set forth in section 1692g.

Id. at 1434.

In this case, the May Notice demanded payment within thirty-five days of the date of the letter, which is inconsistent with a debtor’s right to dispute a debt within thirty days of receipt of the letter. By the time a debtor receives such a letter, there may be fewer than thirty days before payment is due.8 Moreover, even if the debtor received the letter promptly, in order for the payment to be received within thirty-five days of the date of the letter, the debtor would likely need to mail the payment prior to the thirtieth day of the dispute period. See Chauncey v. JDR Recovery Corp., 118 F.3d 516, 519 (7th Cir. 1997). The least sophisticated debtor, when  [992]  confronted with such a notice, would reasonably forgo her right to thirty days in which to dispute the debt and seek verification. The infringement of the debtor’s right to thirty days in which to dispute the debt plausibly violates § 1692g. See Terran, 109 F.3d at 1434.

2.

Mashiri alleged a plausible § 1692g violation for the additional reason that the least sophisticated debtor may not understand, on the basis of the May Notice, that upon notifying Epsten of a dispute, debt collection activities would “cease . . . until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt . . . and a copy of such verification . . . is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b). Rather, the May Notice stated that a lien “will” be recorded if Mashiri “fail[ed] to pay.” The least sophisticated debtor would likely (and incorrectly) believe that even if she disputed the debt and Epsten had not yet mailed verification of the debt to her, Epsten would record a lien on the thirty-fifth day after the date of the letter. “In this manner, the letter effectively overshadows the disclosed right to dispute by conveying an inaccurate message that exercise of the right does not have an effect that the statute itself says it has.” Pollard v. Law Office of Mandy L. Spaulding, 766 F.3d 98, 105 (1st Cir. 2014).

Epsten relies on Shimek v. Weissman, Nowack, Curry & Wilco, P.C., 374 F.3d 1011 (11th Cir. 2004) (per curiam) for the proposition that, upon receipt of a request for debt verification, the FDCPA does not require a debt collector to take affirmative action to stop the recording of a lien that had already been filed. That case, however, correctly recognizes that “sending a lien to the clerk of the court [for filing] after a verification of the debt was requested is clearly contrary to § 1692g(b)’s requirement that a debt collector shall ‘cease collection of the debt’ once the verification is requested.” Id. at 1014. In addition, Shimek is factually inapposite because “[u]nder Georgia law, the filing of a lien by a creditor is a necessary step for securing payment of a debt,” and the Eleventh Circuit “assum[ed] the propriety of filing the lien with the Court Clerk contemporaneously with the demand letter.” Id. at 1013-14. In California, pursuant to the Davis-Stirling Act, a homeowners’ association may not record a lien with a county recorder’s office contemporaneously with mailing the demand letter, but instead must provide notice of the debt at least thirty days prior to recording a lien, during which time a debtor-homeowner may dispute the debt. Cal. Civ. Code § 5660.

The obligations imposed on the HOA pursuant to the FDCPA, including the provision requiring suspension of debt collection activities pending debt verification, are thus consistent with the requirements the HOA must satisfy pursuant to the Davis-Stirling Act. The HOA’s right to record a lien thirty days after providing notice under section 5660 is not absolute, but instead is dependent on whether the homeowner disputes the debt. Indeed, pursuant to the Davis-Stirling Act, if the homeowner disputes the debt and requests an informal dispute resolution proceeding, the HOA must participate in dispute resolution “prior to recording a lien.” Cal. Civ. Code § 5670.

In this context, the threat of recording of a lien is a debt collection activity, which under the FDCPA must cease if the debtor-homeowner disputes the debt and the debt collector has not yet mailed verification of the debt to the debtor-homeowner. The Davis-Stirling Act does not mandate otherwise. Epsten was obligated to explain such debt validation rights in an effective manner. See Swanson, 869 F.2d at 1225. In  [993]  failing to do so, the threat of filing a lien overshadowed Mashiri’s right to dispute the debt, in violation of § 1692g. Because Mashiri has plausibly alleged a violation of § 1692g on the basis of inconsistency and overshadowing, we reverse the district court’s dismissal of that claim.

IV. Conclusion

We hold that Mashiri has plausibly alleged a claim under § 1692g, and we reverse the district court’s dismissal of that claim. Because we reverse the district court’s dismissal of Mashiri’s § 1692g claim, we reverse the district court’s dismissal of Mashiri’s claims that depended on § 1692g and arose under § 1692e(5), the Rosenthal Act, and the Unfair Competition Law.9

REVERSED and REMANDED.


The facts are derived from the complaint and its accompanying exhibits, as well as documents that the district court judicially noticed.

The Davis-Stirling Act “consolidated the statutory law governing condominiums and other common interest developments.” Berryman v. Merit Prop. Mgmt., Inc., 152 Cal. App. 4th 1544, 62 Cal. Rptr. 3d 177, 183 (Cal. Ct. App. 2007) (internal quotation marks omitted). In enacting the Davis-Stirling Act, the California legislature “intended to protect homeowners from being foreclosed upon for small sums of delinquent assessments.” Huntington Cont’l Town House Ass’n v. Miner, 222 Cal. App. 4th Supp. 13, 167 Cal. Rptr. 3d 609, 612 (Cal. App. Dep’t Super. Ct. 2014).

Section 1692f(6) prohibits:

Taking or threatening to take any nonjudicial action to effect dispossession or disablement of property if—

(A) there is no present right to possession of the property claimed as collateral through an enforceable security interest;

(B) there is no present intention to take possession of the property; or

(C) the property is exempt by law from such dispossession or disablement.

Section 1692a(6) provides, in pertinent part:

The term “debt collector” means any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. . . . For the purpose of section 1692f(6) of this title, such term also includes any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests.

We also note that the Rosenthal Act, which functions as “the state analogue of the FDCPA,” does not exempt homeowners’ associations attempting to collect overdue assessment fees pursuant to California Civil Code § 5660. See Ho v. ReconTrust Co., NA, 840 F.3d 618, 623 n.8 (9th Cir. 2016).

Section 1692g(a) provides that the debt collector must notify the debtor of the following:

(1) the amount of the debt;

(2) the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed;

(3) a statement that unless the consumer, within thirty days after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt, or any portion thereof, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector;

(4) a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer by the debt collector; and

(5) a statement that, upon the consumer’s written request within the thirty-day period, the debt collector will provide the consumer with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor.

The terms “overshadowing” and “inconsistent” are often used interchangeably. See, e.g., Pollard v. Law Office of Mandy L. Spaulding, 766 F.3d 98, 104 (1st Cir. 2014) (“We note at the outset that, in the section 1692g milieu, courts do not always distinguish between violations based on the overshadowing of a validation notice and violations based on inconsistencies.”).

Although Epsten asks us to take judicial notice of a certified mail receipt showing that Mashiri received the May Notice on May 2, 2013, the district court did not consider the certified mail receipt, and we decline to do so as well. The date on which Mashiri received the May Notice is irrelevant because we undertake an “objective analysis that takes into account whether the least sophisticated debtor would likely be misled by a communication.” Evon v. Law Offices of Sidney Mickell, 688 F.3d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 2012) (emphasis added and internal quotation marks omitted).

To the extent Mashiri asserted claims under § 1692e, the Rosenthal Act, or the Unfair Competition Law on grounds unrelated to her § 1692g claim, Mashiri does not challenge the district court’s dismissal of those claims.

Related Links

Pre-Lien Demands and FDCPA Concerns” – Published on HOA Lawyer Blog (April, 2017)

Bear Creek Master Association v. Edwards

(2005) 31 Cal.Rptr.3d 337

[Duty to pay; Assessment Liens] A recorded assessment lien secures the assessment debt that continues to accrue on the owner’s account; the debt is not limited solely to the amount stated in the lien at the time the lien was initially recorded.

Law Office of Lucia Enriquez and Lucia Enriquez; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, and John S. Gordon, Los Angeles, attorneys for Defendants and Appellants.
Fiore, Racobs & Powers, Peter E. Racobs and Michelle A. Buchmeier, Palm Desert, attorneys for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Certified for Partial Publication.[FN.*]

OPINION

WARD, J.

Defendants and appellants Parlan L. Edwards and Gloria Renico Edwards, as trustees of the Parlan L. Edwards and Gloria Renico Edwards Family Trust (the Trust), appeal from a judgment in favor of plaintiff and respondent Bear Creek Master Association (Bear Creek), on Bear Creek’s action for breach of contract and foreclosure. Although both Edwardses are named trustees of the trust, the primary actor throughout has been Parlan L. Edwards; for convenience, therefore, we refer to “Edwards” in the singular, as the representative of the Trust and as the person who performed most of the salient acts on defendants’ behalf.

Edwards and the Trust also appeal postjudgment orders for attorney fees and requiring them to post additional security pending appeal.

The key issue in the appeal is whether a homeowners’ association may charge homeowners’ association dues or assessments for unbuilt property within a planned and partially built homeowners’ association development. The Trust’s parcel was planned for eight condominium units, out of a phase of sixteen, but none of the units on the Trust’s portion of the property had actually been constructed. This dispute arose because the Trust failed to pay homeowners’ association assessments; indeed, it refused to do so on the theory that assessments are chargeable only to a “condominium unit,” but that there were no built-out “units” on the Trust’s property.

As we shall explain below, we affirm the judgment and the postjudgment orders.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Bear Creek is the master homeowners’ association for the master Bear Creek development. Country Club Villas (CCV) is the homeowners’ association, or subassociation, within the Bear Creek master development. The property at issue is located within the CCV subassociation area within the Bear Creek master development. The property comprises what is described as units 9-16 of Phase IV of the Country Club Villas subassociation. Units 9-16 were eight unbuilt condominium units within CCV Phase IV. Sixteen condominiums were originally designed for CCV Phase IV; eight condominiums were built in “pods” of two units each, but the remaining eight units, comprising units 9-16, were never constructed.

A company called Watt Bear Creek had owned units 9-16 of CCV Phase IV, but lost title to that property through foreclosure. The property was acquired by Bear Creek Limited, which was owned by Bill Johnson. Edwards apparently lent a sum of money to Johnson, which Johnson failed to repay.

At the time that Edwards lent the funds to Johnson, he did not further investigate the status of Johnson’s property; he simply relied on Johnson’s representation that the property was worth twice the amount borrowed. He did no research in the Riverside County Assessor’s Office, he did not research recorder’s office records regarding the property, and he never read the Bear Creek CC & R’s applicable to the property. Edwards testified that he had purchased numerous properties in the past and that he was familiar with title reports, [341] but that he did not review any title report on the property before lending to Johnson.

Johnson defaulted on the Edwards loan, and Edwards foreclosed. Again, before foreclosing and taking title to the property, Edwards did not check the assessor’s records, did not check the recorder’s records, and did not obtain a title report. Edwards foreclosed on the property and took title for the Trust in approximately December 1997. Edwards’s attorney, Lucila Enriquez, telephoned the Bear Creek property manager in January 1998 to explain that Edwards was now the owner of units 9-16 of CCV Phase IV. Attorney Enriquez told the property manager that she was representing Edwards in connection with his ownership of the lots, and advised that she and Edwards had had some difficulty accessing the property. She followed up the telephone conversation with a copy of the title document showing the transfer from Johnson to Edwards.

The deed giving title to Edwards, on behalf of the trust, listed attorney Enriquez’s address as the address to which the recorded deed was to be mailed. It was to attorney Enriquez’s address, therefore, that Bear Creek sent various notices to Edwards, as owner of units 9-16 of CCV Phase IV.

Among other things, Bear Creek mailed homeowners’ association ballots and notices of association assessments to Edwards, always to attorney Enriquez’s address. As already noted, attorney Enriquez herself had telephoned Bear Creek’s property manager in January of 1998 to inform Bear Creek that the Trust had acquired ownership of the property. The homeowners’ ballots for each of the Trust’s units were voted and returned. The ballots included a space to write in the owner’s address; except in two instances in which the address space was left blank, the voted ballots that Edwards returned all gave attorney Enriquez’s address as the owner’s address.

Bear Creek also sent notices of delinquent homeowners’ association assessments for the units, and notices of intent to file a lien. These notices were sent both by first class mail and by certified mail with return receipt requested, to the Trust at attorney Enriquez’s address. The certified mail envelopes were returned unclaimed, but the first class mail was not returned by the post office.

Before Bear Creek filed the instant suit, no one had ever informed Bear Creek that attorney Enriquez was not authorized to receive communications from Bear Creek at her address. Normally, if a property owner wishes to change its address of record with Bear Creek, the owner notifies the property manager in writing. The property manager never received such a notification with respect to units 9-16 of CCV Phase IV.

Bear Creek adduced evidence that it had charged association assessments to prior owners of units 9-16, even though those eight units were unbuilt. Bear Creek also charged assessments to other unbuilt units within the Bear Creek master development. The triggering event is when one unit in a phase is sold; after that, assessments are charged to each unit in the phase. Bear Creek consistently charged such assessments against every unit in a phase which had sold one property, and had done so regardless of whether the unit consisted of a house, townhouse, condominium, or unbuilt structure.

Edwards testified that he believed the assessments, under the CC & R’s, applied only to “condominiums.” Inasmuch as there were no condominium buildings on his property, he took the view that he had no duty to pay the assessments. He further testified that he also believed that he [342] had no right, as he owned no “units” or “condominiums,” to vote in homeowners’ association elections. He claimed that Bear Creek had erred in sending him any homeowners’ association ballots, but that he had voted the ballots only to “protect” himself. The day following this testimony, however, Edwards executed a proxy with respect to the Bear Creek election for three members of the board of directors, and cast 24 ballots (three for each unit of his property) in that election. Edwards did not deny sending the proxy, but testified that he had immediately sent a revocation of the proxy “[t]o the same man I sent the proxy to.”

In December 1998, Edwards executed a deed of trust on the property in favor of attorney Enriquez; this transaction was to secure payment of Enriquez’s attorney fees in representing Edwards in various matters concerning the property; Edwards had encountered numerous difficulties in getting the property ready to develop. Among other things, he learned after he had acquired the property that tax assessments were delinquent.

Edwards gave evidence that he and attorney Enriquez had had difficulty gaining access to the Bear Creek development, a gated community. Edwards spoke to an onsite employee to apply for vehicle stickers for his and Enriquez’s cars. In the vehicle permit application, Edwards requested that stickers for his and his wife’s cars be mailed to his business address. He testified that he duly received the vehicle permits, and never thought to do anything else about changing his record address with the property manager.

In any event, Bear Creek charged assessments and sent notices for these assessments to Edwards at attorney Enriquez’s address. Edwards disputed the legality of the assessments, inasmuch as there were no built-out structures corresponding to units 9-16 of CCV Phase IV. Bear Creek sent notices of delinquency, filed lis pendens until its lien could be established, and filed the instant action for, among other things, judicial foreclosure, foreclosure of an equitable lien, and breach of contract. Edwards answered on October 13, 2000. (Edwards also filed a cross-action which was later dismissed as to Bear Creek — as a sanction for discovery abuses — and apparently transferred to a different court to be consolidated with a different action involving different parties. The cross-complaint is not in issue on this appeal.)

After considerably protracted and contentious pretrial proceedings, trial began on May 27, 2003. The court exercised its discretion to try the equitable issues and questions of law first, to the court, reserving jury trial for the common law issues, if any remained.

The trial proceeded normally for the first two days. On the third day of trial, attorney Enriquez did not appear. Edwards, who had been traveling with her, reported that Enriquez had suffered chest pains while en route to court that day, and went to the emergency room for evaluation. On the following day, a Friday, Enriquez again did not appear. She sent a letter and a note to the court by fax, after normal business hours. The note stated that Enriquez was placed on a 60-day medical leave for further evaluation, but the note was not signed under oath and gave no details of Enriquez’s medical condition.

The following Monday, June 2, 2003, the court ordered attorney Enriquez to appear by June 5, 2003, or to submit a sworn declaration of a physician explaining why Enriquez had failed to appear in court. Enriquez instead filed a request for a continuance of the trial for 60 days for claimed medical disability. Enriquez [343] averred that she was completely debilitated and could not “function in day to day activities.” She also appended a doctor’s letter which stated only vaguely that Enriquez’s condition was being “worked-up,” and that “[d]epending on the outcome of the work-up, she may return to work prior to or after the estimated sixty-days period.” This letter was unsworn and provided no intelligible information on Enriquez’s medical condition.

On June 5, 2003, the date set to resume trial, neither attorney Enriquez nor Edwards appeared. The court therefore ordered a postponement of the trial until July 30, 2003 (approximately 60 days from the onset of attorney Enriquez’s alleged medical disability). The order advised both Enriquez and Edwards that, if Enriquez was medically unable to resume trial on July 30, 2003, Edwards should be prepared to go forward with new counsel; the 60-day continuance should afford Edwards sufficient time for new counsel to prepare to proceed.

On July 30, 2003, attorney Enriquez again failed to appear. A new attorney, Carter F. Johnston, appeared on Enriquez’s behalf. This time, attorney Enriquez averred that she may have suffered a small stroke four or five days earlier. This claim was supported only by unsworn doctors’ statements, despite the court’s earlier order that Enriquez must present verified evidence of her medical condition, substantiating her incapacity to appear at trial.

Attorney Johnston also claimed that he was unprepared to proceed with the trial on July 30, 2003, despite the court’s express direction to attorney Enriquez to inform her client (Edwards) of the need to proceed without fail on that date, and to obtain new counsel if necessary to do so. The court denied attorney Johnston’s request for a further continuance. The highly unusual circumstances of attorney Enriquez’s absenting herself from court in the midst of trial, without providing verified evidence of any medical disability or incapacity, resulted in an order for sanctions, which has been reviewed in a separate appeal. (Bear Creek Master Association v. Edwards(Sept. 21, 2004, E034591) [nonpub. opn.])

The case then proceeded on July 30 and 31, 2003. The court issued a statement of decision, finding in favor of Bear Creek on both the judicial and equitable foreclosure causes of action. Because no triable issues of fact remained with respect to any alleged breach of contract, the court also granted Bear Creek’s motion for a directed verdict on that cause of action. The court thereupon gave judgment for Bear Creek in the amounts requested. The court further found that Bear Creek was the prevailing party and thus entitled to attorney fees.

Edwards moved for a new trial. This was apparently denied, and Edwards filed a notice of appeal from the judgment.

Bear Creek submitted a motion for attorney fees; Bear Creek then moved to amend the judgment to include both the attorney fees and costs award and an amount previously ordered as sanctions. The court signed the judgment as amended.

Bear Creek then objected to the amount of the undertaking Edwards had posted before taking an appeal; inasmuch as the judgment had been substantially increased by the addition of the attorney fees and costs award, Bear Creek asked the court to order Edwards to provide an increased undertaking on appeal. The court found that the undertaking already deposited was insufficient, in light of the amounts added to the judgment for attorney fees and costs, and ordered Edwards to deposit [344] additional funds for the undertaking on appeal. Edwards filed a second notice of appeal, encompassing the award of attorney fees and costs as well as the requirement of an additional undertaking on appeal.

This court eventually consolidated these two appeals.

ANALYSIS

Edwards raises a plethora of issues, some of which are duplicative, and none of which has merit, with only one possible minor exception.

I. Edwards Was Required to Pay Assessments, Notwithstanding the Absence of an Actual Structure on the Property

Edwards’s primary contention throughout the action was that assessments pertain only to a “condominium,” and that a “condominium” must contemplate an actual, existing structure. In the absence of a building or structure, no duty to pay assessments arose under either statutory law or under the Bear Creek CC & R’s. Edwards thus argues, first of all, that the court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict on all causes of action. He asserts that Bear Creek could not prove an essential element of all the causes of action: to wit, the existence of a “condominium.”

A. The Davis-Stirling Act Defines a “Condominium” as “Space” Described in a Qualifying Instrument

Edwards insists that “[v]acant land is not a condominium.” This claim is based upon a proposed construction of the relevant statutory authority and, to some extent, of the Bear Creek CC & R’s. The construction of both statutes and contractual documents presents questions of law, which we review de novo. (Regents of the University of California v. Superior Court (1999) 20 Cal.4th 509, 531, 85 Cal.Rptr.2d 257, 976 P.2d 808; Morgan v. City of Los Angeles Bd. of Pension Comrs. (2000) 85 Cal.App.4th 836, 843, 102 Cal.Rptr.2d 468.)

Civil Code section 783 was enacted in 1963. (Stats.1963, ch. 860, § 1, p. 2090.) It defined a condominium as “an estate in real property consisting of an undivided interest in common in a portion of a parcel of real property together with a separate interest in space in a residential, industrial or commercial building on such real property, such as an apartment, office or store.” (Italics added.) An amendment in 1969 did not alter this language in the statute. (Stats.1969, ch. 275, § 1, p. 624 [amending the description of a possible condominium interest from an “estate for years” to an “estate for years, such as a leasehold or subleasehold”].)

In 1984, however, the definition of a “condominium” was changed considerably. Civil Code section 783 was amended to read: “A condominium is an estate in real property consisting of an undivided interest in common in a portion of a parcel of real property together with a separate interest in space, the boundaries of which are described on a recorded final map, parcel map, condominium plan or other document in sufficient detail to locate all boundaries thereof. The area within such boundaries may be filled with air, earth, or water or any combination thereof and need not be physically attached to the land except by easements for access and, if necessary, support. The description of such space may refer to (i) boundaries described in the recorded final map, parcel map, condominium plan or other document; (ii) physical boundaries, either in existence, or to be constructed, such as walls, floors and ceilings of a structure or portion thereof; (iii) an entire structure containing one or more separate interests [345] in space; or (iv) any combination thereof. The portion of the parcel of real property held in undivided interest may be all of the real property of an existing parcel or lot (except for the separate interests in space) or may include a particular three-dimensional portion thereof, the boundaries of which are described on a recorded final map, parcel map, condominium plan or other document. The area within the boundaries may be filled with air, earth, or water, or any combination thereof, and need not be physically attached to land except by easements for access and, if necessary, support. A condominium may include in addition a separate interest in other portions of such real property….” (Italics added.) Civil Code section 1350 was amended to reflect that, “As used in this title unless the context otherwise requires: [¶] 1. `Condominium’ means a condominium as defined in Section 783 of the Civil Code. [¶] 2. `Unit’ means the elements of a condominium which are not owned in common with the owners of other condominiums in the project. [¶] 3. `Project’ means the entire parcel of real property divided, or to be divided into condominiums, including all structures thereon. [¶] 4. `Common areas’ means the entire project excepting all units therein granted or reserved….” (Stats.1984, ch. 291, § 2, p. 1518.)

Thus, we see that “condominium” was radically redefined to mean a separate interest in space, within boundaries described by certain qualifying documents. The “space” may consist of air, earth or water, or any combination of these things, so long as the boundaries of that space are adequately described in the proper recorded document. There was no longer any requirement for an existing building or structure as a defining characteristic of a condominium.

In 1985 (effective in 1986), the Legislature enacted the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (the Davis-Stirling Act). (Stats.1985, ch. 874, § 14, p. 2774.) To accomplish this, the Legislature repealed Civil Code section 783, and enacted a new Civil Code section 783 (Stats.1985, ch. 874, §§ 8, 9, p. 2772), reading as follows: “A condominium is an estate in real property described in subdivision (f) of Section 1351.” In other words, the definition of “condominium” was transferred from Civil Code section 783, to Civil Code section 1351, subdivision (f).

The Legislature also repealed Title 6 of Part 4 of Division 2 of the Civil Code (beginning with § 1350), and enacted replacement provisions (the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act). New Civil Code section 1351, subdivision (f), defines a condominium as: “an undivided interest in common in a portion of real property coupled with a separate interest in space called a unit, the boundaries of which are described on a recorded final map, parcel map, or condominium plan in sufficient detail to locate all boundaries thereof. The area within these boundaries may be filled with air, earth, or water, or any combination thereof, and need not be physically attached to land except by easements for access and, if necessary, support. The description of the unit may refer to (1) boundaries described in the recorded final map, parcel map, or condominium plan, (2) physical boundaries, either in existence, or to be constructed, such as walls, floors, and ceilings of a structure or any portion thereof, (3) an entire structure containing one or more units, or (4) any combination thereof. The portion or portions of the real property held in undivided interest may be all of the real property, except for the separate interests, or may include a particular three-dimensional portion thereof, the boundaries of which are described on a recorded [346] final map, parcel map, or condominium plan. The area within these boundaries may be filled with air, earth, or water, or any combination thereof, and need not be physically attached to land except by easements for access and, if necessary, support….”

This definition of a “condominium,” derived from former Civil Code section 783, as amended in 1984, carried forward the changed description of a condominium, so that it no longer required the existence of a structure or building.

B. Civil Code Section 1646 Is Inapplicable

Edwards relies on the original definition of condominium, as set forth in the pre-1984 versions of Civil Code section 783. He strenuously argues that that definition requires a “condominium” to consist of a structure or building. Edwards further argues that, pursuant to Civil Code section 1646, contracts — here, the Bear Creek CC & R’s — must be construed according to the law and usage “of the place” where the contract was made.[FN.1] This “place,” Edwards maintains, is pre-1984 California; thus, the term “condominium,” according to the “law and usage” of California before 1984 must be construed to require an actual structure. The Bear Creek CC & R’s were created before 1984, and should therefore be subject to the pre-1984 definition in Civil Code section 783.

Edwards’s reliance on Civil Code section 1646 is misplaced. He is attempting to import a “law of time” rather than a “law of place” into the CC & R’s as a contract or instrument. Whether pre- or post-amendment law is applied, the CC & R’s properly apply the law of place where the contract was created or intended to be performed: i.e., California. Civil Code section 1646 is irrelevant to the question whether the new definition of “condominium” under California law applies to the Bear Creek CC & R’s.

C. The New Definition of a “Condominium,” Not Requiring a Structure, Applies to Edwards’s Property

The Davis-Stirling Act by its own terms applies to all common interest developments, even those that were created before the Act was adopted. (Civ.Code, § 1352; Villa de las Palmas Homeowners Assn. v. Terifaj (2004) 33 Cal.4th 73, 81, fn. 2, 14 Cal.Rptr.3d 67, 90 P.3d 1223.; Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Association (1994) 8 Cal.4th 361, 378, fn. 8, 33 Cal.Rptr.2d 63, 878 P.2d 1275.) Civil Code section 1352 states in relevant part: “This title applies and a common interest development is created whenever a separate interest coupled with an interest in the common area or membership in the association is, or has been, conveyed….” (Italics added.)

Edwards attempts to avoid the application of the Davis-Stirling Act to his property by arguing that he acquired no fee simple estates in the deed by which he took title to units 9-16 of CCV Phase IV. He contends that the Trust owns an “undivided parcel of land [which] has not yet been divided into separate interests.” Thus, Edwards contends, the trust does not own any “condominiums,” defined as consisting both of an “undivided interest in common in a portion of real property,” [347] together with “a separate interest in space….” (Civ.Code, § 783.)

Edwards’s argument is disingenuous. The deed by which the Trust received title recites that the property received does qualify as a “condominium” — eight of them, in fact — consisting of both an “undivided interest” in common areas and a fee simple interest in a condominium unit.

Edwards’s deed conveyed an “undivided 8/16th fractional interest” in the common areas of “lots 1 and 2 of Tract Map 20829, in the County of Riverside, State of California, as per map recorded in Book 161, pages 3 through 4, inclusive, of Maps, in the Office of the County Recorder of said County.” The undivided (common) interest in lots 1 and 2 of Tract Map 20829 specifically excluded, “all living units and garages shown upon Country Club Villas-Phase 4 Condominium Plan recorded in the Office of the County Recorder of Riverside County, California on September 9, 1986 as Instrument No. 219590.” (Italics added.) In other words, the “undivided interest” conveyed in lots 1 and 2 of Tract Map 20829 included common areas and excluded the condominium units themselves, which were to be owned exclusively by their owners/occupiers: i.e., the fee simple portion of the condominium unit.

Edwards purchased eight such condominium units: units 9 through 16, with the exclusive right to use, possess and occupy those units. That Edwards owns more than one unit does not detract from Edwards’s exclusive right, in fee simple, to occupy the living unit and garage areas for units 9 through 16, as described on the CCV Phase IV condominium plan. Indeed, there would be utterly no point in describing Edwards’s title to “Living unit and garage Nos. 9 through 16 as shown upon the condominium plan,” if the deed did not convey a fee simple interest in those condominium units.

Edwards’s argument that the land itself is “undivided,” is an example of the logical fallacy of “equivocation,” in which he has shifted the meaning of the word. The “undivided interest” conveyed in the deed is ownership, held in common with all the other owners in lots 1 and 2 of Tract Map 20829, to the common areas in lots 1 and 2. The condominium areas—the living units and garages as described in the condominium plan — are specifically excluded from the description of Edwards’s “undivided interest.” That Edwards has not sold any individual units — whether constructed or not — is wholly irrelevant to the existence of both an undivided (common) interest and a fee simple (exclusive) interest, which comprise a condominium. The eight units Edwards acquired meet the statutory definition of a “condominium” under the Davis-Stirling Act, inasmuch as they are specifically described in a qualifying condominium plan, the CCV Phase IV plan as described in Edwards’s deed. Edwards has failed to demonstrate that the Davis-Stirling Act does not apply to his condominium units.

D. Edwards Was Not Entitled to a Directed Verdict

Inasmuch as we have concluded that the Davis-Stirling Act, and its definition of a “condominium,” applied to Edwards’s property, we necessarily also conclude, as did the trial court, that Edwards owns eight “condominiums.” In light of this conclusion, we categorically reject Edwards’s initial contention, that the trial court erred in denying a motion for directed verdict, premised on the notion that Bear Creek could not prove the existence of any “condominiums” for which assessments were payable. Bear Creek did prove the existence of eight condominiums; Edwards was not entitled to a directed verdict.

[348] E. Edwards Had a Duty to Pay Assessments

Under both the Davis-Stirling Act and the Bear Creek CC & R’s, assessments become due upon all units in a phase after the first unit in a phase has sold. The evidence at trial was uncontradicted that the first unit in CCV Phase IV sold no later than 1986, long before Edwards acquired his units. This event triggered the duty of each owner of a unit in that phase to pay assessments. The CC & R’s declared, “The Annual Assessments … shall commence as to all lots (including those owned by Declarant) on the first day of the month following the conveyance of the first lot by Declarant to an individual Owner; provided however, that annual assessments shall commence for all Lots located within a phase of the Properties which has been annexed hereto on the first day of the month following the conveyance of the first lot in such phase by Declarant to an individual Owner….” CCV Phase IV had been annexed into the Bear Creek master development in August of 1986.

The evidence was therefore without dispute that the triggering events — annexation and first sale of a lot to an individual owner — had taken place with respect to CCV Phase IV. Thereafter, Bear Creek at all times charged annual assessments against each unit in CCV Phase IV, whether or not the unit had been built out.

Edwards owned eight units in CCV Phase IV. Edwards therefore owed a duty under both the Davis-Stirling Act and the Bear Creek CC & R’s to pay those assessments, regardless of the absence of an actual condominium structure or building. The definition of a “condominium” as a unit of “space,” which “space” may consist of air, water or earth, in no wise requires an actual structure or building; rather, it requires a specific description in a particular kind of qualifying recorded instrument. Such an instrument (condominium plan) exists here. As a matter of law, based upon statutory construction, interpretation of the written CC & R’s, and undisputed facts, the Trust owed a duty to pay assessments to Bear Creek for each of the eight condominium units it owned.

F. Edwards Failed to Pay Any Assessments

The evidence was undisputed that the Trust at all times failed and refused to pay any assessments for any of its condominium units. The evidence was further undisputed as to the amounts of the regular assessments charged and which remained unpaid. As a matter of law, therefore, Bear Creek had demonstrated that Edwards owed a duty to pay assessments and had failed to do so. Bear Creek was therefore entitled to pursue its enforcement remedies under the CC & R’s.

II. Bear Creek Properly Gave Notice of Its Liens

Edwards next complains that Bear Creek failed to comply with the statutory notice requirements for filing its liens against Edwards’s lots.

A. Notice Was Given to the Owner at the Owner’s Designated Address

More specifically, Edwards argues that Bear Creek “never complied with notice requirements to Edwards, the only person entitled to notice.” He contends that the notices sent to him at attorney Enriquez’s address were of no effect, because he never designated her as his agent; he further asserts that Bear Creek should not have been permitted to present evidence on the issue of agency, because that issue was not specifically alleged in Bear Creek’s complaint.

[349] 1. Notice Was Mailed to Edwards (the Owner) at the Address Selected by Both Edwards and His Attorney

The claim that Edwards did not receive proper notice is disingenuous. Attorney Enriquez’s address was the address listed on Edwards’s title deed to the property. Bear Creek consistently sent information, mailings, requests and notices to Edwards at attorney Enriquez’s address. Attorney Enriquez consistently responded, on Edwards’s behalf, to these mailings, requests and notices.

For example, Bear Creek first sent notice of the overdue assessments to Edwards(i.e., to “Edward Trust” [sic] — the record owner — by name), in care of attorney Enriquez, on February 27, 1998. Attorney Enriquez, using her own letterhead, replied on behalf of Edwards, advising Bear Creek that Edwards “dispute[d] [the] `Notice of Past Due Assessments,'” on the bases both that Edwards had never received an initial statement concerning assessments on the property, and that there were no structures on the property. Notably, attorney Enriquez’s correspondence did not advise Bear Creek to use any other address to contact Edwards. Attorney Enriquez also responded on Edwards’s behalf in several other instances, and the Edwardses themselves never made any written request to have Bear Creek’s correspondence sent to them at any other address.

The only exception was Edwards’s request to an unknown person at the gate kiosk for parking decals; the decals were duly sent to his business address. Otherwise, however, Edwards took no steps to prevent Bear Creek from sending its correspondence to him at attorney Enriquez’s address. Indeed, Bear Creek sent ballots to Edwards at attorney Enriquez’s address, which ballots Edwards then personally cast. As to one set of eight ballots, Edwards himself filled in attorney Enriquez’s address as the owner’s address in the space provided on each ballot. On another set of eight ballots, he again wrote in attorney Enriquez’s address as the owner’s address on six of the eight ballots (two ballots left the owner’s address space blank). Edwards himself therefore consistently designated attorney Enriquez’s address as the proper mailing address for the Trust, the property owner.

Edwards testified at trial that he had voted the ballots — giving attorney Enriquez’s address as the “owner’s” mailing address — in error, or that he had done so only to “protect” his rights. A mere two days after giving this testimony, however, he executed a proxy for each of his eight units, to cast three ballots per unit, or 24 total votes, in the election of Bear Creek’s Board of Directors. He faxed this proxy to the designated election inspector, who in turn cast the ballots as directed by Edwards’s proxy instructions. The execution of the proxy was wholly inconsistent both with Edwards’s claim that he owned no assessable “units,” and with the assertion that Bear Creek was not entitled to correspond with him at attorney Enriquez’s address. Under Bear Creek’s CC & R’s, only assessable units are entitled to vote in association elections. The notice of the election presumably was not sent to Edwards at any address other than the one Edwards had designated on all the earlier ballots as the Trust’s correspondence address: attorney Enriquez’s address. The proxy was faxed from the same fax number that attorney Enriquez used for her fax communications to and from the court. Edwards attempted to disclaim the proxy, testifying that he had also sent a fax revoking the proxy; he did not say when he sent the revoking fax, however, and the election inspector testified that no such revocation was received before the close of [350] the election. Notably also, Edwards produced no document to substantiate his claim that he had revoked his proxy. (In addition, Edwards’s testimony failed to explain why he had faxed his election proxy in the first place, had he truly believed he had no assessable lots, and thus was not entitled to vote in any Bear Creek elections.)

Civil Code section 1367, subdivision (a), provides in relevant part that, “[b]efore an association may place a lien upon the separate interest of an owner to collect a debt which is past due under this subdivision, the association shall notify the owner in writing by certified mail of the fee and penalty procedures of the association, provide an itemized statement of the charges owed by the owner, including items on the statement which indicate the assessments owed, any late charges and the method of calculation, any attorney’s fees, and the collection practices used by the association, including the right of the association to the reasonable costs of collection….” (Italics added.)

Manifestly, Bear Creek complied with this requirement. The notice was sent by certified mail to the owner at the address consistently used by the owner and the owner’s attorney. Attorney Enriquez refused to sign the certified mail receipts, and the lien notices were returned to Bear Creek. Bear Creek had also sent the lien notices by first class mail, however, and none of the first class mail envelopes were returned.

2. Notice Cannot Be Defeated by Willful Failure to Accept Certified Mail

Edwards claims that Bear Creek failed to comply strictly with Civil Code section 1367, arguing that “there is no presumption of notice absent a signed certified receipt,” citing Code of Civil Procedure section 1020. This argument is again disingenuous. Code of Civil Procedure section 1020 provides that, “Any notice required by law, other than those required to be given to a party to an action or to his attorney, the service of which is not governed by the other sections of this chapter and which is not otherwise specifically provided for by law, may be given by sending the same by registered mail with proper postage prepaid addressed to the addressee’s last known address with request for return receipt, and the production of a returned receipt purporting to be signed by the addressee shall create a disputable presumption that such notice was received by the person to whom the notice was required to be sent.”

Code of Civil Procedure section 1020 is permissive; where a notice is required to be sent by mail, compliance with the mailing requirement may be satisfied by sending the notice by registered mail with a return receipt requested. Code of Civil Procedure section 1020 does not require mailed notices to be sent by registered mail. Likewise, while a signed return receipt may create a rebuttable presumption that the notice was received, the absence of such a signed return receipt does not negate any other presumptions concerning mailed items. Under Evidence Code section 641, “[a] letter correctly addressed and properly mailed is presumed to have been received in the ordinary course of mail.”

Of course, a presumption of receipt is rebutted upon testimony denying receipt. (Slater v. Kehoe (1974) 38 Cal.App.3d 819, 832, fn. 12, 113 Cal.Rptr. 790; accord Craig v. Brown & Root, Inc. (2000) 84 Cal.App.4th 416, 421-422, 100 Cal.Rptr.2d 818.) The presumption of Evidence Code section 641 properly applied here, unless rebutted by a denial of receipt. Attorney Enriquez did not testify, and thus never denied under oath that she [351] had received the lien notices mailed to Edwards at her address. Edwards was in no position to deny receipt of the mail at attorney Enriquez’s address.

Even if we accept for the sake of the argument, however, that the tenor of Edwards’s evidence was the intent to deny receipt of the lien notices, “the disappearance of the presumption does not mean there is insufficient evidence to support the trial court’s finding [i.e., of receipt of notice].” (Craig v. Brown & Root, Inc., supra, 84 Cal.App.4th at p. 421, 100 Cal.Rptr.2d 818, italics in original) “`”[I]f the adverse party denies receipt, the presumption is gone from the case. [But] [t]he trier of fact must then weigh the denial of receipt against the inference of receipt arising from proof of mailing and decide whether or not the letter was received.“‘” (Id. at p. 422, 100 Cal.Rptr.2d 818, italics in original.)

Here, the evidence was uncontradicted that Bear Creek mailed the lien notices both by certified mail, as required, and by first class mail. Attorney Enriquez refused to sign for the certified letters, and those letters were returned by the post office. The first class letters were not returned, however. The correspondence from attorney Enriquez, on Edwards’s behalf, plainly demonstrated knowledge of the disputed assessments. The inference is inescapable: attorney Enriquez in fact received all the notices, but simply refused to accept the certified mail.

The requirement to send the lien notices by certified mail cannot be defeated by the simple expedient of refusing to sign the return receipt. “Where a statute provides for service by registered or certified mail, the addressee cannot assert failure of service when he wilfully disregards a notice of certified mail delivered to his address under circumstances where it can reasonably be inferred that the addressee was aware of the nature of the correspondence.” (Hankla v. Governing Bd. (1975) 46 Cal.App.3d 644, 655, 120 Cal.Rptr. 827.)

3. The Notice Was Properly Served, Whether Regarded as Served on the Owner or on the Owner’s Agent

That “agency” was not specifically pled is a red herring. First, Edwards consistently designated a certain address as the Trust’s (owner’s) address for correspondence with Bear Creek. That the designated address happened also to be attorney Enriquez’s address does not defeat the evidence that notice was given to the owner at the owner’s designated mailing address.

Second, the evidence also supported the view that Enriquez was Edwards’s agent with respect to any correspondence with Bear Creek. Either Enriquez was Edwards’s actual agent, or she was his ostensible agent. “Ostensible authority is such as a principal, intentionally or by want of ordinary care, causes or allows a third person to believe the agent to possess.” (Civ.Code, § 2317.) Here, all of Edwards’s and Enriquez’s actions intentionally or negligently fostered the belief that Enriquez’s address was the owner’s address for purposes of all correspondence from Bear Creek and that Enriquez was empowered to act on Edwards’s behalf with respect to the CCV Phase IV property and the disputed assessments. As the trial court remarked, “it appears to the court . . . that when it’s convenient to use Miss Enriquez and her address, that’s what they do. And when it is not convenient, then there is a disclaimer that Miss Enriquez has no [sic; any?] authority to act on his behalf. Mr. Edwards . . . will be estopped from making that claim.”

The issue of agency, if any, was not an issue “outside” the pleadings. (Cf. 4 Witkin, [352] Cal. Procedure (4th ed., 1997) Pleading, § 488, p. 579, § 873, p. 330 [“In actions by a principal on a contract made by the agent, that pleading [i.e., the fact of agency] is unnecessary; it is sufficient to allege [the ultimate fact] that plaintiff and defendant entered into the contract”].) The issue to be tried was “notice.” The issue of notice necessarily encompasses evidence of the means by which notice was accomplished. Inasmuch as notice may be accomplished either directly or through an agent, the evidence adduced was within the issues raised by the pleadings.

Edwards was properly served with the lien notices in compliance with Civil Code section 1367.

B. The Court Properly Determined the Amount of the Lien Assessments

In connection with the attack on the propriety of the lien notice, Edwards asserts that the amount of the lien must be limited to the amount initially stated in the notice; in other words, Edwards argues that no “recurring liens” are authorized under Civil Code section 1367, and that Bear Creek’s recovery must therefore be limited to the amount stated in the initial lien notice, or $484.54 per lot. (We note, as an aside, that each of the notices actually specified $587.08 as the amount of delinquent assessments; together with costs, $879.58 was the amount sought per lot for unpaid assessments, to the date of notice.)

We are not persuaded. Civil Code section 1367, subdivision (b), provides in relevant part, “The amount of the assessment, plus any costs of collection, late charges, and interest assessed in accordance with Section 1366, shall be a lien on the owner’s interest in the common interest development from and after the time the association causes to be recorded with the county recorder of the county in which the separate interest is located, a notice of delinquent assessment. . . .” [Italics added.]

Civil Code section 1366, in turn, refers to provisions for assessments in an association’s “governing documents,” such as the Bear Creek CC & R’s. Article V, Section 11(b), of the Bear Creek CC & R’s provides that a lien includes: “[t]he total amount claimed to be due and owing for the amount of delinquency, interest thereon, collection costs, and estimated attorneys’ fees.” It further provides that “any demand or claim of lien or lien on account of prior delinquencies shall be deemed to include subsequent delinquencies and amounts due on account thereof.” (Italics added.) The recorded lien notices, also mailed to Edwards, included the statement that, “[a]dditional monies shall accrue under this claim at the rate of the claimants’ regular monthly or special assessments, plus permissible late charges, costs of collection and interest, accruing subsequent to the date of this notice.”

As Bear Creek observes, all of the sums included on the liens and lien notices are authorized by the CC & R’s and statutory law. The amounts here determined by the court to be owing as liens are no more than the amounts authorized by the governing documents and statutes.

Pursuant to Civil Code section 1366, subdivision (a), “[c]ondominium homeowners associations must assess fees on the individual owners in order to maintain the complexes.” (Park Place Estates Homeowners Assn. v. Naber (1994) 29 Cal.App.4th 427, 431-432, 35 Cal.Rptr.2d 51, italics original.) Those fees are statutorily prescribed to be “a debt of the owner . . . at the time the assessment . . . [is] levied.” (Civ.Code, § 1367, subd. (a).) “These statutory provisions reflect the Legislature’s recognition of the importance of assessments to the proper functioning of condominiums in this state. Because homeowners associations would cease to exist without regular payment of assessment [353] fees, the Legislature has created procedures for associations to quickly and efficiently seek relief against a nonpaying owner.” (Park Place Estates Homeowners Assn. v. Naber, supra, 29 Cal.App.4th at p. 432, 35 Cal.Rptr.2d 51, italics added.)

Were the relevant provisions to be construed as Edwards suggests, the described statutory purpose of providing for a quick and efficient means of enforcing the CC & R’s would be seriously undermined; each month, or at such other intervals as the assessments are charged under a given set of CC & R’s, the association would be required to record successive liens. A successive recordation requirement would impose a heavy — and needless — burden upon homeowners’ associations, fraught with risk to the association, and undue windfall to the delinquent homeowner, should any installment be overlooked. We are unwilling to construe Civil Code section 1367 to require such an oppressive burden. Both delinquent homeowners and the public at large are placed on notice, with the recordation of the initial assessment lien, that subsequent regularly and specially levied assessments, if they continue unpaid, will accrue in due course. The purpose of the lien notice and recordation will have been served, and the association’s remedy justly preserved, by the initial recordation of lien.

Inasmuch, also, as Edwards has admitted that the assessments, charges, and other moneys due and owing under the CC & R’s have never been paid, we find no error in the court’s determination of the amounts due.

III.-VI.[FN.**]

DISPOSITION

The trial court is ordered to strike from its statement of decision the findings that Bear Creek was not guilty of unclean hands or fraud. The amendment to the statement of decision in no wise affects the validity of the judgment, however. The judgment is in all respects affirmed. The appeal from the postjudgment order setting the amount of the security deposit on appeal is moot. Costs on appeal are awarded to Bear Creek as the prevailing party on appeal.

McKINSTER Acting P.J., and KING, J., concur.

___________________________________________________________________________

[FN.*] Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 976.1, this opinion is certified for publication with the exception of parts III, IV, V and VI.

[FN.1] Civil Code section 1646 states: “LAW OF PLACE. A contract is to be interpreted according to the law and usage of the place where it is to be performed; or, if it does not indicate a place of performance, according to the law and usage of the place where it is made.”

[FN.**] See footnote *, ante.

Watts v. Oak Shores Community Association

(2015) 235 Cal.App.4th 466

[Operating Rules; Rental Activities; Board Deference] Homeowners associations may adopt reasonable rules and impose fees on members relating to short-term rentals of condominium units.

Burlison Law Group and Robert C. Burlison, Jr., for Plaintiffs, Cross-defendants and Appellants and for Cross-defendant and Appellant.
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, Roy G. Weatherup, Michael B. Wilk, Caroline E. Chan, Ryan D. Harvey; Adams Kessler, Adrian J. Adams, Gary S. Kessler, Paul S. Ablon, Aide C. Ontiveros and Tina Chu for Defendant, Cross-complainant and Respondent.

[CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION[FN. *]]

OPINION

GILBERT, P. J. —

Here we hold, among other things, that homeowners associations may adopt reasonable rules and impose fees on members relating to short-term rentals of condominium units.

Two owners of one lot in a common interest development and one of two owners of another lot brought an action challenging regulations and fees adopted by the homeowners association. The association cross-complained against all owners of both lots for fees and declaratory relief. The association [469] prevailed on the complaint and cross-complaint. The trial court also awarded the association statutory attorney fees and costs on the complaint and cross-complaint. As we explain in the unpublished portion of this opinion, the judgment must be clarified so that the attorney fees awarded on the complaint are against plaintiffs only, and not against the cross-defendant who was not a plaintiff. In all other respects, we affirm.

FACTS

Oak Shores is a single-family residential common interest development. It is governed by the Oak Shores Community Association (Association). The Association is governed by a board of directors (Board). All property owners in the development are members of the Association.

The Association’s governing documents include its covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&R’s) and its bylaws. The Board “may adopt, amend, or repeal Rules for the use, occupancy and maintenance of the Project; for the general health, welfare, comfort, and safety of Members; and to interpret and implement these CC&R’s, and establish penalties for violation of such Rules.” (CC&R’s, art. 6.2.) “In the event the Association undertakes to provide materials or services that benefit a particular Member, such Member in accepting the materials or services agrees to reimburse the Association for the costs incurred by the Association, which shall become a Special Assessment against the Member.” (Id., art. 3.8.)

Oak Shores consists of 851 parcels of land. Six hundred sixty parcels are developed with single-family homes. Only about 20 percent, 125 to 150, of the homes are occupied by full-time residents. Approximately 66 absentee homeowners rent their homes to short-term vacation renters.

Ken and Joyce Watts and Lynda Burlison (collectively Watts) are absentee owners who rent their homes to short-term vacation renters. Watts filed a complaint against Oak Shores challenging fees charged and rules and regulations enacted by the Association. The challenge included a rule stating the minimum rental period is seven days; an annual fee of $325 imposed on owners who rent their homes; a rule limiting the number of automobiles, boats and other watercraft that renters are allowed to bring into Oak Shores; a mandatory garbage collection fee; boat and watercraft fees; building permit fees; and property transfer fees.

[[/]][FN. *]

[470] Short-term Renters

The Association has a rule stating that the minimum rental period is seven days. The Association’s general manager testified that, based on his discussion with Board members, staff and code enforcement officers, as well as his review of gate and patrol logs, short-term renters cause more problems than owners or their guests. The problems include parking, lack of awareness of the rules, noise and use, and abuse of the facilities. Expert James Smith testified that, unlike guests who are typically present with the owners, short-term renters are never present with the owner. Guests tend to be less destructive and less burdensome. Short-term renters require greater supervision and increase administrative expenses.

A $325 fee is charged to all owners who rent their homes. A 2007 study calculated each rental cost the Association $898.59 per year.

Watercraft

All short-term renters and guests who bring watercraft into Oak Shores pay a fee of $25 per day or $125 per week. Short-term renters and guests are limited to one boat or two personal watercraft. Owners and long-term renters do not pay such special fees and are not limited in the number of watercraft they can bring into Oak Shores.

Boats have a negative impact on the Association’s roads. There are also costs of maintaining the docks and parking lot used by the renters and increased costs for code enforcement.

Expert Smith testified that renters comprise only 8 percent of the people entering the gate, but renters bring in 37 percent of the boats.

Parking Restrictions

Association rules restrict parking in the lower marina lot to owners on weekends and holidays during the summer months. A lot not much further away is available to all.

Construction Permits

The Association charges a plan-check fee of $100 and a road impact fee of $1,600 for new construction. Expert Smith testified that heavy equipment used to construct homes places more wear on the roads and results in greater usage. It is appropriate to consider the need for reserves in determining the [471] amount of the fee. The Board president testified that road resurfacing and repair are the basis for the fee.

Trash Collection Fees

The Association contracts with a trash collector. It passes the fees pro rata onto all owners of developed lots. The Association does not distinguish between full-time and part-time residences because it is too difficult to make that determination. It does not charge the owners of undeveloped lots because they do not produce trash.

Civil Code Former Section 1366.1[FN. 1]

Former section 1366.1 (repealed by Stats. 2012, ch. 180, § 1 and reinstated with nonsubstantive changes as § 5600, subd. (b)) provided, “An association shall not impose or collect an assessment or fee that exceeds the amount necessary to defray the costs for which it is levied.”

David Levy and Travis Hickey are certified public accountants. Levy testified that the expenses generated by owners who rent short term far exceed the income generated from those owners. He analyzed fees and costs contained in the Association’s financial statements and reserve studies. He concluded the fees charged were reasonable and complied with the law. Levy also consulted with the Association’s former auditors. Levy and Hickey concluded that the fees were reasonable and did not violate former section 1366.1. Levy also testified the fees charged by comparable associations for similar activities were higher or equivalent to fees charged by Oak Shores.

Hickey testified that he is the Association’s former auditor. He studied the fees and consulted with another former auditor. He concluded the fees were fair, reasonable, and in compliance with the law. They do not exceed the costs for which they are levied. No association conducts a formal study to set fees. Nor does any association conduct time and motion studies. In fact, time and motion accounting is not possible.

Homeowners association expert Karen Conlon testified the Association met the standard of care for giving members notice of rule and fee changes. Fee increases can be enacted by adopting a budget for the year.

Swimming Pool

The Association paid a pool contractor $35,000 to repair a swimming pool. The contractor absconded with the money without repairing the pool. A [472] former director testified that a former Board president wrote a check to the contractor without Board approval. Expert Smith testified it is not typical, nor within the standard of care, for an association to purchase a performance bond.

Release and Unclean Hands

[[/]][FN. *]

Ken Watts has never obtained a business license to rent his home, nor has he paid transient occupancy taxes since at least 2000. He owes at least $5,000 in back taxes. Watts has repeatedly mischaracterized his renters as guests in order to avoid applicable rental rules and regulations. Portions of his testimony at trial were “demonstrably false.” Throughout his tenure at Oak Shores, he has adopted a “rancorous, accusatory and obstructionist” style of interaction with Board members and staff. He has occasionally intimidated staff with bizarre and threatening behavior.

Judgment

The trial court found for the Association on the complaint. [[/]][FN. *] The court found that the Association’s rules and regulations are reasonable and comply with the Association’s governing documents and the law, and that the fees charged comply with former section 1366.1.

The trial court also found for the Association on the cross-complaint. It granted the Association an injunction ordering cross-defendants to abide by the rules and regulations. [[/]][FN. *]

DISCUSSION

[[/]][FN. *]

[473] II.

Watts contends that the judgment is based on incorrect legal grounds.

(1) Watts claims that the rule applying judicial deference to association decisions applies only to ordinary maintenance decisions. But in Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Clubdominium Homeowners Assn. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 249 [87 Cal.Rptr.2d 237, 980 P.2d 940], our Supreme Court stated, “`Generally, courts will uphold decisions made by the governing board of an owners association so long as they represent good faith efforts to further the purposes of the common interest development, are consistent with the development’s governing documents, and comply with public policy.'” (Id., at p. 264, quoting Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Assn.(1994) 8 Cal.4th 361, 374 [33 Cal.Rptr.2d 63, 878 P.2d 1275].) It is true the facts inLamden involve the association board’s decision to treat termites locally rather than fumigate. But nothing in Lamden limits judicial deference to maintenance decisions. Common interest developments are best operated by the board of directors, not the courts.

Watts’s reliance on Affan v. Portofino Cove Homeowners Assn. (2010) 189 Cal.App.4th 930 [117 Cal.Rptr.3d 481] is misplaced. There, an owner sued the association for failing to properly maintain the sewer lines. In applying judicial deference, the court stated that the Lamden rule gives “deference to the reasoned decisionmaking of homeowners association boards concerning ordinary maintenance.” (Affan, at p. 940.) But there is no reason to read Lamden so narrowly. In fact, courts have given deference to board decisions that do not concern ordinary maintenance. Thus, for example, in Dolan-King v. Rancho Santa Fe Assn. (2000) 81 Cal.App.4th 965, 979 [97 Cal.Rptr.2d 280], the court gave deference to an association board’s decision denying an owner’s application for a room addition on aesthetic grounds.

(2) Article 3.8 of the CC&R’s gives the Board broad powers to adopt rules for Oak Shores. Nothing in the article or elsewhere prohibits the Board from adopting rules governing short-term rentals, including fees to help defray the costs such rentals impose on all owners. The Board may reasonably decide that all owners should not be required to subsidize Watts’s vacation rental business.

That short-term renters cost the Association more than long-term renters or permanent residents is not only supported by the evidence but experience and common sense places the matter beyond debate. Short-term renters use the common facilities more intensely; they take more staff time in giving directions and information and enforcing the rules; and they are less careful in using the common facilities because they are not concerned with the long-term consequences of abuse.

[474] (3) In arguing the cost of short-term rentals must be borne by all members, Watts cites California Code of Regulations, title 10, section 2792.16, subdivision (a). That regulation provides, “Regular assessments to defray expenses attributable to the ownership, operation and furnishing of common interests by the Association shall ordinarily be levied against each owner according to the ratio of the number of subdivision interests owned by the owner assessed to the total number of interests subject to assessments.” Watts’s reliance on the regulation is misplaced for a number of reasons. First, the regulation applies to subdivision developers. Watts cites no authority that it also applies to continuing operations of a common interest development. Second, the regulation is qualified by the word “ordinarily.” (Ibid.) It clearly does not state an immutable rule. Third, the regulation applies to “[r]egular assessments.” (Ibid.) Watts cites no authority that it applies to the type of use fees at issue here.

Watts’s reliance on the Association’s articles of incorporation, article II, paragraph (d), is also misplaced. The paragraph under the heading “General Purposes” states in part: “To fix and establish the fees, dues and assessments that each member of this corporation shall pay to this corporation for the purpose of providing funds to carry out the community purposes and objects of this corporation, and to receive and collect such fees, dues and assessments.” Nothing in the paragraph provides that each member shall pay the same amount regardless of his or her activities on the premises. It does confirm, however, the power of the Association to impose fees as well as assessments. Thus, it confirms the power of the Association to impose the type of fees at issue here.

Watts’s reliance on Laguna Royale Owners Assn. v. Darger (1981) 119 Cal.App.3d 670, 685 [174 Cal.Rptr. 136] (“Laguna Royale“) is misplaced. There, a common interest development was built on a 99-year ground lease. The defendants purchased a unit in the development. Later, the defendants transferred undivided interests to three other families. No more than one family would use the unit at a time and each of the four families agreed to 13-week periods of exclusive use. The ground lease contained a provision prohibiting transfer of the unit without the development association’s approval. The association refused to approve the transfer on the ground, among others, that use by the four families would place an undue burden on the other owners in their use and enjoyment of their units so as to be inconsistent with their quiet enjoyment and maintenance of security. The trial court invalidated the assignments. The Court of Appeal reversed.

In reversing, the Court of Appeal affirmed that the association had the authority to enact reasonable regulations on the use and alienation of the condominiums. (Laguna Royale, supra, 119 Cal.App.3d at p. 682.) The court [475] also determined that the reason given for refusing consent to the transfer is rationally related to the proper operation of the property and purposes of the association. (Id., at p. 686.) The court concluded, however, there was no evidence that consecutive use of the unit by the four families one at a time would be so disruptive as to interfere substantially with the other owners’ use and enjoyment or the maintenance of security. (Id., at p. 687.) The court pointed out that the association’s bylaws allowed leasing of a unit for 90 days or more, a use more intense than the 13 weeks exclusive use agreed to by each of the four families. (Ibid.)

If anything, Laguna Royale is favorable to the Association. It confirms the authority of the Association to enact reasonable regulations governing transfers so as to preserve the owner’s quiet enjoyment of the premises and the maintenance of security. There was simply no evidence in Laguna Royale that four 13-week periods of occupation by a single family would have a significant impact on the enjoyment of the premises by other owners or on security. Here there is more than ample evidence that short-term rentals have such significant impacts.

[[/]][FN. *]

IV.

Watts contends the trial court erred in adopting the proportionality test in determining the reasonableness of the fees.

(4) Former section 1366.1 prohibits an association from imposing or collecting “an assessment or fee that exceeds the amount necessary to defray the costs for which it is levied.”

At trial, Watts argued the Association was required to conduct time and motion studies to determine the correct amount of the fees. The trial court rejected Watts’s argument. In its statement of decision, the court stated the issue is whether “rough proportionality” between the fees and costs is sufficient to comply with the statute. The court found that the evidence established a “reasonably close” relationship between each contested fee and the cost it is intended to offset. The court concluded that relationship satisfied former section 1366.1.

(5) Nothing in the language of former section 1366.1 requires the exact correlation between the fee assessed and the costs for which it is levied that [476] Watts appears to demand. In some instances, such an exact correlation may be impossible to obtain. In other instances, the costs of studies necessary to obtain an exact correlation may be prohibitive, requiring the Association to add the costs to the fees. The “golden rule” for statutory interpretation is that where several alternative interpretations exist, the one that appears the most reasonable prevails. (Stewart v. Board of Medical Quality Assurance (1978) 80 Cal.App.3d 172, 179 [143 Cal.Rptr. 641].)

(6) The most reasonable interpretation of former section 1366.1 is that it requires nothing more than a reasonable good faith estimate of the amount of the fee necessary to defray the cost for which it is levied. Whether the court uses the term “roughly proportional” or “reasonably close,” the test has been met here.

In Foothills Townhome Assn. v. Christiansen (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 688 [76 Cal.Rptr.2d 516], a homeowners association imposed a special assessment of $1,300 against each owner. The assessment was to replenish the association’s reserve fund, which had been depleted paying for storm damage. The reserve fund could be used for purposes other than storm damage. An owner challenged the assessment as violating former section 1366.1. The court upheld the amount of the assessment on the ground that there was no showing that the usual reserve balance was excessive or that the amount of the assessment pushed the fund above its usual balance. (Foothills, at p. 694.) The court did not require a precise correlation between the amount of the assessment and the cost for which it was levied.

Watts argues that the Association should be bound by its admissions made during discovery that no studies to determine costs associated with the fees were conducted. The discovery to which Watts refers was interrogatories answered in February 2007. Trial began in April 2011. At trial, the Association produced evidence of studies that supported the fees. Watts points to no place in the record where the Association’s witnesses were asked to explain the apparent discrepancy between the interrogatory responses and their testimony. Nor does Watts cite any authority in support of the argument requiring the trial court to reject the Association’s evidence at trial. Watts has failed to carry the burden of showing error on appeal. (See In re Marriage of Ananeh-Firempong (1990) 219 Cal.App.3d 272, 278 [268 Cal.Rptr. 83] [judgment presumed correct, error must be affirmatively shown].)

(7) Watts claims that the garbage fees were initiated January 1, 2001, without ever being adopted by the Association as required by former section 1357.100, subdivision (a), repealed by Stats. 2012, ch. 180, § 1, now § 4340. But that statute simply defines “`[o]perating rule.'” (Former § 1357.100, subd. (a).) It does not set forth any particular procedure for adopting any rule. Moreover, it defines operating rule as a “regulation.” (Ibid.) The garbage fee is not a regulation. It is simply a cost the Association passes through to the owners of the developed lots.

[477] Watts claims the Board adopted or increased fees and fines by simply including them in the budget. But Watts cites no authority prohibiting the Board from adopting or increasing fees and fines in that manner.

In any event, Watts’s entire contention is based on a view of the evidence most favorable to themselves. Watts fails to cite the evidence most favorable to the judgment. That evidence includes the testimony of Karen Conlon, an expert on homeowners associations. She testified the Association met the standard of care on notice of rules and fee charges. Board members also testified that Board meetings agenda and minutes were posted on the Association’s Web site. Watts has waived the contention on appeal. (Foreman & Clark Corp. v. Fallon (1971) 3 Cal.3d 875, 881 [92 Cal.Rptr. 162, 479 P.2d 362].)

[[/]][FN. *]

The attorney fee portion of the judgment is ordered modified as discussed in the unpublished portion of the opinion. In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed. Costs on appeal are awarded to respondent and against all appellants.

Yegan, J., and Perren, J., concurred.


 

[FN. *] Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rules 8.1105(b) and 8.1110, this opinion is certified for partial publication. The portions of this opinion to be deleted from publication are identified as those portions between double brackets, e.g., [[/]].

[FN. *] See footnote, ante, page 466.

[FN. 1] All statutory references are to the Civil Code unless noted otherwise.

[FN. *] See footnote, ante, page 466.

[FN. *] See footnote, ante, page 466.

[FN. *] See footnote, ante, page 466.

Berryman v. Merit Property Management, Inc.

(2007) 152 Cal.App.4th 1544

[Association Records; Transfer Document Fees] An association’s managing agent is permitted to earn a profit on the fees it charges for providing property transfer documents.

Bramson, Plutzik, Mahler & Birkhaeuser, Alan R. Plutzik, Jennifer S. Rosenberg, Walnut Creek; Reich Radcliffe, Marc G. Reich, Newport Beach; Law Offices of Kyle Crenshaw and Kyle Crenshaw, Newport Beach for Plaintiffs and Appellants.
Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott, Veronica M. Gray, Irvine, James C. Powers, Los Angeles, and Brad B. Grabske, Irvine, for Defendant and Respondent.

OPINION

MOORE, J.

Plaintiffs appeal from a judgment entered after the trial court sustained defendants’ demurrer without leave to amend. Plaintiffs allege that defendant Merit Property Management, Inc., wrongfully charged certain fees in connection with the transfer of title for home purchases. We find the facts alleged fail to state a claim on which relief can be granted, and therefore the trial court properly sustained defendants’ demurrer. Because plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that further amendment will cure the complaint’s deficiencies, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying further leave to amend, and we affirm.

I. FACTS

Merit Property Management, Inc. (Merit) is in the business of managing residential common interest developments, typically known as homeowner associations (associations). Some homeowners belong to more than one association, because their home resides in both a “master” and “sub” association. Associations enter into written contracts with Merit to provide management services.

In April 2004, plaintiffs William J, Berryman and Betty C. Berryman, as trustees of the Berryman Family Trust (collectively plaintiffs or the Berrymans) sold a home located in two associations managed by Merit. They allege that Merit charged them $100 in document fees and $450 in transfer fees ($225 for each association), one-half of which was paid by the buyers. These fees were not remitted to the associations, but retained by Merit.

In March 2005, plaintiffs filed a putative class and representative action against Merit, several other entities that appear to be related, and Doe defendants. Alleging nine separate causes of action, the gravamen of the [1549] complaint was that Merit wrongfully charged homeowners such as the Berrymans’ document and transfer fees upon the purchase or sale of their residence. Plaintiffs alleged these fees were in excess of those permitted by statute, specifically Civil Code section 1368 (subsequent statutory references, unless specified, are to the Civil Code.)

The complaint thus alleged Merit had violated section 1368 and was liable under any number of theories, including violation of Business and Professions Code section 17200, et seq. (the Unfair Competition Law or UCL), section 1750, et seq. (the Consumer Legal Remedies Act or CLRA), money had and received, breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud, negligence and negligence per se, and several equitable claims. Plaintiffs also sought class certification.

Merit filed a demurrer and motion to strike, but on the day before the hearing was set plaintiffs filed a first amended complaint. The first amended complaint again cited section 1368, asserting this limited the amount Merit could charge. The same nine causes of action were alleged. Merit again demurred and the trial court sustained the demurrer with leave to amend.

Plaintiffs then filed a second amended complaint (SAC), alleging the same nine causes of action. The gravamen of the complaint was also the same. With regard to the document fees, plaintiffs alleged that Merit routinely charged sellers for documents that had not been requested, regardless of whether Merit actually provided them. With regard to the transfer fees, plaintiffs alleged the fee of $225 per association was improper because it was not authorized by statute or by the contract between Merit and the association. Plaintiffs further alleged that Merit concealed the true nature and amount of these fees, both with regards to the homeowners to whom they were charged and to the associations.

Again Merit demurred, and this time the trial court sustained the demurrer without further leave to amend, entering judgment in Merit’s favor on December 27, 2005. Plaintiffs filed a motion for reconsideration, attaching their proposed third amended complaint, which deleted all references to section 1368. The court denied reconsideration and entered an amended judgment in favor of Merit. Plaintiffs now appeal the court’s ruling sustaining the demurrer to the SAC. They argue it properly states a cause of action, or in the alternative, that they should be permitted another opportunity to amend the complaint. [1550]

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

“In reviewing the sufficiency of a complaint against a general demurrer, we are guided by long-settled rules. `We treat the demurrer as admitting all material facts properly pleaded, but not contentions, deductions or conclusions of fact or law. [Citation.] We also consider matters which may be judicially noticed.’ [Citation.] Further, we give the complaint a reasonable interpretation, reading it as a whole and its parts in their context. [Citation.] When a demurrer is sustained, we determine whether the complaint states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. [Citation.] And when it is sustained without leave to amend, we decide whether there is a reasonable possibility that the defect can be cured by amendment: if it can be, the trial court has abused its discretion and we reverse; if not, there has been no abuse of discretion and we affirm. [Citations.] The burden of proving such reasonable possibility is squarely on the plaintiff. [Citation.]” (Blank v. Kirwan (1985) 39 Cal.3d 311, 318, 216 Cal.Rptr. 718, 703 P.2d 58.) We review the trial court’s decision de novo. (McCall v. PacifiCare of Cal, Inc. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 412, 415, 106 Cal.Rptr.2d 271, 21 P.3d 1189.)

B. The Underlying Statutory Scheme

The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (the Act) (§ 1350 et seq.) governs homeowner associations. The Act “consolidated the statutory law governing condominiums and other common interest developments…. Common interest developments are required to be managed by a homeowners association (§ 1363, subd. (a)), defined as `a nonprofit corporation or unincorporated association created for the purpose of managing a common interest development’ (§ 1351, subd. (a)), which homeowners are generally mandated to join [Citation.]” (Villa De Las Palmas Homeowners Assn. v. Terifaj (2004) 33 Cal.4th 73, 81, 14 Cal.Rptr.3d 67, 90 P.3d 1223, fn. omitted.)

Associations may hire managing agents to conduct day-to-day operations. (§§ 1363.1, 1363.2.) A managing agent is not a full-time employee of the association, but “is a person or entity who, for compensation or in expectation of compensation, exercises control over the assets of a common interest development.” (§ 1363.1, subd. (b).)

One task that managing agents may perform is facilitating the transfer of ownership when a residence in an association is sold. A seller is required to [1551] provide rather extensive documentation regarding the association, and at the seller’s request, the association must provide these documents to the seller within 10 days of a written request. (§ 1368, subds.(a), (b).) “The association may charge a reasonable fee for this service based upon the association’s actual cost to procure, prepare, and reproduce the requested items.” (§ 1368, subd. (b).)

With respect to the transfer of title, section 1368, subdivision (c)(1) states, in relevant part, that “neither an association nor a community service organization or similar entity may impose or collect any assessment, penalty, or fee in connection with a transfer of title or any other interest except for the following: [¶] (A) An amount not to exceed the association’s actual costs to change its records….” In this case, plaintiffs are essentially arguing that Merit, like the “association” referred to in section 1368, cannot charge a fee greater than its actual cost to reproduce documents or to transfer title records.

C. The Brown Decision and Us Application

In 2005, this court decided Brown v. Professional Community Management, Inc. (2005) 127 Cal.App.4th 532, 25 Cal. Rptr.3d 617 (Brown). In that homeowner cross-complained against her association and its management company, alleging that the fees the management company charged for providing collection services to the association were illegal. The trial court had sustained the defendants’ demurrer to Brown’s complaint, which alleged that the fees violated section 1366.1, giving rise to claims under the CLRA and for negligence, among others. (Id. at p. 535, 25 Cal.Rptr.3d 617.)

The decision began by noting the language of section 1366.1, which states: “`An association shall not impose or collect an assessment or fee that exceeds the amount necessary to defray the costs for which it is levied.’ [Citation.]” (Brown, supra, 127 Cal.App.4th at p. 537, 25 Cal. Rptr.3d 617.) The court rejected Brown’s argument that this restriction also applied to management companies: “The statute prohibits an `association’ from charging fees or assessments in excess of the costs for which the fee or assessment is charged. As noted ante, an `association’ is a defined term under the Act, and the definition requires the `association’ to be a nonprofit entity. In contrast, the Act imposes separate duties on a managing agent. (See §§ 1363.1 & 1363.2.) And those statutory duties are owed to the `association’ and its board of directors, not to individual owners of separate property interests in the common interest development. (§§ 1363.1 & 1363.2.) Significantly, the Act does not require a managing agent to be a nonprofit entity. It is clear, both from the definitions in the Act and from the separately imposed duties, the Legislature meant `association,’ when it used that term, and it meant `managing agent,’ when it used that term.” (Id. at p. 538, 25 Cal.Rptr.3d 617.) [1552]

The same reasoning applies to the instant case. Like the language in section 1366.1, section 1368 statute permits an “association” to charge “a reasonable fee for this service based upon the association’s actual costs ….” (§ 1368, subd. (b).) Further, an “association” may charge a fee for transfer of title in “an amount not to exceed the association’s actual costs ….” (§ 1368, subd. (c)(1)(A).) These limitations, like those in section 1366.1, apply to the association, not its managing agent, for the same reasons.

The Brown court then went on to construe the statute: “Thus, we understand the section 1366.1 prohibition, which runs expressly against an `association,’ to mean, for example, that fees or assessments levied against homeowners for the purpose of defraying the cost of mowing the grass in the common areas, or of painting the association’s clubhouse, or of replacing the deck of the association’s swimming pool, or any other of the myriad of the association’s management and maintenance responsibilities, may not exceed the cost to the association for providing those services.” (Brown, supra, 127 Cal.App.4th at p. 538, 25 Cal.Rptr.3d 617.)

As the court noted, “The costs incurred by the association, for which it levies an assessment or charges a fee, necessarily include the fees and profit the vendor charges for its services. While section 1366.1 prohibits an association from marking up the incurred charge to generate a profit for itself, the vendor is not similarly restricted. Plaintiff would have it that no vendor selling its services to an association could charge a fee, or, indeed, continue in business as a profit-making enterprise. That cannot be the law.” (Brown, supra, 127 Cal.App.4th at p. 539, 25 Cal.Rptr.3d 617.)

The same logic applies to section 1368. As in Brown, an association’s “costs” for purposes of the statute include “the fees and profit the vendor charges for its services.” (Brown, supra, 127 Cal.App.4th at p. 539, 25 Cal.Rptr.3d 617.) As the court noted in Brown, the statutory language prevents associations from charging inflated fees for documents and for transfer of title and using those fees for other purposes; it does not constrain the amount a managing agent may charge for these services. “Competitive forces, not the statute, will constrain the vendors’ fees and charges.” (Ibid.) This is no different with respect to section 1368, and plaintiffs’ arguments to the contrary are entirely unpersuasive.[FN. 1] Indeed, there is no way we could logically reach a different conclusion without contradicting Brown, and as its holding stands on firm ground both logically and legally, we decline to do so. [1553]

D. The Gravamen of Plaintiffs’ Claims

Despite using slightly different language, each of plaintiffs’ nine causes of action is predicated on the notion that Merit’s practice of charging document and transfer fees is impermissible, based either on Merit’s contract with each association or on section 1368. If this fundamental assumption is untrue, plaintiffs’ claims cannot stand.

Throughout its briefs and in the court below, plaintiffs repeatedly stated that Merit’s charges are “unauthorized”—that is, not specifically permitted by statute or contract. The implication, however, that a for-profit business must have statutory or contractual authorization for providing a service to a third party and charging a fee for that service is fundamentally flawed. Indeed, it is up to plaintiffs to demonstrate why a statute or a contract prohibits Merit from doing so.

As discussed above, we reject plaintiffs’ assertion that section 1368 renders the document and transfer charges unlawful. In addition to relying on section 1368, plaintiffs also assert that the management contracts limit the amount Merit may charge for documents and transfer fees. No management contract is attached to the SAC, which alleges both that the contract does not permit Merit to charge such fees at all, but even if it did, “both the Management Contracts and Civil Code § 1368 limit MERIT’S charges to $15/hour for only the actual cost to the Client Associations.” The SAC also alleges that Merit’s charges for documents are limited to 15 cents per page for copying.

The problem with these allegations is that plaintiffs are not parties to the contract with Merit—the associations are. Even assuming the allegations are true, plaintiffs are at best incidental beneficiaries and have no standing to recover under the contract. (Southern Cal. Gas Co. v. ABC Construction Co. (1962) 204 Cal. App.2d 747, 750, 22 Cal.Rptr. 540.) By the same logic, plaintiffs cannot use the contracts to bootstrap liability under other theories, such as the UCL, CLRA or common law theories such as negligence. Permitting such recovery would completely destroy the principle that a third party cannot sue on a contract to which he or she is merely an incidental beneficiary.

As we address plaintiffs’ claims below, we shall try to prevent repeating these points. To the extent a cause of action relies on either violation of section 1368 or breach of the contracts between Merit and the associations, the claim cannot be maintained. [1554]

E. The UCL Claims

The UCL is codified in Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq. The UCL prohibits any “unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice.” “Because Business and Professions Code section 17200 is written in the disjunctive, it establishes three varieties of unfair competition—acts or practices which are unlawful, or unfair, or fraudulent.” (Podolsky v. First Healthcare Corp. (1996) 50 Cal.App.4th 632, 647, 58 Cal.Rptr.2d 89.) An act can be alleged to be any or all of the three prongs of the UCL—unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent.

1. The “Unlawful” Prong of the UCL

Under its “unlawful” prong, “the UCL borrows violations of other laws … and makes those unlawful practices actionable under the UCL.” (Lazar v. Hertz Corp. (1999) 69 Cal.App.4th 1494, 1505, 82 Cal.Rptr.2d 368.) Thus, a violation of another law is a predicate for stating a cause of action under the UCL’s unlawful prong. In attempting to state a claim under this prong of the UCL, the SAC provides a laundry list of state and federal statutes Merit allegedly violated. These include theft by false pretenses (Pen.Code, § 484), federal mail and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343), breach of warranty of authority (§ 2342), and several parts of the Act (§§ 1363.1, 1368), and Business and Professions Code § 17500.

While purporting to incorporate its factual allegations by reference, the SAC nonetheless fails to plead facts to support its allegations that Merit has violated each of these statutes. For example, with respect to Penal Code section 484, we are unable to find factual allegations asserting reliance or false pretense; the allegation that the fees are “unauthorized” is a legal conclusion. With regard to mail and wire fraud, the SAC does not allege facts supporting a specific intent to defraud or use of the federal mail or telephone wires to do so.

With respect to the purported breach of the warranty of authority, plaintiffs assert this means that Merit warrants to sellers that it has the authority from its associations to impose document and transfer fees. The Restatement, however, defines such a breach as making a contract or representation on behalf of another whom he has no power to bind. (Rest.2d Agency, § 329.) The SAC alleges that the management contracts state Merit is to act on the association’s behalf with respect to transferring ownership and that such charges, which shall be “reasonable fees as allowed within the [C]ivil [C]ode” shall be charged to the owner. As the SAC expressly alleges that Merit has an agent’s authority in this matter, it fails to allege a violation of the breach of the warranty of authority. [1555]

With respect to section 1363.2, plaintiffs claim Merit violates this statute by retaining funds that belong to the associations. Yet there is nothing pled to support the implied assertion that the document and transfer fees belong to the associations, rather than to Merit for performing the service.

We have already rejected plaintiffs’ contention that Merit’s conduct violates section 1368, and we shall address the claim under the CLRA separately below.

2. The “Unfair” Prong of the UCL;

Under the UCL, “[a]n act or practice is unfair if the consumer injury is substantial, is not outweighed by any countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition, and is not an injury the consumers themselves could reasonably have avoided.” (Daugherty v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (2006) Cal.App.4th 824, 839.)

Plaintiffs argue they have sufficiently alleged a claim under this prong of the UCL by alleging: “Merit charges the Transfer Fee to sellers for purported services which neither its Management Agreements nor any other contract, law or rule allow it to charge sellers.” Plaintiffs further claim the fees exceed the amount permitted by the management contract and are retained by Merit rather than remitted to the associations.

As we discussed above (see section 11(B), ante) we are unaware of any statutory or case law that requires a for-profit business to point to a statute or contract that allows it to charge a fee for a service. The burden is on the plaintiffs to show why Merit was not permitted to do so. Further, as we also discussed, plaintiffs cannot bootstrap a claim for breach of contract—which, as incidental beneficiaries, they are not allowed to bring—onto a UCL claim.

Plaintiffs also argue that the court abused its discretion in sustaining the demurrer on the UCL claim, because demurrers on such claims are disfavored. In support of this assertion, plaintiffs cite Motors, Inc. v. Times Mirror Co. (1980) 102 Cal.App.3d 735, 740, 162 Cal.Rptr. 543 (Motors, Inc.). “The determination of whether a particular business practice is unfair necessarily involves an examination of its impact on its alleged victim, balanced against the reasons, justifications and motives of the alleged wrongdoer. In brief, the court must weigh the utility of the defendant’s conduct against the gravity of the harm to the alleged victim—a weighing process quite similar to the one enjoined on us by the law of nuisance. [Citations.]” The court then goes on to state: “While this process is complicated enough after a hearing in which the defendant has revealed the factors determining the utility of his conduct, it is really quite impossible if only the plaintiff has [1556] been heard from, as is the case when it is sought to decide the issue of unfairness on demurrer.” (Ibid.)

We do not take the statement in Motors, Inc. to mean that a special rule applies to demurrers in cases under the UCL. It simply reflects the general rule that questions of fact—such as whether the utility of the defendant’s conduct outweighed the gravity of the harm—cannot be decided on demurrer. If, however, as here, the facts as pled would not state a claim even if they were true, the demurrer may be sustained.[FN. 2] The facts pled here do not state a claim that as a result of any wrongful conduct by Merit, plaintiffs suffered a substantial, unavoidable injury.

3. The “Fraudulent” Prong of the UCL

To support their argument that the SAC adequately pleads that Merit’s behavior is fraudulent under the UCL, plaintiffs point to allegations that “when Merit obtains payment of Transfer and Document Fees through escrow upon the sale of a home. Merit does not disclose detailed listings or breakdowns of specific charges comprising its Transfer or Document Fees, and that it omits to break these out for sellers for the specific purpose of concealing from class members the nature of fees being charged.” Plaintiffs further allege that Merit fails to disclose the fees to the associations and their boards of directors “in the financial reports it provides.”

“Unlike common law fraud, a Business and Professions Code section 17200 violation can be shown even without allegations of actual deception, reasonable reliance and damage. Historically, the term `fraudulent,’ as used in the UCL, has required only a showing that members of the public are likely to be deceived. [Citation.]” (Daugherty v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc., supra, 144 Cal.App.4th at p. 838, 51 Cal.Rptr.3d 118.) The court noted, however, that it could not [1557] find that “a failure to disclose a fact one has no affirmative duty to disclose is `likely to deceive’ anyone within the meaning of the UCL.” (Ibid.)

This reasoning applies here. The SAC does not allege any affirmative duty to disclose a breakdown of its fees to sellers. And while Merit has a duty to disclose the state of an association’s financial status in the reports it provides to boards of directors, no duty is alleged to disclose Merit’s financial status. Document and transfer fees would not be reflected in association financial reports because the fees are paid to Merit, not the association.

The remaining cases plaintiffs cite each address affirmative misrepresentations through advertising, and are inapposite here. (See, e.g., Kasky v. Nike, Inc. (2002) 27 Cal.4th 939, 951, 119 Cal.Rptr.2d 296, 45 P.3d 243; Committee on Children’s Television, Inc. v. General Foods Corp. (1983) 35 Cal.3d 197, 211, 197 Cal.Rptr. 783, 673 P.2d 660.) Absent a duty to disclose, the failure to do so does not support a claim under the fraudulent prong of the UCL.

F. Unjust Enrichment, Constructive Trust, Accounting

As pled in the SAC, none of these causes of action includes any factual allegations. Plaintiffs concede that each of these claims “are based on, and seek equitable relief for, the same conduct underlying the UCL claim.” Indeed, as the UCL provides only equitable relief, they would appear to be entirely duplicative of that claim. In any event, as the UCL claim does not state a cause of action, neither do any of these equitable claims.

G. The CLRA

The CLRA (§ 1750 et seq.) is a consumer protection statute. It enables a consumer to bring a class action on behalf of himself or herself and other consumers similarly situated if the consumer has suffered “any damage” from the use or employment of any of 23 enumerated acts or practices. (§§ 1780, subd. (a), 1781, subd. (a).) It is limited to transactions “intended to result or which results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer….” (§ 1770, subd. (a).) Consumers in a CLRA class action may recover actual damages or a statutory minimum in addition to injunctive relief, restitution, attorney fees and any other relief. (§ 1780, subds.(a), (d).)

Plaintiffs allege three violations of the CLRA: 1) “Representing that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, or quantities which they do not have or that a person has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation, or connection which he or she does not have;” (§ 1770, subd. (a)(5)); 2) “Representing that a transaction confers [1558]  or involves rights, remedies, or obligations which it does not have or involve, or which are prohibited by law;” (§ 1770, subd. (a)(14)), and 3) “Representing that the subject of a transaction has been supplied in accordance with a previous representation when it has not.” (§ 1770, subd. (a)(16).) According to plaintiffs, these allegations all boil down to plaintiffs’ contention that “Merit misrepresented to sellers that they owed Merit the challenged fees.”

Merit argues that plaintiffs and the class they purport to represent are not “consumers” under the CLRA. The CLRA defines “consumer” as “an individual who seeks or acquires, by purchase or lease, any goods or services for personal, family, or household purposes.” (§ 1761, subd. (d).) It further defines “transaction” as an “agreement between a consumer and any other person, whether or not the agreement is a contract enforceable by action, and includes the making of, and the performance pursuant to, that agreement.” (§ 1761, subd. (e).)

Although it is a somewhat technical distinction, we agree with Merit that the CLRA does not include transactions such as obtaining documents and transferring title. According to the SAC, these matters, and the demand for fees in return, are made through escrow. Thus, the transaction does not involve the “sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer” as contemplated by the CLRA, and the SAC fails to state a cause of action.

H. Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Plaintiffs’ next claim is for breach of fiduciary duty. An association has a fiduciary relationship with its members. (Cohen v. Kite Hill Community Assn. (1983) 142 Cal.App.3d 642, 650-651, 191 Cal.Rptr. 209.) In an attempt to impute the associations’ fiduciary duty to Merit, plaintiffs allege an agency relationship. “Associations consented to and delegated to MERIT as their agent, and MERIT assumed responsibility for fulfilling such statutory and fiduciary duties.”

The allegation of a fiduciary relationship must be supported by either a contract, or a relationship that imposes it as a matter of law. (Committee on Children’s Television, Inc., v. General Foods Corp., supra, 35 Cal.3d at p. 221, 197 Cal.Rptr. 783, 673 P.2d 660.) The mere allegation that Merit assumed fiduciary duties to the individual homeowners is a legal conclusion, not a well-pled fact. Indeed, it appears from the SAC that Merit’s relationship with individual homeowners was merely commercial. Merit performed a service and charged a fee; nothing more is apparent.

Plaintiffs’ attempts to apply exceptions to the general rule that a fiduciary relationship requires a contract or imposition of that relationship as a matter [1559] of law are unavailing. The exceptions they set forth simply do not apply here. (Cf. § 2343; Doctors’ Co. v. Superior Court (1989) 49 Cal.3d 39, 260 Cal.Rptr. 183, 775 P.2d 508; Casey v. U.S. Bank Nat, Assn. (2005) 127 Cal.App.4th 1138, 1144, 26 Cal.Rptr.3d 401.)

Plaintiffs’ theory of “aiding and abetting” is equally unpersuasive. “`Liability may … be imposed on one who aids and abets the commission of an intentional tort if the person (a) knows the other’s conduct constitutes a breach of duty and gives substantial assistance or encouragement to the other to so act or (b) gives substantial assistance to the other in accomplishing a tortious result and the person’s own conduct, separately considered, constitutes a breach of duty to the third person.’ [Citations.]” (Fiol v. Doellstedt (1996) 50 Cal.App.4th 1318, 1325-1326, 58 Cal.Rptr.2d 308.) The SAC has not alleged any wrongdoing on the part of the associations—indeed, it asserts they are entirely ignorant of Merit’s fees. There can be no claim for aiding and abetting without allegations that the associations are also wrongdoers.

I. Negligence and Negligence Per Se

The final two claims in the SAC are for negligence and negligence per se. The latter claim is based on Merit’s purported violation of section 1368, and as we have already noted, is legally without merit. As to the former claim, the SAC simply alleges: “In doing the acts of imposing and collecting Transfer Fees, MERIT owed a duty of care to Plaintiffs and other members of the class. MERIT breached that duty by charging and collecting illegal Transfer Fees.”

This allegation does not include facts, merely legal conclusions. Plaintiffs argue that because the association owes a fiduciary duty to its members, it also owes an ordinary duty of care, and therefore Merit does also. We fail to follow this logic, but to the extent it relies on the assumption that Merit assumed the associations’ fiduciary duty, we reject it. To the extent it relies on something else, it is waived for failure to fully develop the argument. (Kurinij v. Hanna & Morton (1997) 55 Cal.App.4th 853, 865, 64 Cal.Rptr.2d 324.)

J. Money Had and Received

In addition to the specific counts plaintiffs allege, they also plead a common count for money had and received. This claim incorporates prior facts by reference, and is based on the same underlying facts. “A common count is not a specific cause of action, however; rather, it is a simplified form of pleading normally used to aver the existence of various forms of monetary indebtedness, including that arising from an alleged duty to make restitution [1560] under an assumpsit theory. [Citations.] When a common count is used as an alternative way of seeking the same recovery demanded in a specific cause of action, and is based on the same facts, the common count is demurrable if the cause of action is demurrable. [Citations.]” (McBride v. Boughton (2004) 123 Cal. App.4th 379, 394-395, 20 Cal.Rptr.3d 115.) Thus, because this count must stand or fall on the viability of plaintiffs’ other claims, the demurrer was properly sustained.

K. Further Amendment

The burden of demonstrating that a complaint’s deficiencies can be cured through further amendment is “squarely on the plaintiff.” (Blank v. Kirwan, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 318, 216 Cal.Rptr. 718, 703 P.2d 58.) From reviewing plaintiffs’ proposed third amendment complaint and their arguments, we are unpersuaded that further amendment would lead to a viable complaint.

It appears from the history of this case that this lawsuit began under the false impression that section 1368 applied to management companies such as Merit, not merely to associations. Additionally, plaintiffs appeared to believe that they could maintain a claim for Merit’s alleged violation of its contracts with associations. Neither is true, but plaintiffs have repeatedly tried to plead around these matters.

The bottom line is that these facts—no matter how artfully they are pled—do not leave plaintiffs with any basis for a claim. They cannot cure these deficiencies by removing references to section 1368 or by pleading even more explicitly that Merit is breaching its contract with the associations. Once again, they ask for leave to plead that “no law, statute or contract permits Merit to impose those charges on sellers.” As we have repeatedly stated, it is up to plaintiffs to demonstrate why the charge is illegal, not for Merit to justify that it is legal for it to charge a fee for a service it provides.

We understand plaintiffs may find the total of $325 in charges an irksome part of the home resale process. They may believe those fees are out of line with market forces. Their remedy, then, is to persuade their association’s board of directors to find a management company that offers these services for less. If Merit realizes it is losing business because its fees are out of line with the marketplace, it will surely adjust its fees accordingly. Similarly, if they believe Merit is breaching its contract with the association by charging such fees, they can demand their board of directors seek redress from Merit directly. If they believe they were charged $100 for documents and never requested or received any documents whatsoever, they are free to bring a suit in small claims court to recover that amount. None of the factual allegations [1561] presented thus far, however, nor the proposed amendments to them, support the claims advanced here. The demurrer was properly sustained without further leave to amend.

III. DISPOSITION

The judgment is affirmed. Merit is entitled to its costs on appeal.

WE CONCUR: O’LEARY, Acting P.J., and ARONSON, J.


 

[FN. 1] We also reject plaintiffs’ assertion that Merit is advancing a theory under which section 1368 immunizes it from liability. Merit’s argument is that section 1368 does not create liability. Thus, while plaintiffs are free to sue Merit, in order to succeed, they must advance some viable theory of recovery. That theory cannot be predicated on a statute which, as a matter of law, applies to associations and not to management companies.

[FN. 2] Moreover, the sweeping nature of claims under the unfairness prong has been called into question in recent years. Referencing the balancing test adopted in Motors, Inc., the court noted: “We believe these definitions are too amorphous and provide too little guidance to courts and businesses. Vague references to `public policy,’ for example, provide little real guidance.” (Cel-Tech Communications, Inc. v. Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Co. (1999) 20 Cal.4th 163, 185, 83 Cal.Rptr.2d 548, 973 P.2d 527 (Cel-Tech).) The court went on to narrow the scope of claims of unfair practices under the UCL in cases in which a competitor alleged anticompetitive behavior. (Id. at p. 187, 83 Cal.Rptr.2d 548, 973 P.2d 527.)

Subsequent Court of Appeal decisions have taken note of this decision in other contexts. “Cel-Tech,however, may signal a narrower interpretation of the prohibition of unfair acts or practices in all unfair competition actions and provides reason for caution in relying on the broad language in earlier decisions that the court found to be `too amorphous.’ Moreover, where a claim of an unfair act or practice is predicated on public policy, we read Cel-Tech to require that the public policy which is a predicate to the action must be ‘tethered’ to specific constitutional, statutory or regulatory provisions.” (Gregory v. Albertson’s, Inc. (2002) 104 Cal.App.4th 845, 854, 128 Cal.Rptr.2d 389, fn omitted.)

Ruoff v. Harbor Creek Community Association

(1992) 10 Cal.App.4th 1624

[Insurance; Liability] A HOA’s members were held personally liable in excess of the HOA’s insurance policy limit for injuries stemming from the HOA’s common areas that were owned by the HOA’s members as tenants in common.

Dicaro, Highman, D’Antony, Dillard, Fuller & Gregor, Henry P. Schrenker, Sheri Laughlin Bills, Cassidy, Warner, Brown, Combs & Thurber, Lloyd W. Felver, Stockdale, Peckham & Werner, Kelly A. Woolsey, Waters, McCluskey & Boehle and Joseph R. Saunders for Defendants and Respondents.

OPINION
SONENSHINE, J.

Martha Ruoff and Russell Ruoff, individually and as Martha’s conservator, challenge summary judgments entered in favor of various defendants [FN. 1] in a suit arising out of Martha’s slip and fall on a stairway in the common area of the 152-unit Harbor Creek complex. Martha sustained catastrophic injuries. According to appellants, whose statement is uncontradicted by respondents, on August 9, 1988, Martha fell backwards, landing at the bottom of the stairs, her foot wedged in a gap between the side of the building and the edge of the stairs. Comatose and bleeding, she was taken to Mission Hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) where she was treated for multiple skull fractures. Due to complications, she underwent partial amputation of her left thumb, index and middle fingers. A month after the accident, a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (insertion of a feeding tube in the stomach) was performed. The following month, a lumbo-peritoneal shunt was inserted in her spine for draining fluids. Martha remained in a coma. A tracheotomy tube inserted at the time of the accident was not removed for two and one-half months. Released from Mission Hospital after 107 days in the ICU, Martha was transferred to the Rehabilitation Institute of Santa Barbara, where she underwent a course of treatment and therapy until, after eight months, the Ruoffs were no longer able to pay for the institutional care. Martha now lives at home, where her 72-year-old husband takes care of her. She is unable to bathe, dress or feed herself. She is incontinent in bladder and bowel. Her diagnosis and prognosis include “probable permanent memory loss, gait disturbance, incontinence and other severe neurological abnormalities.” Her only communication is “babble.” She will require 24-hour-a-day care for the remainder of her life. Her medical expenses to date exceed $750,000.

The summary judgment argument of the defendants, individual owners of Harbor Creek condominium units, is based on the following undisputed facts: (1) They are tenants-in-common of the common areas of the complex,[1627]each owning an undivided 1/152 interest; (2) they have delegated control and management of the common areas to their homeowners association (HOA), which has no ownership interest in the property; (3) the HOA has liability insurance of $1 million; and (4) it is authorized to assess its members for pro-rata contribution if a judgment exceeds policy limits. The owners argue that for these reasons, (a) Civil Code section 1365.7 [FN. 2]  should be read to immunize them from civil liability, and (b) departure from the common law rule of property owners’ liability would serve the greater good and work no substantial detriment to injured third persons.

The Ruoffs contend the immunity of section 1365.7 is expressly limited to volunteer HOA officers or directors and cannot be expanded judicially to include others. The owners, as tenants-in-common in the common area, are subject to the same nondelegable duties to control and manage their property as are other property owners. The trial court agreed with the owners. We agree with the Ruoffs and reverse.

I.

On appeal from summary judgment, the trial court’s determination of a question of law is subject to independent review. (Wu v. Interstate Consolidated Industries (1991) 226 Cal.App.3d 1511, 1514 [277 Cal.Rptr. 546].) [1] Initially, we note the Ruoffs’ assertion that the trial court failed to fulfill its duty under Code of Civil Procedure section 437c, subdivision (g), to specify the reasons for its determination. [FN. 3]  We agree the statement of reasons-by-reference was noncompliant. But the court’s failure to perform its statutory duty does not automatically result in reversal. We need only determine whether the record establishes the owners’ entitlement to summary judgment in their favor. As stated in Barnette v. Delta Lines, Inc. (1982) 137 Cal.App.3d 674, 682 [187 Cal.Rptr. 219]: “We are not confined,[1628]in considering the granting of the summary judgment, to the sufficiency of the stated reasons. It is the validity of the ruling which is reviewable and not the reasons therefor. [Citation.]” (See also California Aviation, Inc. v. Leeds (1991) 233 Cal.App.3d 724, 730-731 [284 Cal.Rptr. 687].)

II.

[2a] The summary judgments were granted on the basis that, as a matter of law, the individual condominium owners could not be held liable for injuries sustained in the common area of the Harbor Creek complex. The record establishes that the decision involved no determination of whether the owners had exercised due care; it involved only a determination that no duty existed. [FN. 4]

In the usual case, an owner or occupier of real property must exercise ordinary care in managing the property. (§ 1714, subd. (a).) The duty of care is owed to persons who come on the land (see generally, Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108 [70 Cal.Rptr. 97, 443 P.2d 561, 32 A.L.R.3d 496]), and ordinarily it is nondelegable. (Swanberg v. O’Mectin (1984) 157 Cal.App.3d 325, 331- 332 [203 Cal.Rptr. 701].)

In the case of a condominium complex, section 1365.7 immunizes a volunteer officer or director of an association managing a common interest residential development from civil tort liability if (1) the injury-producing negligent act or omission was performed within the scope of association duties, was in good faith, and was not willful, wanton, or grossly negligent, and (2) the association maintained at least $1 million of applicable general liability insurance if the development exceeds 100 separate interests. [FN. 5]  (§ 1365.7, subds. (a)(1), (2), (3) and (4)(B).) Subdivision (b) allows the volunteer officer or director to recover actual expenses incurred in executing the duties of the position without losing the statutory immunity. But subdivision (c) excludes from the definition of volunteer any officer or director who, at the time of the negligent act or omission, received compensation as an employee of statutorily designated persons or entities. Under subdivision (d), the association itself does not enjoy immunity for the negligent acts or omissions of its officers or directors. Finally, subdivision (e) expressly limits[1629]the immunity of section 1365.7 to the designated persons: “This section shall only apply to a volunteer officer or director who resides in the common interest development either as a tenant or as an owner of no more than two separate interests in that development.” We find this to be a comprehensive and extraordinarily clear immunity statute.

[3a] Statutory interpretation presents a question of law. (Schuhart v. Pinguelo (1991) 230 Cal.App.3d 1599, 1607 [282 Cal.Rptr. 144].) [2b] The owners contend that in section 1365.7, the Legislature intended to immunize them from liability for tortious acts or omissions in the management and control of the commonly held property. Under established rules of statutory construction, we may not read such an intention into this unambiguous statute. [3b] “It is axiomatic that in the interpretation of a statute where the language is clear, its plain meaning should be followed. [Citation.]” (Lubin v. Wilson (1991) 232 Cal.App.3d 1422, 1427 [284 Cal.Rptr. 70]; see also Forrest v. Trustees of Cal. State University & Colleges (1984) 160 Cal.App.3d 357, 362 [206 Cal.Rptr. 595].) Moreover, we must attach significance to every word of a statute. (See McLarand, Vasquez & Partners, Inc. v. Downey Savings & Loan Assn. (1991) 231 Cal.App.3d 1450, 1454 [282 Cal.Rptr. 828].) [2c] If we were to read the statute as the owners urge, we would need to read out the express limitation of immunity of subdivision (e). We are not permitted or inclined to do that. [FN. 6]

We also reject the owners’ convoluted argument that by reverse implication, based on a reading of Davert v. Larson (1985) 163 Cal.App.3d 407 [209 Cal.Rptr. 445], section 1365.7 endows them with a right to delegate their duties of control and management of the common areas and thus escape liability to which they would otherwise be subjected under established law.

In Davert, the Court of Appeal, in a case of first impression, reversed a summary judgment in favor of a defendant property owner who asserted “he owed no duty of care to plaintiffs as a landowner because he took title to his interest in the property subject to a recorded declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions delegating exclusive control over the subject property to [a property owners’ association].” (Davert v. Larson, supra, 163[1630]Cal.App.3d at p. 409.) The owner claimed his ownership interest of 1/2500 was too small to provide a basis for liability and he personally exercised no control over the management of the property. (Id. at p. 410.) The appellate court noted with approval the conclusion of “a leading commentator” that “individual owners of common areas in California are liable to third parties for torts arising in common areas. [Citation.]” (Id. at p. 411.) In its discussion, the court alluded to the fact that existing California law did “not require insurance to protect third parties in the case of common area torts.” (Id. at p. 412.) Thus, “relieving individual owners in common of liability would eliminate any motivation on the part of any party to exercise due care in the management and control of commonly owned property and could leave third parties with no remedy at law.” (Ibid.) The Davert court concluded: “[T]enants in common of real property who delegate the control and management of the property to a separate legal entity should not be immunized from liability to third parties for tortious conduct.” (Ibid.)

The owners say Davert means that if the duty of control and management is delegated to a separate legal entity and sufficient liability insurance is available for injured parties, then the reason for imposition of liability on the individual owners evaporates. The argument continues: Since section 1365.7 was enacted after publication of Davert, and requires HOA’s to maintain certain minimum levels of liability insurance, the Legislature must have been reacting to Davert and intending to eliminate common law rules regarding property owners’ liability.

The argument is crafty, but unavailing. [4] In the first place, when we are urged to find that a statute is intended to silently abrogate an established rule of law, we must heed the Supreme Court’s admonition that “it should not ‘be presumed that the Legislature in the enactment of statutes intends to overthrow long-established principles of law unless such intention is made clearly to appear either by express declaration or by necessary implication.’ [Citation.]” (Theodor v. Superior Court (1972) 8 Cal.3d 77, 92 [104 Cal.Rptr. 226, 501 P.2d 234]; see also McLarand, Vasquez & Partners, Inc. v. Downey Savings & Loan Assn., supra, 231 Cal.3d at p. 1455.) [2d] In the second place, the owners’ reliance on Davert for negative inferences is off the mark. The clear holding of Davert is that tenants in common who delegate control and management of the property remain jointly and severally liable for tortious acts or omissions causing injury to third persons. We do not deem the court’s observation about the wisdom of retaining landowners’ liability where ownership is shared to be judicial advice that a tenant in[1631]common can buy his or her way out of liability by purchasing insurance for the property manager. [FN. 7]

III.

The owners attempt to justify the summary judgment with a number of other policy-type arguments to illustrate why we should rewrite section 1365.7. They assert the HOA’s liability insurance of $1 million is sufficient to take care of the needs of the Ruoffs, who would therefore suffer no detriment if liability were not imposed on the individuals. But even if we agreed with the proposition in the abstract-and we do not-the issue of sufficiency of the insurance policy would be a question of fact, inappropriate for determination by summary judgment. (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (c).) [FN. 8]

The owners also contend that because the HOA can make assessments against the association members for pro-rata shares of any judgment exceeding the policy limits, immunity for the individuals will not work any hardship on the Ruoffs. But, as the Ruoffs astutely observe, “[p]roblems with this approach abound,” [FN. 9]  and “the power to assess is not the panacea Defendants argue.” Indeed, it might prove to be a wholly illusory remedy.

The owners assert that under the HOA declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions, the HOA is incorporated as a nonprofit mutual benefit[1632]corporation, therefore the members are entitled to immunity under Corporations Code section 7350, subdivision (a). [FN. 10]  They argue that because the HOA is a corporation, the Ruoffs must look solely to the corporate assets. The problem with this contention is that the record does not establish the fact of incorporation. [FN. 11]  Therefore, we express no opinion as to its merits. The judgments in favor of the owners are reversed and the matter remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this decision. The Ruoffs shall recover their costs on appeal.

Moore, Acting P. J., and Wallin, J., concurred.


FN 1. Summary judgments were granted in favor of Raymond J. Niksarian; Sonya Niksarian; Anne S. Bates; Frank Bates and Anne S. Bates, Trustees for the Trust Agreement of Frank F. Bates and Anne S. Bates; Warner Younis; Pat Younis; Judd L. Miller; William E. Hasbrouck; Robert Banks; Nancy Banks; Wendell F. Deeter and E. Violet Deeter as Trustees for the Deeter Family Revocable Trust; Ronald F. Lackey; Barbara A. Lackey; and Dorothy Auerbach.

FN 2. Civil Code section 1365.7 is part of the Davis- Stirling Common Interest Development Act ( Civ. Code, div. 2, pt. 4, ch. 1, § 1350 et seq.). The act provides conditional immunity from tort damages to “a volunteer officer or director who resides in the common interest development either as a tenant or as an owner of no more than two separate interests in that development.” See discussion, post.

All further statutory references are to the Civil Code unless otherwise specified.

FN 3. Code of Civil Procedure section 437c, subdivision (g) provides, in pertinent part: “Upon the grant of a motion for summary judgment … the court shall … specify the reasons for its determination,” referring to the evidence supporting and opposing which shows no triable issue exists.

When counsel asked the court to specify its reasons for granting the summary judgment motions, the court responded: “I have spent more time thinking about this than any other case in my inventory. I am incorporating every argument that the moving parties have made as the basis for my decision. I am throwing it all to the Fourth. [¶] Your briefs are the bases for your positions when the court of appeals [sic] deals with this issue. I will not make any independent findings.”

FN 4. The court’s order granting summary judgment states: “[T]he court finds as a matter of law that the aforementioned defendant homeowners did not breach any duty owed to the plaintiffs herein.” The record establishes that no factual evidence regarding the owners’ acts or omissions was before the court. The owners relied on the HOA’s liability policy, its internal rules, and declarations of individual owners who said they did not exercise control of the common areas.

FN 5. The Harbor Creek complex contains 152 units, and there is no dispute that the number of separate interests exceeds 100.

FN 6. When it enacted section 1365.7, the Legislature was also aware of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act of 1982, but did not adopt it. Under section 3-107 of the uniform act, an HOA is responsible for maintenance of the common areas of a condominium complex, unless the HOA’s declaration provides otherwise. Under section 3-113, individual unit owners are immune from civil liability for injuries occurring in the common areas if the HOA maintains sufficient liability insurance meeting certain standards and naming each condominium owner as an insured party with respect to liability based on his or her ownership of the common areas. Obviously, the Legislature and the authors of the uniform act took different paths.

FN 7. We also reject the owners’ half-hearted assertion that section 1365.7 violates equal protection under the federal and state Constitutions. The matter warrants little discussion. The owners say the immunity offered to the HOA’s volunteer officers and directors “is irrational … because the effect is to immunize those who are vested with control over the common area, and allow potential liability to remain with those who retain no control over the common area.” As the Ruoffs observe, there is no fundamental right or suspect class involved, thus the classification need only bear a rational relationship to a legitimate state purpose. (Weber v. City Council (1973) 9 Cal.3d 950, 959 [109 Cal.Rptr. 553, 513 P.2d 601].) The bill’s author stated: “This bill is greatly needed to protect the directors and officers of the 13,000-16,000 community interest associations in California that will need 30,000 to 40,000 volunteers to serve on the boards of these associations each year. That need may not be met as many people are not volunteering because they fear being sued.” (Letter dated Sept. 1, 1991, from Assemblywoman Lucy Killea to the Honorable George Deukmejian.)

FN 8. In light of the apparent irremediable nature of Martha’s injuries and the continuing accrual of medical expenses which are already approaching the $1 million policy limit, the owners appear to be blowing smoke when they claim the insurance is “sufficient.”

FN 9. The Ruoffs pose apt questions: “[W]hat happens to the current owners who sell their units before judgment? What happens to a unit owner whose individual insurance company denies coverage for an assessment in contract, but does [sic] over third party injuries occurring in common areas? What about those who sell after judgment, but before the assessment? What happens to a future unit owner whose individual insurance company denies coverage because the ‘loss’ preceded the commencement of the policy?”

FN 10. Corporations Code section 7350, subdivision (a) relieves members of a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation from personal liability for the debts, liabilities or obligations of the corporation.

FN 11. The only proof of incorporation offered is a copy of article II, section 2.01 of the HOA declaration, stating: “Organization of Association. The Association is or shall be incorporated under the name of Harbor Creek Community Association, as a corporation not for profit under the Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law of the State of California.” This is hardly proof. Moreover, the various separate statements of undisputed facts in support of the summary judgment motions do not contain any reference to incorporation and member immunity. Finally, we do not even know if such a defense is at issue in the lawsuit because we have not been provided with a copy of the answers filed by the defendants.

Diamond Heights Village Association, Inc. v. Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corp.

(2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 290

[Assessment Collection; Judgment Lien Merger] When a HOA assessment lien is enforced by the HOA through judicial action, the debt secured by the assessment lien is merged into the judgment.

Ragghianti Freitas, David F. Feingold and Rodrigo D. Dias for Plaintiff and Appellant and for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Steyer Lowenthal Boodrookas Alvarez & Smith, Jeffrey H. Lowenthal, Carlos A. Alvarez and Benjamin R. Ehrhart for Defendant and Appellant and for Defendant and Respondent.

OPINION

[294] SEPULVEDA, J.

Plaintiff Diamond Heights Village Association, Inc. (Association), sued the owners of a condominium unit for failing to pay assessments levied for maintenance of common areas. The Association also sued Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation (Financial Freedom), which holds a deed of trust on the unit securing a reverse mortgage loan. In its single cause of action against Financial Freedom, the Association sought foreclosure of assessment liens and priority over the deed of trust. Financial Freedom obtained a summary judgment in its favor. A bench trial against the unit owners on other causes of action was held, at which the court partially voided Financial Freedom’s deed of trust.

The Association appeals the summary judgment for Financial Freedom, and Financial Freedom appeals the judgment on the remaining claims voiding its property interest. Financial Freedom also appeals the court’s attorney fee orders.

We affirm summary judgment for Financial Freedom on the lien foreclosure cause of action and reverse the judgment on the remaining claims to the extent it voids Financial Freedom’s deed of trust. The trial court erred in voiding Financial Freedom’s security interest in the property when Financial Freedom had not been joined as a party on the claims being tried, and final judgment had already been entered in its favor. We affirm the court’s attorney fee orders.

I. FACTS

The Association maintains a 396-unit residential condominium complex in San Francisco known as Diamond Heights Village. Diamond Heights Village is governed by a first restated declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&R’s) recorded in 1990. Under the CC&R’s, homeowners agree to pay assessments levied by the Association for maintenance of Diamond Heights Village. (See Civ. Code, § 1366 [authorizing assessments].)

[295]

A. Assessment liens

Mark Williams owned a unit in Diamond Heights Village and failed to pay the assessments. The Association recorded notices of delinquent assessment in 1994 and 1995. To avoid collection efforts by the Association and other creditors, Williams filed five separate bankruptcy petitions from 1995 to 1999, each of which was dismissed. Several days after the fifth bankruptcy petition was dismissed, Williams conveyed the Diamond Heights Village condominium unit to himself and his mother, Lois Crosby, as joint tenants. In 2000 and 2001, the Association recorded assessment liens against the condominium unit. (Civ. Code, § 1367.)

B. Judgment on assessment liens

In 2002, the Association obtained a default judgment against Williams for foreclosure of the assessment liens. The total amount of the judgment, including attorney fees and costs, was $39,199.[[1]] The Association did not record an abstract of judgment. The court issued a writ of execution for the sale of the unit to satisfy the judgment. Crosby, now a joint tenant of the unit, filed a petition for bankruptcy to evade the Association’s collection efforts. A second writ of execution was issued and a foreclosure sale was set for 2004, after Crosby’s bankruptcy petition was dismissed, but Williams filed a sixth bankruptcy petition on the day set for the sale. That bankruptcy petition, like all the others, was dismissed. Several months later, Williams and Crosby embarked on another transaction affecting the condominium unit before a foreclosure sale was conducted.

C. New first deed of trust

In October 2004, Crosby applied for a reverse mortgage with defendant Financial Freedom, a subsidiary of IndyMac Bank. A homeowner must be 62 years of age or older to qualify for a reverse mortgage with Financial Freedom. Crosby, born in 1920, qualified. Crosby’s application stated that there was an outstanding judgment against her and listed the Association among those holding a lien on the property.

Financial Freedom ordered a preliminary title report that noted title ownership by Crosby and her son, Williams, as joint tenants. The preliminary title report did not list the Association’s assessment liens despite their [296] recordation with the county recorder’s office. The Association’s judgment had not been recorded and was not listed in the title report.[[2]]

In November 2004, Financial Freedom obtained certification from the Association concerning certain features of Diamond Heights Village, such as unit ownership in fee simple and the provision of property and liability insurance. The Association also certified that there was nothing in the CC&R’s “that would prevent the placing of a first mortgage lien on an individual unit or would jeopardize the first lien status of such a mortgage due to future association assessments.” (Italics added.) Financial Freedom’s certification form did not ask if there were unpaid past assessments.

Financial Freedom completed the transaction in December 2004, creating a new first mortgage. Williams transferred his one-half interest in the unit to his mother, Crosby, giving her full title to the unit. Crosby then executed a deed of trust in favor of Financial Freedom to secure a reverse mortgage loan. The two documents—Williams’s grant deed and Crosby’s deed of trust—were notarized by the same person on the same date, and recorded within seconds of each other. Williams did not receive any consideration from his mother for the transfer of his ownership interest in the unit. In funding the loan, Financial Freedom paid off first and second deeds of trust totaling $219,935. Financial Freedom also paid $48,948 in cash to Crosby. Financial Freedom funded the loan in an amount no less than $278,505.

D. Amended judgment on assessment liens

An amended judgment against Williams and Crosby for foreclosure of the Association’s assessment liens was entered in 2005. The amended judgment included interest and costs incurred from the time of the original 2002 judgment and totaled $51,184. The Association did not record an abstract of judgment for the amended judgment. The Association obtained a writ of execution for the sale of the unit, but Crosby filed another petition for bankruptcy. The petition was later dismissed. The judgment was last renewed in January 2008 for an updated amount of $64,854.

E. Complaint to set aside fraudulent transfer and to foreclose lien

The Association learned of Financial Freedom’s first deed of trust at some point and, in an effort to establish priority for its assessments over Financial Freedom’s deed of trust, filed the present action in December 2007. The [297] Association stated six causes of action: setting aside fraudulent transfer; conspiracy; breach of contract (CC&R’s); foreclosure of a lien; open book account; and injunctive relief. All of the causes of action were stated against Williams and Crosby but only the fourth cause of action for foreclosure of a lien was stated against Financial Freedom. The fourth cause of action also named judgment creditor Hassen & Associates as a defendant. In that cause of action, the Association alleged that homeowners Williams and Crosby owed assessments amounting to $67,149 as of December 2007 (plus assessments accruing after filing of the complaint). It was further alleged that the homeowners had not satisfied the 2000 and 2001 assessment liens, nor the 2002 judgment and that those liens and judgment “remain valid and encumber the property.” The Association alleged that Financial Freedom’s 2004 deed of trust is subordinate to the liens and judgment held by the Association. While seeking judicial foreclosure of the assessment liens, the Association also stated its intention to reserve its right to enforce the existing judgment foreclosing the same liens.

F. Answers and cross-complaint

Financial Freedom answered the complaint raising several affirmative defenses, including the statute of limitations. It also filed a cross-complaint for declaratory relief and other claims. Financial Freedom asserted that it has a valid first lien against the Diamond Heights Village condominium unit and that it is “a bona fide encumbrancer with respect to said lien.” It sought a judicial determination of the rights and interests of itself and the Association in the property. Judgment creditor Hassen & Associates also answered the complaint. Homeowners Williams and Crosby never answered the complaint and their default was entered in March 2008.

G. Summary judgment motion

In February 2009, Financial Freedom moved for summary judgment on the Association’s complaint, which stated a single cause of action against Financial Freedom for foreclosure of liens. Financial Freedom noted that the Association did not have a judgment lien and was basing its priority claim upon the assessment liens. Financial Freedom argued that the Association’s action for foreclosure of the assessment liens, and the claimed priority under them, failed because (1) foreclosure of the assessment liens had already been litigated, reduced to judgment, and merged into that judgment; (2) foreclosure of the assessment liens was time-barred; and (3) the CC&R’s expressly subordinated assessment liens to first mortgage holders like Financial Freedom.

[298] Judge Charlotte Woolard ruled on the motion on May 6, 2009, and granted summary judgment on the first ground. The court ruled that the Association’s assessment liens merged into the judgment in the earlier foreclosure action against the homeowners, that the judgment was unrecorded, and that Financial Freedom’s recorded deed of trust thus had priority.

H. Judgment for Financial Freedom

Financial Freedom requested dismissal of its cross-complaint and sought entry of judgment in its favor. In June 2009, Judge Woolard entered a judgment in favor of Financial Freedom and against the Association decreeing that the Association “shall recover nothing, and shall obtain no relief, as against defendant Financial Freedom, in this action.” The court denied Financial Freedom’s motion for contractual attorney fees under the CC&R’s because there was “no privity” between Financial Freedom and the Association. (Civ. Code, § 1717.)

I. Trial of remaining claims

The Association’s remaining claims against homeowners Williams and Crosby and judgment creditor Hassen & Associates were tried before Judge Nancy Davis on May 26, 2009, a few weeks after Judge Woolard had granted summary judgment to Financial Freedom. The Association contended that Judge Woolard’s summary judgment ruling in Financial Freedom’s favor did not preclude Judge Davis from setting aside the alleged fraudulent conveyance and determining Financial Freedom’s security interest as a result of setting aside that conveyance. The court agreed and proceeded to resolve issues affecting Financial Freedom despite a dispositive ruling in Financial Freedom’s favor on the only cause of action against it and its absence from trial on the remaining claims. The only defendant appearing at trial was judgment creditor Hassen & Associates.

The court issued a statement of decision in August 2009. The court found that “the transfer from Williams to Crosby was fraudulent and must be set aside to the extent necessary to satisfy the Association’s claim” for assessments. The court noted that, “[a]t the time of the transfer, Williams and Crosby owned the Unit as Joint tenants, each owning an undivided one-half interest. As the transfer is set aside, the result is that Williams and Crosby remain joint tenants and were joint tenants at the time the deed of trust was granted to Financial Freedom by Crosby.” Crosby “could encumber her own one half interest, but could not encumber the one half interest in the Unit owned by Williams who, at the time, was a judgment debtor of the Association.” The court ruled that the deed of trust “conveyed by Crosby to Financial [299] Freedom is void to the extent [the deed] purported to encumber Williams’s one half interest” in the condominium unit.

The court’s statement of decision acknowledges that a fraudulent transfer is not voidable against “a person who took in good faith and for a reasonably equivalent value.” (Civ. Code, § 3439.08, subd. (a).) The court ruled that Financial Freedom was not a bona fide encumbrancer entitled to the protection of this statute because Financial Freedom “actively participated in the transfer from Williams to Crosby” and performed an inadequate title review that failed to discover the recorded assessment liens. The court also suggested that Financial Freedom forfeited any claim to bona fide encumbrancer status by dismissing its cross-complaint for declaratory relief and choosing not to appear at trial.

J. Judgment for the Association

The court entered a judgment in August 2009 ordering the Diamond Heights Village condominium unit sold and declaring the rights of the Association, homeowners, Financial Freedom, and judgment creditor Hassen & Associates to the proceeds of the sale. The court declared Hassen & Associates to have senior position, with right of first payment. The court ordered the remaining funds held until any appeal was resolved and, thereafter, “divided between the Association and Financial Freedom in accordance with their one-half secured interest” in the unit. The court awarded the Association $89,562 for assessments through May 2009, payable from Williams’s one-half interest in the property. The court also awarded the Association attorney fees against the homeowners under the CC&R’s, later assessed at $82,086, to be paid from Williams’s property interest. Financial Freedom was left with just Crosby’s original one-half interest in the property to secure its mortgage loan and payments of at least $278,505. Sale proceeds from that one-half interest may be insufficient to pay the full amount owed to Financial Freedom.

In September 2009, Financial Freedom filed a motion to vacate the judgment. Financial Freedom argued that the court had no jurisdiction to enter a judgment affecting Financial Freedom’s deed of trust because (1) the prior summary judgment fully adjudicated the Association’s single cause of action against Financial Freedom, (2) the Association’s appeal of the summary judgment divested the court of jurisdiction before the court ruled on the remaining claims affecting Financial Freedom’s interest, and (3) Financial [300] Freedom was not a defendant on the Association’s remaining claims and not a party to the trial. The court denied the motion in February 2010.

K. The appeals

We are presented with three related appeals, which we have consolidated for purposes of briefing, argument, and decision. On the summary judgment in Financial Freedom’s favor on the foreclosure cause of action: the Association appeals the judgment and Financial Freedom separately appeals the post judgment order denying it attorney fees. On the judgment following trial in the Association’s favor on the cause of action for fraudulent conveyance and all other remaining claims: Financial Freedom appeals both the judgment (and order denying its motion to vacate the judgment) and the post judgment order awarding the Association attorney fees.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Summary judgment was properly granted to Financial Freedom

As noted above, the Association recorded assessment liens against the Diamond Heights Village condominium unit in 2000 and 2001. (Civ. Code, § 1367.) In 2002, the Association obtained a default judgment against homeowner Williams for foreclosure of the assessment liens. The Association did not record an abstract of judgment. The court issued writs of execution for the sale of the unit to satisfy the judgment but the homeowners’ petitions for bankruptcy stayed proceedings and prevented levy. It was at this juncture that Williams conveyed his one-half interest in the property to his joint tenant and mother, Crosby, and she then mortgaged the entire property to Financial Freedom.

The Association then filed a new complaint in which it asserted a single cause of action against Financial Freedom for foreclosure of the Association’s assessment liens and sought priority over Financial Freedom’s deed of trust. Financial Freedom moved for summary judgment arguing, among other things, that the Association’s action for foreclosure of the assessment liens, and claimed priority under them, failed because foreclosure of the assessment liens had already been litigated, reduced to judgment, and merged into that judgment. Judge Woolard granted the motion. The court ruled that the Association’s assessment liens merged into the judgment from the earlier foreclosure action against the homeowners, the judgment was unrecorded, and Financial Freedom’s recorded deed of trust thus had priority.

(1) The court was correct. A condominium assessment becomes a debt of the owner when the assessment is levied by the condominium association. [301] (Civ. Code, § 1367.1, subd. (a).) “The debt is only a personal obligation of the owner, however, until the community association records a `notice of delinquent assessment’ against the owner’s interest in the development. Recording this notice creates a lien and gives the association a security interest in the lot or unit against which the assessment was imposed.” (Sproul & Rosenberry, Advising Cal. Common Interest Communities (Cont.Ed.Bar 2003) § 5.36, p. 328 [hereafter, Common Interest Communities]; see Civ. Code, § 1367, subd. (d).) The lien dates from the time the lien is properly recorded. (Thaler v. Household Finance Corp. (2000) 80 Cal.App.4th 1093, 1100-1102 .) “California follows the `first in time, first in right’ system of lien priorities.” (Id. at p. 1099.) Condominium assessment liens follow this same system. An assessment lien is “prior to all other liens recorded subsequent to the notice of assessment, except that the [CC&R’s] may provide for the subordination thereof to any other liens and encumbrances.”[[3]] (Civ. Code, § 1367, subd. (d).)

(2) It is generally understood that a lien is not a debt but acts as “security for payment of a debt or other obligation.” (4 Cal. Real Estate (3d ed. 2003) § 10:128, p. 395 (rel. 11/2003); see Civ. Code, § 2872.) The debt is the assessment, which is secured by the assessment lien. An assessment lien may be enforced “in any manner permitted by law,” including judicial foreclosure. (Civ. Code, § 1367, subd. (e).) When an assessment lien is enforced through judicial action, the debt secured by the lien is merged into the judgment. The doctrine of merger is an aspect of res judicata. (Passanisi v. Merit-McBride Realtors, Inc. (1987) 190 Cal.App.3d 1496, 1510.) “Under that aspect a claim presented and reduced to judgment merges with the judgment and is thereby superseded. [Citation.] The claimant’s remedy thereafter is to enforce the judgment; he may not reassert the claim.” (Ibid.)

“[W]hen a final judgment is entered, all causes of action arising from the same obligation are merged into the judgment and all alternative remedies to enforce that obligation extinguished by the judgment granting one of those remedies. [Citation.] The creditor cannot thereafter enforce the original obligation, because the judgment `”. . . creates a new debt or liability, distinct from the original claim or demand, and this new liability is not merely evidence of the creditor’s claim, but is thereafter the substance of the claim itself.”‘ ([Citation,] italics in original.) In other words, the . . . judgment extinguishes the contractual rights and remedies previously extant, [302] substituting in their place only such rights as attach to a judgment.” (O’Neil v. General Security Corp. (1992) 4 Cal.App.4th 587, 602.)

(3) Once a judgment is obtained, the judgment creditor may create a judgment lien by recording an abstract of judgment or may choose to levy execution, thereby creating an execution lien. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 674, 697.710; Kahn v. Berman (1988) 198 Cal.App.3d 1499, 1507, fn. 7.) An execution lien does not arise when a writ of execution is issued by the court, but rather when the levying officer levies the property (constructively seizes it) by recording a copy of the writ of execution and notice of levy. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 697.710, 700.010, 700.015, subd. (a); Kahn, supra, at p. 1508; see generally 8 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (5th ed. 2008) Enforcement of Judgment, § 99, p. 143.) The record here does not show that a levy ever occurred to create an execution lien, and the Association makes no claim to having an execution lien. The Association relies exclusively upon its assessment liens, despite having already foreclosed those liens in a 2002 judgment. The claim is unavailing. Those liens were foreclosed and the debts they secured were merged into the judgment. The Association’s remedy was to record the judgment, in which case the judgment lien would have given the Association priority over Financial Freedom. (Code Civ. Proc., § 697.310 et seq.)

(4) The Association seems to argue that an assessment lien lasts forever, even if foreclosed in a prior proceeding. This is incorrect. A lien is not a debt but acts as “security for payment of a debt or other obligation.” (4 Cal. Real Estate, supra, § 10:128, p. 395 (rel. 11/2003).) All liens are “extinguished by the lapse of time” if an enforcement action is not timely pursued on the principal obligation.[[4]] (Civ. Code, § 2911, subd. 1.) Where an action is timely pursued, the debt secured by the lien merges into the judgment. The judgment then becomes the debt. The judgment is enforceable for a period of 10 years, and longer if renewed. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 683.020, 683.120, subd. (b).) (5) The Association has an enforceable judgment. It does not, however, have a lien on the property because the assessment liens and underlying debts merged into the judgment and the judgment was not recorded.

The Association argues that application of the merger doctrine under these circumstances creates the anomalous situation of a condominium association losing priority the moment a judgment is entered on an assessment. The Association argues that assessment liens should work like real estate attachment liens imposed during litigation. Where an attachment lien is in effect, a [303] judgment lien created on the same property relates back to the date the attachment lien was created and preserves the judgment creditor’s original priority. (Code Civ. Proc., § 697.020, subd. (b).) But a judgment itself does not relate back to the date of the attachment liens—it is the judgment lien that does so. Here, there is no judgment lien. The Association, therefore, has an unsecured judgment and may pursue enforcement against the homeowners. The Association may not, however, relitigate foreclosure of its assessment liens in an effort to achieve priority over Financial Freedom’s deed of trust.

The Association maintains that it is not really relitigating the assessments but, instead, the fraudulent conveyance that gave Financial Freedom a deed of trust. But Financial Freedom was not named as a defendant in the fraudulent conveyance cause of action. Financial Freedom was named as a defendant in a single cause of action for judicial foreclosure of the assessment liens. In that cause of action, the Association sought recovery against the homeowners for past assessments and alleged that the 2000 and 2001 liens encumber the property to secure the assessments. Those allegations were asserted, and adjudicated, in prior litigation. They may not be relitigated now. The trial court properly granted summary judgment to Financial Freedom on the Association’s cause of action to foreclose the previously litigated assessments liens.

B. The trial court erred in rendering a judgment on remaining claims that impaired Financial Freedom’s interests

The trial court granted defendant Financial Freedom summary judgment on the only cause of action stated against it. The order was filed on May 6, 2009. Financial Freedom then dismissed its cross-complaint, and Judge Woolard entered judgment for Financial Freedom on June 3, 2009. The judgment decreed that the Association “shall recover nothing, and shall obtain no relief, as against defendant Financial Freedom, in this action.”

Trial of the Association’s remaining claims against other defendants commenced before Judge Davis on May 26, 2009, and judgment was entered on August 17, 2009. Trial of those remaining claims was proper, including trial of the Association’s cause of action against the homeowners for fraudulent conveyance of their condominium unit. It was not proper, however, to void Financial Freedom’s security interest in the property (in whole or part) when Financial Freedom had not been joined as a party to the fraudulent conveyance cause of action, and final judgment had already been entered in its favor.

The Association brought its first cause of action to set aside a fraudulent transfer of real property against homeowners Williams and Crosby. A transfer is fraudulent if the debtor made the transfer “[w]ith actual intent to hinder, [304] delay, or defraud any creditor of the debtor,” “[w]ithout receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer,” and with the intent to incur debts beyond the debtor’s ability to pay. (Civ. Code, § 3439.04, subd. (a)(1), (2).) Here, the Association alleged that Williams fraudulently conveyed his one-half interest to Crosby for no consideration in order to evade his debt to the Association, and that the transfer left Williams insolvent. The Association further alleged that Crosby was complicit in the fraudulent scheme. Crosby, once she obtained full ownership of the property, took out a reverse mortgage loan and made Financial Freedom the beneficiary of a deed of trust securing the loan. The Association did not allege that Financial Freedom participated in the homeowners’ fraudulent scheme. In fact, the Association did not name Financial Freedom as a defendant in its action to set aside the alleged fraudulent conveyance. Nor did the Association name the trustee of the deed of trust, Alliance Title Company. The Association’s position, adopted by Judge Davis, was that the court could void Financial Freedom’s security interest in the conveyed property despite Financial Freedom’s nonjoinder. This was error.

(6) The Association was free to exclude Financial Freedom from the fraudulent conveyance cause of action if it sought only a personal judgment against Williams and Crosby. But if the Association wanted to void Financial Freedom’s interest in the property, it should have joined the deed beneficiary as a party. (Code Civ. Proc., § 379.) Transferees are necessary parties “in an action to declare a transfer void as fraudulent.” (Heffernan v. Bennett & Armour (1952) 110 Cal.App.2d 564, 586-587.) Williams transferred his one-half interest to Crosby, making her the principal transferee, but the transaction also included Crosby’s execution of a deed of trust benefitting Financial Freedom. The Association may not void the deed of trust without joining Financial Freedom as a party and giving it an opportunity to defend the transfer. Trust beneficiaries, like Financial Freedom, “are necessary parties to an action affecting the security of a deed of trust.” (Monterey S.P. Partnership v. W. L. Bangham, Inc. (1989) 49 Cal.3d 454, 461; accord, Sylvester v. Sylvester (Alaska 1986) 723 P.2d 1253, 1259-1260 [mortgagee a necessary party in fraudulent conveyance action to set aside mortgage].) A deed of trust is, in practical effect, a mortgage with a power of sale. (Monterey S.P. Partnership, supra, at p. 460.) A respected commentator on the law has noted that a mortgagee is not indispensable to a fraudulent conveyance action “if the conveyance is to be set aside subject to the mortgage, . . . [b]ut where the suit is to set aside a previously given mortgage as fraudulent, then the mortgagee is a proper party defendant.” (3A Moore, Moore’s Federal Practice (2d ed. 1996) ¶ 19.09[6], p. 19-191.) The Association argues that Financial Freedom’s absence from the trial is the fault of Financial Freedom itself because it dismissed its cross-complaint seeking a declaration of its interests. This is incorrect. [305] Financial Freedom was entitled to abandon its cross-complaint after obtaining summary judgment in its favor on the only cause of action stated against it in the complaint. It was the Association’s obligation, as plaintiff in the fraudulent conveyance cause of action, to name parties necessary to obtaining the relief it sought.

The judgment voiding Financial Freedom’s interest in the property is also defective in another respect. Judge Woolard granted Financial Freedom’s summary judgment motion on May 6, 2009, and entered judgment on June 3, 2009. Judge Davis did not enter judgment on the remaining claims until August 17, 2009, over two months after Financial Freedom obtained a judgment decreeing that the Association “shall recover nothing, and shall obtain no relief, as against defendant Financial Freedom, in this action.” Judge Davis’s judgment also came after the Association appealed Judge Woolard’s judgment in Financial Freedom’s favor. Despite that final decree, and its appeal, Judge Davis issued a judgment granting the Association relief against Financial Freedom. Judge Davis voided Financial Freedom’s deed of trust as to one-half of the property and gave the Association priority over Financial Freedom on that half. This, too, was error.

(7) Judge Woolard properly entered judgment for Financial Freedom in this multiple defendant action after adjudicating the single cause of action stated against it. (Nguyen v. Calhoun (2003) 105 Cal.App.4th 428, 437.) “A judgment is the final determination of the rights of the parties in an action or proceeding.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 577, italics added.) “It is elementary that where a tribunal has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter, the jurisdiction continues until a final judgment is entered. . . .” (Riley v. Superior Court (1957) 49 Cal.2d 305, 309, italics added.) The court lost jurisdiction over Financial Freedom once judgment was entered in its favor, and thus had no power to void its property interest in the condominium unit.

Therefore, we must reverse the judgment entered by Judge Davis and remand the case with directions to enter a judgment affecting the rights only of those defendants properly before it: homeowners Williams and Crosby and judgment creditor Hassen & Associates. The judgment shall not invalidate any part of Financial Freedom’s deed of trust or otherwise impair its interests in the property.

C. The trial court was correct in ruling that Financial Freedom is not entitled to attorney fees

(8) Attorney fees incurred to enforce a contract are recoverable by the party prevailing on the contract if the contract specifically provides for such [306] recovery. (Civ. Code, § 1717.) The Diamond Heights Village CC&R’s contain several attorney fee provisions. The CC&R’s state that the Association may maintain a lawsuit against a unit owner for delinquent assessments, and that any judgment against the owner shall include an award of reasonable attorney fees. The Association is also entitled to attorney fees, according to the CC&R’s, in a court action to foreclose assessment liens. The CC&R’s also contain a general attorney fee provision, which states that the Association, or any owner, has the right to enforce the CC&R’s and is entitled to recover attorney fees in such an action.

The Association, in its foreclosure cause of action against the homeowners, Financial Freedom, and judgment creditor Hassen & Associates, included in its complaint a plea for an award of contractual attorney fees against the homeowners. The Association did not request attorney fees against Financial Freedom. Nevertheless, Financial Freedom filed a motion for contractual attorney fees after obtaining summary judgment in its favor. The court denied the motion, and Financial Freedom challenges that denial on appeal. The trial court was correct.

Civil Code section 1717, subdivision (a) provides in pertinent part that “[i]n any action on a contract, where the contract specifically provides that attorney’s fees and costs, which are incurred to enforce that contract, shall be awarded either to one of the parties or to the prevailing party, then the party who is determined to be the party prevailing on the contract, whether he or she is the party specified in the contract or not, shall be entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees in addition to other costs.”

(9) Civil Code “[s]ection 1717 was enacted to establish mutuality of remedy where [a] contractual provision makes recovery of attorney’s fees available for only one party [citations], and to prevent oppressive use of one-sided attorney’s fees provisions.” (Reynolds Metals Co. v. Alperson (1979) 25 Cal.3d 124, 128.) In this case, for example, the attorney fee provision in the CC&R’s entitling the Association to attorney fees if it prevailed in an action against a condominium unit owner would reciprocally entitle the owner to fees should he or she prevail.

Civil Code section 1717 is also interpreted “to further provide a reciprocal remedy for a nonsignatory defendant, sued on a contract as if he were a party to it, when a plaintiff would clearly be entitled to attorney’s fees should he prevail in enforcing the contractual obligation against the defendant.” (Reynolds Metals Co. v. Alperson, supra, 25 Cal.3d at p. 128.) Thus, a [307] defendant who did not sign the contract containing the fee provision was held to be entitled to attorney fees where the defendant was unsuccessfully sued as an alleged coventurer bound by the contract. (Ibid.) Had the plaintiff in that case prevailed on its claim, the defendant would have had to pay the plaintiff’s attorney fees. (Ibid.) The court reasoned that the defendant therefore had a reciprocal right to fees when she prevailed. (Id. at p. 129.)

These principles do not aid Financial Freedom because the Association did not sue Financial Freedom under the CC&R’s, never sought fees against Financial Freedom under the CC&R’s, and was not entitled to fees against Financial Freedom had the Association prevailed. Civil Code section 1717 covers signatories to a contract containing a fee provision and those who are sued as alleged parties to the contract or otherwise alleged to be bound by its terms. The Association never alleged that Financial Freedom was bound by the CC&R’s. The Association included Financial Freedom in the cause of action for judicial foreclosure of liens because Financial Freedom claimed a senior lien that the Association disputed. The action between the Association and Financial Freedom rested upon a legal question as to lien priority, not contractual enforcement of the CC&R’s.

Financial Freedom argues that it is nevertheless entitled to fees because “as a practical matter” Financial Freedom, and not the legally liable homeowners, would have had to bear the cost of the fees if the Association prevailed against the owners. Financial Freedom reasons as follows: if the Association prevailed on its judicial foreclosure claim and assertion of lien priority, the Association would have been entitled to fees against the homeowners under the CC&R’s. Those fees, as a debt of the homeowners, would have been paid to the Association from the sale proceeds before Financial Freedom, as a junior lienholder on half the property, received any proceeds (or Financial Freedom would have to pay the Association’s secured debt and fees to protect Financial Freedom’s property interest and avoid foreclosure of the property). Financial Freedom argues that this collateral economic consequence of a foreclosure action entitles it to fees.

Financial Freedom’s argument relies upon Saucedo v. Mercury Sav. & Loan Assn.(1980) 111 Cal.App.3d 309 (Saucedo). In Saucedo, home buyers took the property subject to an existing loan secured by a deed of trust. (Id. at p. 311.) The deed holder refused to allow the purchasers to assume the loan without paying a transfer fee and increased interest, and threatened to enforce a due-on-sale clause requiring full payment of the loan. (Ibid.) The purchasers filed a successful suit to enjoin the deed holder from [308] enforcing the due-on-sale clause, and the court held that they were entitled to attorney fees. (Id. at pp. 312, 315.) The court found that the purchasers would not have been liable for fees had the deed holder prevailed because the loan note was between the deed holder and prior owner but also found that “as a . . . practical matter” the purchasers would have to pay off the secured debt, including attorney fees, if they wanted to prevent foreclosure and retain their home. (Id. at p. 315.) The court concluded that “[t]his practical `liability’ of the nonassuming grantee [purchaser] is sufficient to call into play the remedial reciprocity established by Civil Code section 1717.” (Ibid.) Since the purchasers would, “as a real and practical matter” be required to pay attorney fees incurred by the deed holder to prevent foreclosure, the purchasers were entitled to recover attorney fees when they prevailed in a declaratory relief action that forestalled foreclosure. (Ibid.)

There are distinguishing points between Saucedo and this case. A central point of distinction is that the purchasers who recovered fees in Saucedo were the successors in interest to the property subject to the promissory note containing the disputed due-on-sale clause and fee provision. (See Leach v. Home Savings & Loan Assn. (1986) 185 Cal.App.3d 1295, 1304-1306 [distinguishing and limiting Saucedo].) Here, the Association and Financial Freedom are complete strangers to each other, and the dispute rests upon the priority of competing security interests established by separate documents (an assessment lien and a deed of trust). The case resembles Clar v. Cacciola (1987) 193 Cal.App.3d 1032, 1037-1039 more than it resembles Saucedo, supra, 111 Cal.App.3d at page 315. In Clar, this District Court of Appeal refused to extend the reciprocal attorney fee provision of Civil Code section 1717 where the parties advanced competing claims on the priority of two deeds of trust. (Clar, supra, at pp. 1038-1039.) The prevailing defendants in Clar claimed a right to recover attorney fees because, had they lost, the plaintiffs’ attorney fees would have been added to the secured debt under the terms of the deed of trust, which the defendants would have had to pay “to prevent foreclosure and protect their equity in the property.” (Id. at p. 1037.) The court held that the defendants’ potential obligation to pay fees was too speculative. (Id. at pp. 1037-1038.)

(10) Likewise, Financial Freedom’s claim for attorney fees stretches Civil Code section 1717 too far. The statute is meant to prevent “oppressive use of one-sided attorney’s fees provisions” (Reynolds Metals Co. v. Alperson, supra, 25 Cal.3d at p. 128), not to abolish the general rule that each party pay its own attorney fees. It is one thing to grant nonsignatories the right to attorney fees where they are sued as if they were contracting parties liable for fees or otherwise held to the terms of the contract, and quite another to grant nonsignatories the right to attorney fees where no legal liability for fees was ever asserted and only an attenuated economic impact is threatened. The “practical liability” approach advocated by Financial Freedom is fraught with [309] peril. As one commentator has noted, “[i]n practical liability . . . cases, courts must make very fact specific analyses about the prevailing party’s potential liability had [he or] she lost. Nearly identical factual circumstances could yield entirely different results. The danger with analyzing the prevailing party’s practical liability is subjectivity and lack of guidelines for the courts to follow.” (Miller, Attorneys’ Fees for Contractual Non-Signatories Under California Civil Code Section 1717: A Remedy in Search of a Rationale (1995) 32 San Diego L.Rev. 535, 578-579, fn. omitted.) We decline Financial Freedom’s invitation to embark on this course.

D. The Association was entitled to attorney fees against the homeowners

As noted earlier, claims against the remaining defendants were tried after defendant Financial Freedom obtained summary judgment. Following that trial, the court awarded the Association, as the prevailing party, attorney fees against defendant homeowners Williams and Crosby under the CC&R’s and a statute authorizing fee recovery in a condominium association’s action to collect delinquent assessments. (Civ. Code, §§ 1717, 1366, subd. (e)(1).) Financial Freedom does not deny the validity of these fee provisions but argues that fees should have been denied in this instance because “as a practical matter” Financial Freedom as a junior lienor on one-half of the foreclosed property, not the homeowners, will bear the economic impact of the fee award. We again note our reluctance to embrace the practical liability approach to Civil Code section 1717 but have no occasion to discuss it further here. We are reversing the judgment to the extent that it voided Financial Freedom’s senior lienor status on the property, and thus no adverse economic impact attends the court’s order awarding fees to the Association against the homeowners. Financial Freedom’s objection to the fee award is therefore moot.

III. DISPOSITION

The June 3, 2009 judgment in favor of Financial Freedom is affirmed. The August 17, 2009 judgment in favor of the Association is reversed to the extent that it voided, in whole or part, Financial Freedom’s deed of trust on the property. The case is remanded with directions to amend the judgment consistent with the views expressed in this opinion, and to permit Financial Freedom an opportunity to address the court concerning amendment at any hearing conducted on the matter.

The September 24, 2009 order denying Financial Freedom attorney fees against the Association is affirmed. The February 8, 2010 order granting the Association attorney fees against Williams and Crosby is affirmed.

[310] The parties shall bear their own costs and attorney fees incurred on these appeals.

Ruvolo, P. J., and Rivera, J., concurred.


 

[1] Monetary amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar in this opinion.

[2] The title report did list an abstract of judgment in favor of Hassen & Associates in the amount of $6,438 that was recorded in 1996. On appeal, it is undisputed that Hassen & Associates has a judgment lien superior to the secured interest of the Association and Financial Freedom.

[3] To ensure financeability of condominiums, most CC&R’s “provide that the association’s lien is subordinate to the lien of any first deed of trust” regardless of when recorded, and Financial Freedom argued as an alternative basis for summary judgment that the CC&R’s here are no exception. (Common Interest Communities, supra, § 5.46 p. 339, italics added; see generally 9 Miller & Starr, Cal. Real Estate (3d ed. 2001) §§ 25B:92, 25C:57, pp. 25B-181 to 25B-185, 25C-182 to 25C-183 (rel. 10/2007) [hereafter, Cal. Real Estate].) We resolve the summary judgment on the ground adopted by the trial court and thus do not reach that issue.

[4] As yet another alternative basis for summary judgment, Financial Freedom argued that the Association’s 2007 action to foreclose on the 2000 and 2001 liens was time-barred. (See Cause of Action to Enforce Condominium Assessment (1989) 20 Causes of Action 827, § 9, accessible on Westlaw, database updated Sept. 2010 [assessment liens subject to statute of limitations].) We need not reach that issue.

Barry v. OC Residential Properties

(2011) 194 Cal.App.4th 861

[Foreclosure; Redemption Price] When a property is sold through nonjudicial foreclosure of an assessment lien, the redemption price may include maintenance and repair expenses incurred by the purchaser during the redemption period that were reasonable necessary for the preservation of the property.

Law Offices of David A. Elwell and David A. Elwell for Plaintiff and Appellant.
Law Offices of Steven D. Silverstein and Steven D. Silverstein for Defendant and Respondent.

OPINION
RYLAARSDAM, Acting P. J.-

Plaintiff Shelby E. Barry filed a petition in the superior court to determine the redemption price for her unit in a common interest development that defendant OC Residential Properties, LLC had acquired at a nonjudicial foreclosure sale. (Civ. Code, § 1367.1, subd. (g); Code Civ. Proc., § 729.070, subd. (a).) The trial court ruled the amount due was $18,148.71, a sum that included over $17,900 in expenses defendant paid for maintenance and repair work on the unit after the foreclosure sale, an electric bill, and interest on the foreclosure sale purchase price. Plaintiff challenges the inclusion of these sums in the redemption price and the constitutionality of the procedure for determining the amount she needed to pay to redeem the property. Finding no error, we shall affirm the order.

FACTS

In 1977, plaintiff acquired a unit in a common interest development. Over the years, she leased the unit to others.[865]

Plaintiff failed to pay the monthly association fee. In June 2008, Associated Lien Services, the trustee under an October 2006 lien recorded by the homeowners association, issued a notice of trustee’s sale. According to the notice, “the unpaid balance of the obligation secured by the property,” plus costs, exceeded $10,000. Initially, the sale was scheduled for July 2008 but it was continued until June 17, 2009.

On the latter date, defendant purchased the unit at the foreclosure sale for $66,092.60. The sale was subject to plaintiff’s right of redemption.

At the time of the foreclosure sale the unit was vacant. In a declaration supporting her petition, plaintiff claimed her “last tenant made substantial improvements” and the property was “in a condition such that I could re-rent it” with only some “minimal cleaning . . . .”

After purchasing the unit at the foreclosure sale, defendant paid a locksmith $336.11 to change the locks. One of its employees claimed, “Upon entering the . . . property on 6/17/09, . . . [defendant] discovered the property in need of repair and rehabilitation.”

Between June 22 and July 2 defendant: (1) paid a pest control company $800 to repair termite damage to the unit; (2) hired a contractor to make repairs, paying $16,800 for the work; and (3) paid an electricity bill for $17.15.

In her declaration, plaintiff claimed that, on July 3, she had a locksmith replace the locks. She also asserted “[a]n inspection of [the] property was made at that time which disclosed . . . the work undertaken by [defendant] was not complete,” and the unit “could not be rented in the condition it was in.”

The trustee sent plaintiff a letter enclosing a schedule showing the balance due to redeem the unit was $29,548.71 after deducting nearly $57,900 then held in trust. The schedule included the sums mentioned above, plus two months homeowners’ association assessments, taxes, collection costs, and $770 for two months’ interest on defendant’s purchase price. Plaintiff objected to including the repair expenses, utility payment, and interest in the redemption price. She deposited $11,500 with the trustee and filed the current petition for a judicial determination of the amount owed.

After a hearing, the court issued an order declaring “the additional amount required to redeem the property total[ed] $18,148.71,” constituting the difference between plaintiff’s deposit and the balance claimed by the trustee. In part, the court found plaintiff “failed to meet her burden of proof to show that[866]the work performed was not for the reasonable maintenance, upkeep, and repair of improvements on the property.” Although not supported by the appellate record, plaintiff’s opening brief asserts she timely paid the additional sum due and redeemed the unit.

DISCUSSION

1. Introduction

Generally, there is no right of redemption in nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings. (Alliance Mortgage Co. v. Rothwell (1995) 10 Cal.4th 1226, 1236.) But this case involves the foreclosure of a unit in a common interest development that resulted from plaintiff’s failure to pay the homeowner association’s monthly assessment for maintenance and preservation of the development’s common areas. (Civ. Code, §§ 1367, subd. (a); 1367.1, subd. (g) [association may enforce lien for delinquent assessments through “sale by . . . trustee”].) Code of Civil Procedure section 729.035 declares, “Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the sale of a separate interest in a common interest development is subject to the right of redemption . . . if the sale arises from a foreclosure by the association of a common interest development pursuant to subdivision (g) of [s]ection 1367.1 of the Civil Code . . . .” (See also Civ. Code, § 1367.4, subd. (c)(4) [“A nonjudicial foreclosure by an association to collect upon a debt for delinquent assessments shall be subject to a right of redemption”].)

Code of Civil Procedure section 729.060, subdivision (a) requires “[a] person who seeks to redeem the property [to] deposit the redemption price with the levying officer who conducted the sale before the expiration of the redemption period.” Subdivision (b) of this statute defines the redemption price as “the total of the following amounts . . . . [¶] (1) The purchase price at the sale. [¶] (2) The amount of any assessments or taxes and reasonable amounts for fire insurance, maintenance, upkeep, and repair of improvements on the property. [¶] (3) Any amount paid by the purchaser on a prior obligation secured by the property to the extent that the payment was necessary for the protection of the purchaser’s interest. [¶] (4) Interest on the amounts described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) . . . .” In addition, subdivision (c) of Code of Civil Procedure section 729.060 authorizes an offset to the redeeming party for “[r]ents and profits from the property paid to the purchaser or the value of the use and occupation of the property to the purchaser . . . .”

[1] After the trustee notified plaintiff of the amount required to redeem the property, she challenged it by filing a petition under Code of Civil Procedure section 729.070. This statute creates a procedure allowing one[867]“seeking to redeem the property [who] disagree[s with] the redemption price” to petition “the court for an order determining the redemption price . . . .” (Code Civ. Proc., § 729.070, subd. (a).) The statute requires a hearing on the petition at which “the person seeking to redeem the property has the burden of proof.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 729.070, subds. (c), (e).) “At the conclusion of the hearing, the court shall determine by order the amount required to redeem the property” based “upon affidavit or evidence satisfactory to the court” and, “[i]f an amount in addition to that deposited with the levying officer is required to redeem the property, the person seeking to redeem shall” have “10 days after the issuance of the order[ to] pay the additional amount . . . .” (Code Civ. Proc., § 729.070, subds. (f), (g).)

The trial court ruled against plaintiff, finding she had not met her burden of proof to show the redemption price demanded by the trustee exceeded the legally permitted amount or that she entitled to an offset.

2. Due Process

Plaintiff attacks the constitutionality of the redemption procedure created by Code of Civil Procedure section 729.070. She claims defendant’s “conduct [in entering the unit] prevented [her] from describing the [property’s] condition” and therefore the statute “does not afford a meaningful hearing for [a] . . . homeowner to meet her[] burden of proof.”

[2] Both the United States Constitution and the California Constitution guarantee no one may be deprived of his or her property “‘without due process of law.'” (Morongo Band of Mission Indians v. State Water Resources Control Bd. (2009) 45 Cal.4th 731, 736.) In civil proceedings, this guarantee includes the right to have a matter decided by a tribunal having jurisdiction of the action that is free of bias and conducts a full hearing on the matter after the parties have been given notice of the proceeding and an opportunity to appear and participate in it. (7 Witkin, Summary of Cal. Law (10th ed. 2005) Constitutional Law, §§ 640-642, pp. 1041-1044; 2 Witkin, Cal. Proc. (5th ed. 2008) Jurisdiction, §§ 302-304, 307-308, pp. 914-916, 918-921.) “When the Constitution requires a hearing, it requires a fair one, one before a tribunal which meets established standards of procedure. . . . Procedure is the fair, orderly, and deliberate method by which matters are litigated. To judge in a contested proceeding implies the hearing of evidence from both sides in open court, a comparison of the merits of the evidence of each side, a conclusion from the evidence of where the truth lies, application of the appropriate laws to the facts found, and the rendition of a judgment accordingly.” (Estate of Buchman (1954) 123 Cal.App.2d 546, 560.)[868]

[3] Plaintiff’s argument is meritless. She does not claim the trustee failed to give her notice of her default or the impending nonjudicial foreclosure sale resulting from her failure to pay monthly homeowner assessments. After the foreclosure sale, she admittedly received an itemized notice of the amount needed to redeem the property. The procedure created by Code of Civil Procedure section 729.070 afforded her a means to challenge the amount demanded by the trustee with a noticed hearing before an unbiased judicial tribunal where she was allowed to present evidence and argument on the issue.

Plaintiff claims this procedure fails to “safeguard[] . . . the right to discovery” and she was not given a chance to document the condition of the premises before defendant entered and began making modifications to the unit. But she also acknowledged her last tenant vacated the premises before the foreclosure sale, thereby giving her possession of the premises to inspect and document the unit’s habitable condition. There is no explanation of why plaintiff could not have obtained a declaration from the former tenant or photographically documented the condition of the premises when the last tenancy ended.

[4] Nor did defendant engage in wrongdoing when it entered the unit. By statute, it had the right “from the time of sale until redemption . . . to enter the property during reasonable hours to repair and maintain the premises . . . .” (Code Civ. Proc., § 729.090, subd. (c).) Thus, we reject plaintiff’s denial of due process claim.

3. Defendant’s Right to Enter and Repair the Unit

Next, plaintiff repeats her argument defendant acted as a trespasser, claiming it failed to contact her before having a locksmith change the locks and then engage a contractor to perform work that prepared the property for sale.

Plaintiff acknowledges Code of Civil Procedure section 729.090, subdivision (c) authorizes the purchaser at a foreclosure sale to enter the property “to repair and maintain the premises . . . .” While this statute limits entry to “reasonable hours” (ibid.), nothing in the statute required defendant to notify plaintiff or seek her cooperation. In addition, when the foreclosure sale occurred the unit was admittedly vacant and plaintiff had not shown any interest in recovering the property.

After entry, defendant began rehabilitating the unit with the intention of reselling it. Contrary to plaintiff’s claim, this effort did not alter the unit’s intended use. For that reason, plaintiff’s reliance on Dwyer v. Carroll (1890)[869]86 Cal. 298 is unpersuasive. There a landlord reentered the leased premises, a building used as a hotel, purportedly to make needed repairs to the first floor. Instead, the landlord raised the building’s foundation several feet and added a cellar and a new floor, thereby requiring the plaintiff and his lodgers to vacate the premises. Here, the unit was vacant when defendant entered and the work performed by it was to make the unit habitable. Thus, whether occupied by a third-party purchaser or a tenant, in either case the unit would be employed for the same purpose, habitation.

4. The Sums Charged for the Unit’s Maintenance, Upkeep, and Repair

Next, plaintiff presents a series of arguments attacking the amount awarded to defendant for the work performed on the unit before she retook possession of it.

[5] One claim is that the trial court erred by not imposing the burden of proof to establish the reasonableness of the repair costs on defendant. Plaintiff cites several policy reasons why defendant should carry the proof burden. But, as she acknowledges, under Evidence Code section 500, “[e]xcept as otherwise provided by law, a party has the burden of proof as to each fact the existence or nonexistence of which is essential to the claim for relief or defense that he [or she] is asserting.” Here, Code of Civil Procedure section 729.070, subdivision (e) expressly provides “[a]t the hearing on the petition, the person seeking to redeem the property has the burden of proof.” Thus, by statute the Legislature has declared the party challenging a trustee’s stated redemption price carries the burden to establish the validity of its objections to the disputed amounts.

Plaintiff’s second claim concerns the license status of Axcell Construction, the contractor defendant hired to repair and rehabilitate the unit. In support of her petition, plaintiff submitted evidence Axcell’s license was suspended at the time it worked on the unit. She argues defendant “cannot pass on [to her] an unlawful obligation for payments made to the unlicensed contractor . . . .” We disagree with this interpretation of the applicable law.

[6] Business and Professions Code section 7031, subdivision (a) declares “no person engaged in the business or acting in the capacity of a contractor, may bring or maintain any action . . . for the collection of compensation for the performance of any act or contract where a license is required by this chapter without alleging that he or she was a duly licensed contractor at all times during the performance of that act or contract, regardless of the merits of the cause of action brought by the person . . . .” While “[g]enerally a contract made in violation of a regulatory statute is void” and “courts will not ‘”lend their aid to the enforcement of an illegal agreement or one against[870]public policy”‘” (Asdourian v. Araj (1985) 38 Cal.3d 276, 291), “‘the rule is not an inflexible one to be applied in its fullest rigor under any and all circumstances. A wide range of exceptions has been recognized.’ [Citation]” (ibid.).

[7] “It is not the law that every transaction connected with an illegal transaction is itself illegal. Each case must turn on its own facts. The purpose of the statute which has been violated must be considered. In that connection, the court should consider whether a holding that the collateral transaction is illegal will tend to assist or defeat the main purpose of the statute. . . . [¶] This principle is stated . . . as follows: ‘If refusal to enforce or to rescind an illegal bargain would produce a harmful effect on parties for whose protection the law making the bargain illegal exists, enforcement or rescission, whichever is appropriate, is allowed.'” (Robertson v. Hyde (1943) 58 Cal.App.2d 667, 672.)

[8] Cases have recognized “causes of action that do not seek ‘the collection of compensation for the performance of any act or contract for which a license is required’ are beyond the scope of Business and Professions Code section 7031.” (Holland v. Morse Diesel Internat., Inc. (2001) 86 Cal.App.4th 1443, 1451.) This case does not involve a collection action by Axcell for the cost of its work. Rather, defendant sought reimbursement from plaintiff for expenses it incurred to maintain and make repairs to the unit, including the amount it paid to Axcell. Thus, the sum claimed is in the nature of indemnification for one who paid by another who in justice should pay. (See Ranchwood Communities Limted Partnership v. Jim Beat Construction (1996) 49 Cal.App.4th 1397, 1421 [“total ban on . . . liability for equitable indemnity, arising from a too-strict interpretation of the licensing law, would be a windfall and would not be within the protective purpose of the licensing statute”].)

Finally, plaintiff claims defendant is barred from recovering the repair and maintenance expenses because it “was creating a new thing, i.e., rehabilitating a rental unit for sale.” This argument essentially amounts to an attack on the sufficiency of the evidence to support the trial court’s decision. “‘It is well established that a reviewing court starts with the presumption that the record contains evidence to sustain every finding of fact.’ [Citations.]” (Foreman & Clark Corp. v. Fallon (1971) 3 Cal.3d 875, 881.) Consequently, “‘[w]hen a finding of fact is attacked on the ground that there is not any substantial evidence to sustain it, the power of an appellate courtbeginsandendswith the determination as to whether there is any substantial evidence contradicted or uncontradicted which will support the finding of fact.’ [Citations.]” (Ibid.) The same rule applies “whether the[871]trial court’s ruling is based on oral testimony or declarations. [Citation.]” (Shamblin v. Brattain (1988) 44 Cal.3d 474, 479, fn. omitted.)

[9] As a general rule “the mortgagee may make such repairs as are reasonably necessary for the preservation of the property, but not permanent improvements, or things which conduced merely to his comfort or convenience. [Citations.]” (Raynor v. Drew (1887) 72 Cal. 307, 312.) “‘The ordinary rule in respect to improvements is that the mortgagee will not be allowed for them further than is proper to keep the premises in necessary repair. Unreasonable improvements may be of benefit to the estate; but, unless made with the consent and approbation of the mortgagor, no allowance can be made for them. The mortgagee has no right to impose them upon the owner, and thereby increase the burden of redeeming.’ [Citation.]” (Malone v. Roy (1895) 107 Cal. 518, 523.)

Defendant’s opposition to the petition included the declaration of Toby Strassenberg, one of its project managers. It stated he “personally evaluated the extent of damage” to the unit, concluding it was “in need of repair and rehabilitation.” In part, the repair work resulted from the discovery of substantial termite damage. He also claimed, the “repairs made were necessary to prevent further damage to the property . . . .”

Referring to her claim repairs “necessary to ‘maintain’ the property as a rental unit” are distinguishable from repairs rehabilitating the unit for the purpose of a resale, plaintiff claims “no conflict appeared in the evidence before the trial court.” While it may be true defendant made the repairs with the intent of reselling the unit, as discussed above, the distinction between one living in the unit as an owner and one living in it as a tenant, insofar as the right of redemption is concerned, amounts to a distinction without a difference.

Thus, plaintiff has failed to establish the trial court erred by awarding defendant the entire amount expended in the effort to repair and maintain the unit after acquiring it at the foreclosure sale.

5. Denial of Plaintiff’s Request for an Offset

Finally, noting the repair work begun by defendant “was not complete at the date of the hearing” on her petition and claiming “the amount to complete the work” would exceed the $770 in interest awarded to defendant as part of the redemption price, plaintiff argues awarding this amount to defendant would be inequitable.[872]

[10] Code of Civil Procedure section 729.060, subdivision (b)(1) and (4) expressly provides “[i]nterest on” “[t]he purchase price at the sale” constitutes an element of the redemption price. The statute allows an offset to one seeking to redeem the property only for “[r]ents and profits from the property paid to the purchaser or the value of the use and occupation of the property to the purchaser . . . .” (Code Civ. Proc., § 729.060, subd. (c).) As discussed above, defendant presented evidence supporting a finding substantial repairs were needed to make the inhabitable. Consequently, the unit was not available for occupation while it was being rehabilitated. In addition, defendant’s failure to complete the repair work resulted from plaintiff’s repossession of the unit while the work was in progress. Therefore, we reject plaintiff’s offset claim as well.

DISPOSITION

The order is affirmed. Respondent shall recover its costs on appeal.

O’Leary, J., and Moore, J., concurred.


FN *. Pursuant to Cal. Const., art. VI, § 21.

Multani v. Witkin & Neal

(2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 1428

[Assessment Collection; Redemption Rights] A nonjudicial foreclosure sale may be set aside where a HOA fails to notify the foreclosed owner of his/her redemption rights after the foreclosure sale.

Law office of Gary Kurtz and Gary Kurtz for Plaintiffs and Appellants.
Richardson Harman Ober, Kelly G. Richardson and Brian D. Moreno for Defendants and Respondents.

OPINION

ZELON, J.

INTRODUCTION

The Castle Green Homeowners Association notified Afshan and Rahim Multani that they were delinquent in paying their monthly assessment fees. After the Multanis disputed the debt, the association conducted a nonjudicial foreclosure sale of their condominium unit. The Multanis sued to set aside the foreclosure alleging irregularities in the sale notices and procedure. They further alleged that the association and its agents had committed tortious acts during the foreclosure process.

Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment or adjudication arguing that the court should dismiss the foreclosure claims because plaintiffs had actual knowledge of the foreclosure proceedings and failed to exercise their postsale right of redemption. Defendants also argued that plaintiffs’ tort claims were untimely and predicated on privileged conduct related to the foreclosure process. The court granted the motion.

We reverse the trial court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims seeking to set aside the foreclosure sale, concluding that defendants failed to demonstrate that they notified the plaintiffs of their right of redemption as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 729.050.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Summary of Plaintiffs’ Complaint

1. Plaintiffs’ factual allegations

In January of 2010, plaintiffs Afshan and Rahim Multani filed a complaint against the Castle Green Homeowners Association (the Association) and [1435] numerous other parties arising from a foreclosure of the Multanis’ condominium unit.[1] The complaint alleged that, in 1998, plaintiffs had purchased a condominium unit in the “Castle Greens” building in Pasadena, California. Plaintiffs obtained financing to purchase the unit from Chase Bank, who later transferred the loan to IndyMac Bank.

In 2005, Rahim Multani returned from an overseas trip and was informed by the Association and its agents, LB Property Management and SBS Lien Services, that he was delinquent in paying his homeowner assessment fees. Although Multani paid the delinquent fees, he received a letter from SBS in August of 2005 alleging that he still owed approximately $2,000 in fees and costs. Multani met with SBS and issued a payment of $743.16 that was never credited to his account. In October, Multani attempted to pay the Association his monthly assessment but was told that the account had been referred to SBS “for collection.” One month later, the Association, acting through SBS, recorded a notice of delinquent assessment against the property in the amount of $3,317, which consisted of $2,229 in unpaid assessments and an additional $1,087 in attorney’s fees, costs, late fees and interest.

Throughout 2006, Multani and the Association continued to “disput[e] the validity of the amount … owed….” In February of 2007, Multani received a notice of sale informing him that the Association “intended to enforce the lien created by the November … recording of the Notice of Assessment by selling the Subject Property on March 27, 2007.” The Association alleged that Multani now owed almost $12,000 in assessment fees and costs. Although Multani disputed the Association’s accounting, he agreed to pay the full amount and the Association released the assessment lien.

Shortly after the lien was released, Multani contacted the Association and “requested that his account be given … credit f[or] … previously non-credited payments.” Between April and July of 2007, Multani continued to make his “required monthly assessment payments, but was never given the credit due on the account.” In February of 2008, the Association recorded a second notice of delinquent assessment lien against the property and, in June, recorded a “Notice of Default and Lien.” Six months later, on December 5, 2008, the Association and its trustee, Witkin & Neal, “set a sale date of the property to take place on January 27, 2009.” Multani “sent a letter disputing the validity of the amount owed” and requested alternative dispute resolution. The Association did not respond.

[1436] On January 5, 2009, “Indymac [Bank], the lender and beneficiary of the senior deed of trust [on the condominium unit], mistakenly instructed their [sic] trustee to foreclose … on the property.” Plaintiffs immediately filed a wrongful foreclosure action and IndyMac agreed to issue a notice of rescission of foreclosure, which was recorded on April 28, 2009. Plaintiffs contended that IndyMac’s actions had effectively “extinguish[ed] [the Association’s] lien and its Notice of Trustee’s Sale,” thereby requiring the Association to reinitiate the foreclosure process by recording a new lien.

The Association, however, elected to proceed and directed Witkin & Neal to record the notice of trustee sale set for January 27, 2009. In May of 2009, Multani informed the president of the Association, Randy Banks, that he “ha[d] been trying for some time to correct and rectify what seemed an impossible task of getting a [sic] accurate accounting on Plaintiffs’ account and getting the proper credits that were due.” Banks told Multani that he was unaware of the accounting discrepancies and would “provide assistance … with the outstanding issues regarding the [improper] Association assessments.”

Despite these assurances, on May 21, 2009, the Association placed a notice on the door of the Multanis’ condominium stating that they owed $13,640 for delinquent assessments and costs. Shortly after the notice was posted, the Multanis’ tenants informed them that the locks on the condominium unit had been changed. When Multani arrived at Castle Green to investigate the matter, he was met by Banks, who said that he had contacted the police and that Multani would be arrested if he did not leave the premises. Although Multani informed the responding officers that he was the legal owner of the condominium, he was forced to leave the building. Between May and October of 2009, Banks and other Association members continued to “harass[] Plaintiffs’ tenants,” causing them to vacate the condominium.

On July 23, 2009, the Association conducted a foreclosure sale of the Multanis’ condominium, which was purchased by ProValue Properties. Although the “property was estimated to be valued at approximately $400,000,” ProValue paid only $20,400, subject to IndyMac Bank’s $75,000 deed of trust. The Association and its trustee never notified the Multanis that the sale had been postponed from January 27 to July 23, nor did they provide any notice after the sale was completed.

In October of 2009, the Multanis signed a lease with new tenants who moved into the condominium. However, on November 19, the Multanis received a courtesy copy of an unlawful detainer complaint from the Los Angeles Superior Court stating that (1) a nonjudicial foreclosure of the condominium had occurred on July 23, 2009; (2) although originally scheduled to occur on January 27, 2009, the Association’s trustee had “from time [1437] to time postponed” the sale until July 23; and (3) a trustee deed of sale had been recorded on October 24, 2009, which was 90 days after the plaintiffs’ “right to redemption” had expired. Prior to receiving the unlawful detainer complaint, the plaintiffs were unaware of the foreclosure sale.

In November and December of 2009, ProValue repeatedly changed the locks on the condominium unit. Multani and his tenants had several disputes with ProValue, culminating in an altercation on December 17, 2009. Based on misrepresentations made by ProValue, the Pasadena police told Multani that he had to vacate the condominium by the end of the weekend or he would be arrested for trespassing. After being repeatedly harassed and threatened with arrest, Multani finally relinquished possession of the unit and elected to file a lawsuit against the Association, its agents — Witkin & Neal, SBS Lien Services and LB Property Management — and numerous other parties, including ProValue.

2. Summary of plaintiffs’ claims

The Multanis’ complaint asserted numerous claims seeking to set aside the foreclosure, including quiet title, wrongful foreclosure, rescission and declaratory relief. The Multanis alleged that the foreclosure was improper because the Association and its agents (collectively defendants) had failed to properly serve the notice of trustee sale or comply with other procedural requirements mandated under Civil Code section 2924 et seq. Plaintiffs also alleged that defendants had failed to comply with “Civil Code section 1367 et seq.,” which imposes additional procedural requirements on nonjudicial foreclosures conducted by homeowner associations for delinquent assessment fees. More specifically, plaintiffs alleged that defendants “failed to provide alternate dispute resolution as required by [Civil Code section 1367.4].” The Multanis further asserted that all of defendants’ foreclosure notices had been “effectively voided” when “Indymac Bank … conducted their non-judicial foreclosure sale of January 2009 and recorded the Deed Upon Sale.”

In addition to the foreclosure claims, the complaint alleged several tort claims based on defendants’ actions during the foreclosure process. Plaintiffs asserted claims for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and intentional infliction of emotional distress alleging that defendants had (1) “intentionally mixed up the accounting of Plaintiffs’ dues, imposed unwarranted dues and other charges, and confused Plaintiffs as to what was actually going on by repeated filings of notices, liens, and releases of liens by Defendants”; (2) “intentionally did not properly credit Plaintiffs’ account so as to further extract additional monies in the form of collections costs, attorneys fees and late penalties”; and (3) “conspired to conduct a [nonjudicial foreclosure] sale without any notice to prevent Plaintiffs from opposing such sale.”

[1438] The complaint also asserted claims for interference with contractual relations and interference with prospective economic advantage, which were predicated on defendants’ harassment of plaintiff’s condominium tenants. The complaint listed numerous additional statutory claims based on similar conduct, including violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, § 51 et seq.), violation of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Civ. Code, § 1788 et seq.), violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) (18 U.S.C § 1961 et seq.) and unfair business practices.

B. Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment or Summary Adjudication

1. Defendants’ motion and supporting evidence

a. Summary of motion for summary judgment or adjudication

In June of 2011, the Association and its agents filed a motion for summary judgment or, alternatively, summary adjudication. First, defendants asserted that the undisputed evidence showed the Multanis had “violated the `tender rule’ by failing to tender the full amount before the foreclosure sale.” Second, defendants argued that they had provided evidence demonstrating substantial compliance with all statutory notice requirements. Third, defendants contended that plaintiffs were not harmed by any alleged procedural irregularity because they had actual notice that the foreclosure sale was scheduled to occur on January 27, 2009. Fourth, defendants argued that, pursuant to Civil Code section 1058.5, IndyMac Bank’s rescinded January 5th foreclosure had no effect on the Association’s foreclosure.[2]

As to plaintiffs’ tort claims, defendants argued that all of the conduct alleged in the complaint was related to the “processing of [a] … foreclosure” and was therefore “covered by the Civil Code Section 47(b) absolute privilege.” The Association also argued that the allegations in the complaint demonstrated that plaintiffs’ interference claims were time-barred.

The Association’s agents, Witkin & Neal and LB Property Management, separately argued that all of the tort claims asserted against them should be dismissed because they were entitled to qualified immunity under Civil Code [1439] section 2924, subdivision (b) and defendants had “failed to articulate the alleged bad acts committed by [them].”

b. Summary of evidence filed in support of defendants’ motion

In support of their motion, defendants submitted a declaration from the chief operating officer of Witkin & Neal summarizing the actions the trustee had taken during the foreclosure proceedings. According to the declaration, on April 21, 2008, Witkin & Neal mailed plaintiffs a “pre-notice” of default letter informing them that a notice of delinquent assessment had been recorded against the property and that the current amount due on the account was $4,206.40. The letter further stated that plaintiffs had the right to “dispute the assessment debt by submitting a written request for dispute resolution.” A declaration of mailing indicated that the letter was sent to the Multanis’ condominium unit and a Pasadena post office box numbered “82341.”

The declaration also stated that, on June 23, 2008, Witkin & Neal mailed plaintiffs a notice of default and election to sell stating that the amount currently due totaled $5,494.73 and would continue to “increase until [the] account bec[a]me current.” A declaration of mailing indicated that the notice was sent to the same two addresses as the “pre-notice” letter and to a second Pasadena post office box numbered “92341.” On January 9, 2009, Witkin & Neal sent plaintiffs a notice of trustee’s sale informing them that (1) the sale was scheduled to occur on January 27, 2009; (2) the total unpaid balance was currently $10,267.62; and (3) the foreclosure sale was subject to a 90-day redemption period during which the owners could reclaim the property. A declaration of mailing indicated that the notice was sent to the same three addresses as the notice of default.

The declaration further alleged that, “at the time and place fixed in the Notice of Trustee’s Sale, [Witkin & Neal] did, by public announcement, and in a manner provided by law, postpone the sale date from time to time thereafter until July 23, 2009, when [Witkin & Neal] sold the Subject unit to ProValue Properties … for the sum of $20,200.” On July 31, 2009, defendants recorded a certificate of sale confirming that the property was sold to ProValue and that the sale was subject to a 90-day “right of redemption.” According to the declaration, plaintiffs “made no attempt to tender the full amount before the foreclosure sale date” and “failed to redeem the Subject Property during the 90-day right of redemption period.” At the expiration of the 90-day redemption period, Witkin & Neal recorded a trustee’s deed upon sale, dated November 6, 2009.

Defendants also submitted excerpts from Rahim Multani’s deposition in which he admitted that he stopped paying his assessment fees because he [1440] “felt that [a] claim of overpayment was not being handled correctly.” According to Multani, “no one gave [him] a correct accounting or breakdown of what the actual outstanding amount was owed.” Multani alleged that, in 2008, he had tried to pay the amount that he believed he owed but the Association rejected his payments. Thereafter, Multani made a “conscious decision” not to pay the “entire asserted balance” because he believed it was incorrect and was “always a moving target.” Multani also testified that, prior to December 16, 2009, he was unaware that the Association had actually held a foreclosure sale.

2. Plaintiffs’ opposition and supporting documentation

On August 10, 2011, plaintiffs submitted an opposition arguing that there were disputed issues of material fact as to whether defendants had complied with all of the mandated procedural requirements. Plaintiffs argued, in relevant part, that (1) “[d]efendants failed to provide notice to Plaintiffs for the secret sale [that occurred on July 23, 2009]”; (2) defendant failed to respond to Rahim Multani’s letter dated December 2008, in which he specifically requested alternative dispute resolution; and (3) IndyMac’s subsequently rescinded foreclosure “extinguished” any prior notices the Association had issued in relation to their own foreclosure. Plaintiffs also argued that they were excused from complying with the tender rule because they had disputed “the validity of the underlying debt.”

As to the tort claims, plaintiffs asserted that their complaint alleged numerous forms of noncommunicative conduct that were not privileged under Civil Code section 47 subdivision (b), including allegations that defendants had unlawfully harassed Multani and his tenants and repeatedly changed the locks on the condominium unit.

In support of their opposition, plaintiffs submitted a 14-page declaration from Rahim Multani that contained a detailed discussion of the accounting dispute that preceded the Association’s recording of the delinquency lien. Multani asserted that, in June of 2007, he paid the Association almost $12,000 to resolve a prior payment dispute that had begun in 2005, but that defendants failed to properly credit him for two prior payments totaling approximately $1,500 and then began to intentionally inflate their monetary claims. Multani alleged that, on December 22, 2008, he sent the Association board a letter in which he disputed the amount that he owed and requested alternate dispute resolution. The Association, however, never responded to the letter.

Multani’s declaration admitted that he knew defendants had scheduled a foreclosure sale for January 27, 2009, but asserted that he was led to believe [1441] the sale had been cancelled. Multani explained that, one day prior to the scheduled sale date, his attorney informed Witkin & Neal that IndyMac Bank had foreclosed on the property two weeks earlier. In response, Witkin & Neal allegedly stated “if that was the case, then there would be no sale taking place the next day.” According to Multani, Witkin & Neal never indicated that it might postpone the foreclosure sale, but then “surreptitious[ly]” sold the property to ProValue on July 23, 2009. Multani further stated that, after this “secret” sale occurred, defendants failed to provide him a notice of his right to redemption as required under Code of Civil Procedure section 729.050.[3]

Multani also asserted that, during the foreclosure sale, defendants committed numerous “criminal acts by changing the locks on the Subject property…; calling the Pasadena Police Department on more than one occasion to attempt to prevent [him] from [entering the subject property]; improperly having [him] detained; and attempt[ing] to place [him] under citizen’s arrest for trespassing ….”[4]

C. The Trial Court’s Ruling

At the hearing, plaintiffs argued that defendants had sent many of the foreclosure notices to the wrong address. According to plaintiffs’ attorney, Rahim Multani’s proper mailing address was post office box number 92341, but defendants had sent several of the notices to post office box number 82341. Plaintiffs’ counsel further argued that the proper address had been on file with the Association but, “at some point[,] the homeowners association started sending it to the wrong P.O. box.”

In response, defendants’ attorney argued that they had submitted several recordations of mailings in support of their motion showing that most of the notices had in fact been sent to post office box 92341. Counsel also argued that it was irrelevant whether defendants had mailed the notices to the correct address because plaintiffs had admitted they “had actual knowledge of the [foreclosure] process.” After the court informed the parties that it was going to take the matter under submission, the following exchange occurred:

“PLAINTIFFS’ COUNSEL: Your honor, can I just ask the court to take a look at [section] 729.050.

“COURT: And what is it?

[1442] “PLAINTIFFS’ COUNSEL: That talks about the requirements. Their certificate of sale.

“COURT: Oh yeah, I’m going to look at that.”

On August 23, 2011, the trial court filed an order granting judgment in favor of Witkin & Neal and LB Property Management and granting the Association judgment on 12 of the 15 remaining claims pleaded against it.[5] The court concluded that defendants were entitled to judgment on each of the four claims seeking to set aside the foreclosure because plaintiffs had admitted that they “failed to tender the amount of the debt prior to the sale or exercise [their] right[s] of redemption after the sale.”[6]

In addition, the court concluded that the following evidence demonstrated that plaintiffs were not “prejudice[ed]” by any “procedural irregularity” in the foreclosure proceedings: (1) prior to recording the notice of delinquent assessment, the Association sent plaintiffs a letter advising them of their right to alternative dispute resolution; (2) Witkin & Neal’s declaration demonstrated that defendants had properly complied with all statutory requirements when postponing the foreclosure sale from January 27, 2009, to July 23, 2009; and (3) plaintiffs admitted they had “actual knowledge of the foreclosure proceedings” and, “[d]espite such knowledge, [had] failed to exercise their 90-day statutory right of redemption.”

The trial court also concluded that defendants’ evidence showed that four notices had been sent to plaintiffs’ condominium unit and post office box 82341: (1) a notice to pay or lien, dated December 27, 2007; (2) a notice of delinquent assessment liens, which had been sent on February 28, 2008, and again on April 21, 2008; (3) a notice of default and election to sell, dated June 23, 2008; and (4) a notice of trustee’s sale, dated October 31, 2009. The latter two items were also sent to post office box 92341, which Multani had alleged to be his proper mailing address. The court further noted that plaintiffs had never specifically alleged that they did not receive any of these four items.

On the tort-based claims, the court ruled that defendants were entitled to dismissal of the fifth cause of action (fraud), eighth cause of action (breach of [1443] fiduciary duty) ninth cause of action (intentional infliction of emotional distress) and the 18th cause of action (unfair business practices) because each of those claims was predicated on “actions … subject to immunities set forth in [Civil Code sections] 47 and 2924(b).” In addition, the court ruled that plaintiffs’ 13th through 16th claims, which alleged interference with contractual relations and prospective economic advantage, were “time-barred.”

The court entered judgment in favor of Witkin & Neal and LB Property Management on September 12, 2011. Three claims, however, remained pending against the Association: violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, forcible detainer and a request for an accounting.

On September 23, the Association moved for judgment on the pleadings seeking dismissal “of these remaining claims … such that judgment [may be] entered in favor of the Association.” The trial court granted the motion on October 19, 2011, and entered a final judgment in favor of the Association on November 9, 2011. Plaintiffs filed a timely appeal of the trial court’s judgment and order granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment or adjudication.[7]

DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

“`The standard for deciding a summary judgment motion is well-established, as is the standard of review on appeal.’ [Citation.] `A defendant moving for summary judgment has the burden of producing evidence showing that one or more elements of the plaintiff’s cause of action cannot be established, or that there is a complete defense to that cause of action. [Citations.] The burden then shifts to the plaintiff to produce specific facts showing a triable issue as to the cause of action or the defense. [Citations.] Despite the shifting burdens of production, the defendant, as the moving party, always bears the ultimate burden of persuasion as to whether summary judgment is warranted. [Citation.]’ [Citation.]” (Hypertouch, Inc. v. ValueClick, Inc.(2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 805, 817 [123 Cal.Rptr.3d 8] (Hypertouch).)

“`On appeal, we review de novo an order granting summary judgment. [Citation.] The trial court must grant a summary judgment motion when the [1444] evidence shows that there is no triable issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. [Citations.] In making this determination, courts view the evidence, including all reasonable inferences supported by that evidence, in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. [Citations.]’ [Citation.]” (Hypertouch, supra,192 Cal.App.4th at p. 818.) “The same standards apply to motions for summary adjudication.” (Id. at fn. 3.)

B. Defendants Failed to Satisfy Their Initial Burden of Production on Plaintiffs’ Foreclosure Claims

Plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in dismissing each of their claims seeking to set aside the foreclosure sale because there are triable issues of fact as to whether defendants complied with numerous procedures required under the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure. We reverse the trial court’s dismissal of the foreclosure claims, concluding that defendants failed to demonstrate that they notified plaintiffs of their right to redemption or the applicable redemption period as required under section 729.050.[8]

1. The postsale right to redemption in nonjudicial foreclosures by a homeowner association for delinquent assessment fees

(1) Special procedures govern nonjudicial foreclosures initiated by a homeowner association for the collection of delinquent assessment fees. Under the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (Civ. Code, § 1350 et seq.) (the Act), which governs common interest developments (CID) in California,[9] the amount of any unpaid association assessment, plus the reasonable costs of collection, late charges, and interest, constitute a “debt of the owner of the separate interest.” (Civ. Code, § 1367.1, subd. (a); see Civ. Code, § 1366, subd. (e)(1)-(3).) After complying with various notice requirements (see Civ. Code, § 1367.1, subds. (a)-(c)), an association may record a lien of delinquent assessment against the property (see Civ. Code, § 1367.1, subd. (e)) and then enforce the lien through a nonjudicial foreclosure “conducted in accordance with [Civil Code] [s]ections 2924, 2924b and 2924c applicable to the exercise of powers of sale in mortgages and deeds of trust.” (Civ. Code, § 1367.1, subd. (g).)

As a general rule, the debtor in a nonjudicial foreclosure may avoid the loss of the property by “pay[ing] all amounts due at any time prior to the [1445] sale …” (Knapp v. Doherty (2004) 123 Cal.App.4th 76, 86-87 [20 Cal.Rptr.3d 1] (Knapp).) However, “[o]nce the … sale is completed, the trustor has no further rights of redemption.” (Id. at p. 87.) Prior to 2006, these same rules applied to nonjudicial foreclosures by an association for delinquent assessments.

In 2005, however, the Legislature adopted Senate Bill No. 137 (2005-2006 Reg. Sess.) (Stats. 2005, ch. 452, § 5, p. 3649), which placed numerous limitations on an association’s ability to utilize foreclosure as a means to collect assessments. The legislative history indicates that Senate Bill No. 137 was intended to “institute … important procedural … requirements to protect CID homeowners” from the “extreme hammer of non-judicial foreclosure in order to collect relatively small amounts of overdue assessments.” (Off. of Assem. Floor Analyses, 3d reading analysis of Sen. Bill No. 137 (2005-2006 Reg. Sess.) as amended Sept. 1, 2005, pp. 4, 3.) Supporters of the Bill argued that there had been “too many instances” in which “CID associations [had] … initiated [foreclosures] for relatively small amounts …, [and then] sold [the property] for an all-too-often shockingly small fraction of its actual value.” (Id. at pp. 3-4.) The bill sought to avoid similar outcomes in the future by providing “CID homeowners” additional “due process protections.” (Ibid.)

(2) Senate Bill No. 137 added Civil Code section 1367.4, which prohibits (with certain exceptions) the use of foreclosure to collect delinquent assessments that total less than $1,800. (Civ. Code, § 1367.4, subd. (b).) Although the statute permits an association to “use … nonjudicial foreclosure” for delinquent assessments exceeding $1,800 (Civ. Code, § 1367.4, subd. (c)), section 1367.4, subdivision (c)(4) requires that the association provide CID owners a right to redeem the property within 90 days after the sale: “A nonjudicial foreclosure by an association to collect upon a debt for delinquent assessments shall be subject to a right of redemption. The redemption period within which the separate interest may be redeemed from a foreclosure sale under this paragraph ends 90 days after the sale….” A similar provision appears in section 729.035, which was also added as part of Senate Bill No. 137: “Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the sale of a separate interest in a common interest development is subject to the right of redemption within 90 days after the sale if the sale arises from a foreclosure by the association of a common interest development pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 1367.1 of the Civil Code, subject to the conditions of Section 1367.4 of the Civil Code.”[10]

[1446] The redemption process, which is normally available only in the context of judicial foreclosure, is governed by requirements set forth in the Code of Civil Procedure.[11] Section 729.040 mandates that, following a foreclosure subject to a right of redemption, the trustee must deliver a “certificate of sale” to the purchaser and record a duplicate of the certificate in the office of the county recorder. (Id., subd. (a).) Under section 729.050, the trustee must also promptly notify the debtor of his redemption rights: “If property is sold subject to the right of redemption, promptly after the sale the levying officer or trustee who conducted the sale shall serve notice of the right of redemption on the judgment debtor. Service shall be made personally or by mail. The notice of the right of redemption shall indicate the applicable redemption period.”

Sections 729.060 to 729.090 describe how the debtor may redeem his or her property following the foreclosure sale. “[S]ection 729.060, subdivision (a) requires `[a] person who seeks to redeem the property [to] deposit the redemption price with the levying officer who conducted the sale before the expiration of the redemption period.’ Subdivision (b) of this statute defines the redemption price as `the total of the following amounts…. [¶] (1) The purchase price at the sale. [¶] (2) The amount of any assessments or taxes and reasonable amounts for fire insurance, maintenance, upkeep, and repair of improvements on the property. [¶] (3) Any amount paid by the purchaser on a prior obligation secured by the property to the extent that the payment was necessary for the protection of the purchaser’s interest. [¶] (4) Interest on the amounts described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3)….’ In addition, subdivision (c) of … section 729.060 authorizes an offset to the redeeming party for `[r]ents and profits from the property paid to the purchaser or the value of the use and occupation of the property to the purchaser….'” (Barry v. OC Residential Properties (2011) 194 Cal.App.4th 861, 866 [123 Cal.Rptr.3d 727] (Barry).)

[1447] (3) Section 729.070 establishes “a procedure allowing one `seeking to redeem the property [who] disagree[s with the purchaser’s claimed] redemption price’ to petition `the court for an order determining the redemption price ….’ [Citation.]” (Barry, supra, 194 Cal.App.4th at pp. 866-867.) If the debtor does not deposit the redemption price or otherwise file a petition challenging the redemption price within the applicable redemption period, the trustee must deliver an executed trustee’s deed to the purchaser and provide the debtor notice that the trustee sale has occurred. (§ 729.080, subd. (a).) If, however, the debtor tenders “the redemption price determined by court order or agreed upon by the purchaser … [¶] … the effect of the sale is terminated and the person who redeemed the property is restored to the estate therein sold at the sale.” (§ 729.080, subds. (c), (d).)

2. Defendants failed to make a prima facie showing that plaintiffs cannot establish the elements necessary to set aside the foreclosure sale

Plaintiffs contend that the trial court erred in dismissing their foreclosure claims because defendants failed to notify them of their right of redemption as required under section 729.050.

a. Defendants have waived any argument regarding plaintiffs’ failure to plead a violation of section 729.050

Before addressing the merits of this argument, we assess defendants’ contention that we should “disregard[]” this “alleged [procedural] violation” because it “is outside the scope of the Second Amended Complaint.”

(4) Generally, “[a] defendant moving for summary judgment need address only the issues raised by the complaint; the plaintiff cannot bring up new, unpleaded issues in his or her opposing papers. [Citation.]” (Government Employees Ins. Co. v. Superior Court (2000) 79 Cal.App.4th 95, 98-99, fn. 4 [93 Cal.Rptr.2d 820].) Defendants assert that, in this case, plaintiffs’ “allegation that [the Association and its trustee] somehow violated … [s]ection 729.050 … does not exist in the [second amended complaint],” which prohibits them from raising the issue on appeal.

Plaintiffs’ complaint, however, alleges that defendants “conducted the foreclosure proceedings unlawfully in that they did not follow the California non-judicial foreclosure sale procedures prescribed by … Civil Code § 2924 and 1367.” The complaint also alleges violation of “§ 1367 et seq.” As discussed above, Civil Code section 1367.4, subdivision (c)(4) requires the association to provide CID owners a 90-day period to redeem the property, which triggers the trustee’s notice requirements under section 729.050.

[1448] (5) In any event, defendants have forfeited this issue. When a plaintiff opposes a motion for summary judgment or adjudication by raising an “unpleaded issue,” the defendant’s failure to “object to [the] injection of [the] unpleaded theory … [constitutes a] waive[r].” (Knapp, supra, 123 Cal.App.4th at p. 90; see Stalnaker v. Boeing Co.(1986) 186 Cal.App.3d 1291, 1302 [231 Cal.Rptr. 323].) The purpose of this objection requirement is to ensure that, if the objection is sustained, the plaintiff has an opportunity to request leave to amend the pleading to raise the unpleaded theory. (See Stalnaker, supra, 186 Cal.App.3d at p. 1302.)

In the trial court, plaintiffs’ opposition papers included a declaration from Rahim Multani in which he alleged that defendants did not comply with section 729.050’s notice requirements. Although defendants objected to numerous statements in Multani’s declaration on the ground that they introduced issues outside the pleadings, defendants did not raise this objection in regards to Multani’s statements about section 729.050. Moreover, during oral argument, plaintiffs’ attorney specifically requested that the trial court review section 729.050 and determine whether defendants had demonstrated compliance with its requirements. Defendants did not object to this request and the trial court agreed that it would consider the issue. Under these circumstances, “we deem waived defendants’ objection to plaintiffs’ … mode of pleading and argument.” (Stalnaker v. Boeing Co., supra, 186 Cal.App.3d at p. 1302; see id. at fn. 7 [finding waiver where “the newly introduced theory was … presented to the trial court, without defendants’ objection”].)

b. Defendants failed to make a prima facie showing that they were entitled to dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims seeking to set aside the foreclosure

As the party moving for summary adjudication of plaintiffs’ foreclosure claims, defendants had the “`initial burden of production to make a prima facie showing'” that “`one or more elements of the plaintiff’s cause of action cannot be established.'” (Hypertouch, supra, 192 Cal.App.4th at pp. 838, 818.)

(6) “The rights and powers of trustees in nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings have long been regarded as strictly limited and defined by the contract of the parties and the statutes.” (I. E. Associates v. Safeco Title Ins. Co. (1985) 39 Cal.3d 281, 287 [216 Cal.Rptr. 438, 702 P.2d 596].) “Because nonjudicial foreclosure is a `drastic sanction’ and a `draconian remedy’ [citation], `”[t]he statutory requirements must be strictly complied with, and a trustee’s sale based on statutorily deficient notice of default is invalid.”‘ [Citation.]” (Ung v. Koehler (2005) 135 Cal.App.4th 186, 202-203 [37 Cal.Rptr.3d 311]; see Holland v. Pendleton Mtge. Co. (1943) 61 Cal.App.2d 570, 573-574 [143 P.2d [1449] 493] [foreclosure sale invalid where trustee fails to comply with statutory notice procedures]; 4 Miller & Starr, Cal. Real Estate (3d ed. 2011) § 10:210, p. 670 [“A sale of the collateral by an exercise of the power of sale in violation of the statutory limitations on the power is invalid.”].)

To set aside a foreclosure, a plaintiff must generally establish three elements: “(1) the trustee … caused an illegal, fraudulent, or willfully oppressive sale of real property pursuant to a power of sale in a mortgage or deed of trust; (2) the party attacking the sale … was prejudiced or harmed; and (3) in cases where the trustor … challenges the sale, the trustor … tendered the amount of the secured indebtedness or was excused from tendering.” (Lona v. Citibank, N.A. (2011) 202 Cal.App.4th 89, 104 [134 Cal.Rptr.3d 622] (Lona).) Defendants argue that their moving papers made a prima facie showing that plaintiffs cannot establish any of these three elements.

i. Defendants introduced no evidence that they complied with section 729.050

(7) “Justifications … which satisfy the first element [(to set aside a foreclosure)] include the trustee’s … failure to comply with the statutory procedural requirements for the notice or conduct of the sale.” (Lona, supra, 202 Cal.App.4th at p. 104.) Although there is generally no “postsale right of redemption” in nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings (Alliance, supra, 10 Cal.4th at p. 1236), a nonjudicial foreclosure by an association for delinquent assessments is “subject to the right of redemption within 90 days after the sale.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 729.035; see Civ. Code, § 1367.4, subd. (c)(4).) As a result, the trustee who conducts the sale must “promptly … serve notice of the right of redemption on the judgment debtor,” which “shall indicate the applicable redemption period.” (§ 729.050.)

Defendants have failed to provide any evidence that they complied with this statutory requirement. In support of their motion for summary adjudication, defendants submitted evidence that they mailed the Multanis the following notices regarding the foreclosure proceedings: (1) a “pre-notice of Default letter,” mailed April 21, 2008; (2) a “Notice of Default and Election to Sell,” mailed June 23, 2008; (3) a “Notice of Board Decision to Foreclose and Notice of Default,” mailed October 7, 2008; and (4) a “Notice of Trustee’s Sale,” mailed January 9, 2009. Defendants also submitted evidence that, following the foreclosure sale, the trustee recorded a “Certification of Sale” on July 31, 2009, and then recorded the “Trustee’s Deed Upon sale … [a]fter the 90-day right of redemption period expired.”

Defendants, however, have cited no evidence in the record — and we have located none — demonstrating that it mailed the Multanis a notice of right to [1450] redemption as required under section 729.050. Instead, defendants contend that they had no burden to present evidence that they complied with section 729.050 because “[a] nonjudicial foreclosure sale is accompanied by a common law presumption that it `was conducted regularly and fairly.’ [Citations.]” (Lona, supra, 202 Cal.App.4th at p. 105.) Defendants appear to assert that this presumption was, standing alone, sufficient “`to make a prima facie showing'” (Hypertouch, supra, 192 Cal.App.4th at p. 836) that plaintiff could not demonstrate any procedural irregularity in the foreclosure proceedings.

(8) Defendants have not cited any authority indicating that this common law presumption of regularity applies to the postsale redemption procedures at issue here. All of the cases they cite applied the presumption in the context of standard nonjudicial foreclosures that were not subject to statutory redemption. Even if the common law presumption were to apply to redemption procedures, however, a defendant moving for summary adjudication of claims seeking to set aside a foreclosure may not discharge his or her initial burden of production by merely referencing the presumption. The presumption, which is rebuttable (see 6 Angels, Inc. v. Stuart-Wright Mortgage, Inc. (2001) 85 Cal.App.4th 1279, 1284 [102 Cal.Rptr.2d 711]), merely requires that the party “attacking the sale … [must] `… plead[] and prove[] an improper procedure and the resulting prejudice.’ [Citation.]” (Knapp, supra, 123 Cal.App.4th at p. 86, fn. 4.) Thus, the plaintiff has the burden to allege in its pleading that a prejudicial irregularity occurred and then to prove that allegation at trial.

For the purposes of summary judgment or adjudication, however, defendants still must make a prima facie showing that plaintiffs could not prove that any irregularity occurred. This initial burden required defendants here to “`present evidence'” that they complied with the statutory procedures applicable to this foreclosure. (Hypertouch, supra, 192 Cal.App.4th at p. 838.) Their failure to do so means that they failed to “`conclusively negate[]'” the first element of plaintiffs’ foreclosure claims. (Ibid.)

ii. Defendants did not make a prima facie showing that plaintiffs suffered no harm from the procedural defect

The second element necessary to set aside a foreclosure requires the plaintiff to show that he or she was “prejudiced or harmed” by defendants’ failure to comply “with the statutory procedural requirements” for the foreclosure sale. (Lona, supra,202 Cal.App.4th at p. 104 [to challenge a sale successfully there must be evidence of a failure to comply with the procedural requirements for the foreclosure sale that caused prejudice to the person attacking the sale].)

[1451] (9) Section 729.050’s notification requirement serves two purposes. First, it ensures that the debtor is aware that the property may still be redeemed. Second, it informs the debtor the date on which his or her redemption rights expire. Presumably, a debtor who has not received such notice has been harmed or prejudiced by the fact that they were not informed of those rights. (See Residential Capital v. Cal-Western Reconveyance Corp. (2003) 108 Cal.App.4th 807, 822 [134 Cal.Rptr.2d 162] (Residential Capital) [“The inquiry is whether … there is a … defect in the statutory procedure that is prejudicial to the interests of the trustor and claimants.”].)

Defendants, however, contend that no such prejudice occurred here because plaintiffs were provided enough information to independently calculate when their redemption period was set to expire. In support, defendants cite evidence indicating that, prior to the foreclosure sale, they provided plaintiffs a statutorily required notice of intent to sell stating that (1) the foreclosure sale was scheduled to occur on January 27, 2009, and (2) the sale would be subject to a right of redemption that would end 90 days after the sale date. Defendants assert that, based on this information, plaintiffs could have determined when their right to redemption ended and therefore were not harmed by the trustee’s failure to comply with section 729.050.

(10) For the purposes of this appeal, we assume that defendants did in fact make a prima facie showing that they properly notified plaintiffs that the foreclosure sale was originally scheduled to occur on January 27 and that the sale would be subject to a 90-day right of redemption.[12] Such evidence, however, is insufficient to demonstrate that plaintiffs suffered no prejudice or harm from defendants’ failure to comply with the notice requirements of section 729.050. Defendants’ argument is predicated on the assumption that a debtor has an independent duty to calculate the applicable redemption period based on information received during the foreclosure process. Section 729.050, however, specifically relieves the debtor of any such burden by requiring the trustee to provide notice of the applicable redemption period promptly after the foreclosures sale.

This postsale notice requirement is of heightened importance where, as here, the trustee postponed the original sale date without individualized notice to the debtor. Civil Code section 2924g permits a trustee to postpone a foreclosure sale for up to a year by making a public announcement “at the time and place last appointed for sale…. No other notice of postponement [1452] need be given.” (Civ. Code, § 2924g, subd. (d).)[13] Although the foreclosure in this case was originally scheduled for January 27, 2009, defendants’ moving papers state that “[a]t the time and place fixed in the [notice of sale, the trustee] did, by public announcement … postpone the sale date from time to time … until July 23.” Defendants provided no evidence that they gave plaintiffs any notice regarding the postponements beyond the public announcement requirements described in Civil Code section 2924g. Thus, without the section 729.050 notice, plaintiffs could have only determined their applicable redemption period by attending each of the scheduled sale dates or otherwise researching when, exactly, the sale occurred. Again, section 729.050 relieved them of any such obligation.

(11) Defendants’ argument would also permit homeowner associations to ignore section 729.050 without consequence. Defendants were statutorily required to send the presale notice that contained the information they now contend remedied any harm from their subsequent failure to comply with section 729.050. The Civil Code requires that, before conducting a foreclosure sale predicated on delinquent assessment fees, the association must provide a notice of sale that includes the date of the sale and a statement “that the property is being sold subject to the right of redemption.” (Civ. Code, §§ 1367.4, subd. (c)(4), 2924b, subd. (b), 2924f.) Thus, defendants are essentially arguing that a trustee who complies with this presale notice requirement need not comply with section 729.050’s postsale notice requirement. This argument is the antithesis of the statutory scheme, which imposes a duty to provide a presale notice referencing the right to redemption and a postsale notice stating the applicable redemption period. The Legislature plainly concluded that, for the purpose of protecting a CID owner’s due process rights, both forms of notice are necessary.

The primary authority defendants cite in support of their assertion that plaintiffs cannot establish harm is Knapp, supra, 123 Cal.App.4th 76, which held that “a slight deviation from statutory notice requirements” does not always require a court to “invalidate a foreclosure sale, where the trustee otherwise complies fully with the Civil Code.” (Id. at p. 93.) The plaintiff in Knapp provided evidence that the defendant had served a notice of sale prematurely. Under the Civil Code, the trustee was required to comply with multiple timing requirements when serving the notice of sale: Civil Code section 2924 required the trustee to serve the notice no earlier than “`three months’ following recordation of the notice of default” (id. at p. 92), while [1453] section 2924b required that the trustee serve the notice “at least 20 days prior to the sale” (id. at p. 88). The court explained that the evidence showed the trustee “served the [s]ale [n]otice on … a date that was slightly less than three months after recordation of the [d]efault [n]otice,” but 29 days prior to the sale date. (Id. at p. 92.) “Thus, while the [s]ale [n]otice did not comply fully with the three-month requirement under section 2924, it provided more than the 20 days notice mandated under section 2924b ….” (Ibid., italics omitted.)

The court ruled that, under such circumstances, the foreclosure need not be set aside, concluding: “[T]he slight procedural irregularity in the service of the [s]ale [n]otice did not cause any injury to [b]orrowers. They had notice of the original sale date; the trustee’s sale did not go forward until almost one year after the date noticed. There was no prejudicial procedural irregularity.” (Knapp, supra, 123 Cal.App.4th at p. 94, italics omitted.) In the court’s view, the “[b]orrowers’ objection to the premature notice [wa]s, in effect, a criticism that the trustee provided too much notice of the sale. There [wa]s no evidence that they were prejudiced by the premature mailing of the notice. Given the fact that the trustee’s sale did not occur until almost a year after service of the [s]ale [n]otice, it is difficult to imagine how [b]orrowers could claim any prejudice.” (Id. at p. 96.)

In reaching its holding, the court specifically differentiated prior decisions setting aside foreclosure sales in which the debtor had been denied a “`substantial statutory right'” that was likely to result in prejudice. (Knapp, supra, 123 Cal.App.4th at p. 94.) According to the court, “no such substantial statutory right was abridged by trustee’s premature mailing of the [s]ale [n]otice, which otherwise gave [b]orrowers adequate and timely notice of the trustee’s sale.” (Ibid.)

The facts in Knapp bear little resemblances to the facts in this case. Defendants’ failure to comply with section 729.050 was not “a slight deviation from statutory notice requirements.” (Knapp, supra, 123 Cal.App.4th at p. 93.) Defendants did not, as in Knapp, send a statutorily required notice “slightly” prematurely; instead, the evidence suggests that they completely failed to send the notice required under section 729.050. Moreover, unlike in Knapp, defendants have provided no evidence that plaintiffs were not harmed by the procedural defect. Nothing in defendants’ moving papers demonstrates that, despite the lack of section 729.050 notice, plaintiffs were actually aware of the date on which their redemption rights were set to expire but elected not to redeem. At most, defendants have shown that plaintiffs might have been able to calculate when their redemption rights expired based on information that was provided in other statutorily mandated presale notices.

[1454] (12) In sum, defendants have failed to make a prima facie showing that their failure to comply with section 729.050 was not “prejudicial to the interests of the … claimants.” (Residential Capital, supra, 108 Cal.App.4th at p. 822.) Because defendants have provided no evidence that plaintiffs were notified, or were otherwise aware of the actual date on which their right to redemption expired, we cannot conclude that plaintiffs suffered no prejudice.[14]

iii. Defendants failed to establish that the tender rule precluded plaintiffs from seeking to set aside the foreclosure sale

Defendants argue that plaintiffs cannot satisfy the third element necessary to set aside a foreclosure sale, which requires a showing that “the trustor … tendered the amount of the secured indebtedness or was excused from tendering.” (Lona, supra,202 Cal.App.4th at p. 104.) Defendants assert that plaintiffs have admitted they never offered to pay the full amount of the debt and are therefore precluded from challenging the foreclosure sale.

(13) The tender requirement is rooted in the equitable nature of an action to set aside a nonjudicial foreclosure. “Because the action is in equity, a defaulted borrower who seeks to set aside a trustee’s sale is required to do equity before the court will exercise its equitable powers. [Citation.] Consequently, as a condition precedent to an action by the borrower to set aside the trustee’s sale on the ground that the sale is voidable because of irregularities in the sale notice or procedure, the borrower must offer to pay the full amount of the debt for which the property was security. [Citation.] `The rationale behind the rule is that if [the borrower] could not have redeemed the property had the sale procedures been proper, any irregularities in the sale did not result in damages to the [borrower].’ [Citation.]” (Lona, supra, 202 Cal.App.4th at p. 112.)

(14) There are, however, several exceptions to the requirement. “First, if the borrower’s action attacks the validity of the underlying debt, a tender is [1455] not required since it would constitute an affirmation of the debt. [Citations.] [¶] Second, a tender will not be required when the person who seeks to set aside the trustee’s sale has a counterclaim or setoff against the beneficiary. In such cases, it is deemed that the tender and the counterclaim offset one another, and if the offset is equal to or greater than the amount due, a tender is not required. [Citation.] [¶] Third, a tender may not be required where it would be inequitable to impose such a condition on the party challenging the sale [Citation.] …. [¶] Fourth, no tender will be required when the trustor is not required to rely on equity to attack the deed because the trustee’s deed is void on its face. [Citation.]” (Lona, supra, 202 Cal.App.4th at pp. 112-113.)

(15) As discussed above, a nonjudicial foreclosure by an association predicated on delinquent assessment fees is unique in that the CID owner is entitled to a postsale right of redemption. (See Civ. Code, § 1367.4, subd. (c)(4); Code Civ. Proc., § 729.035.) Under these redemption rights, the property owner is entitled to receive notice of the applicable redemption period and then pay the redemption price or contest the redemption price through a judicial proceeding. (See §§ 729.050-729.080.) Therefore, unlike most forms of nonjudicial foreclosure, CID owners are provided an opportunity to avoid the loss of their property either by tendering the amount of the debt prior to the sale or paying the applicable redemption price — which consists of the purchase price and various other costs — after the sale.

(16) Defendants assume, without discussion, that the tender requirement applies where, as here, the debtor is seeking to set aside a nonjudicial foreclosure subject to a statutory, postsale right of redemption. Although we have found no authority analyzing the issue, we conclude that a debtor is properly excused from complying with the tender requirement where the nonjudicial foreclosure is subject to a statutory right of redemption and the trustee has failed to provide the notice required under section 729.050.

Applying the tender rule under such circumstances would be inconsistent with the statutory scheme. CID owners who were denied their statutory right to be notified of the redemption process could only challenge the denial of that right by offering to tender the amount of the secured debt. In other words, CID owners could only challenge an association’s failure to provide notice of the redemption process by offering to forego the redemption process. Such an outcome would be neither logical nor equitable.

Defendants argue that even if plaintiffs were not required to tender the amount of the secured debt as a condition of bringing their suit, they were [1456] nonetheless required to tender the redemption price, thereby ensuring that they could have redeemed the property had section 729.050 been properly followed. Defendants’ argument overlooks the fact that, under the statutory framework governing redemption, if the debtor and the purchaser disagree on the proper redemption price, the debtor may seek a judicial determination of the appropriate price. (See § 729.070.) Under defendants’ theory, however, CID owners would have to affirm the purchaser’s claimed redemption price through an offer of tender — thereby effectively waiving their right to seek a judicial determination of the redemption price — as a condition of challenging an association’s failure to comply with section 729.050. Given that the tender rule is inapplicable where the debtor’s action attacks the validity of the underlying debt, the rule should not be applied in a manner that would require a CID owner who never received notice of his redemption rights to forego any challenge to the redemption price.

Because defendants failed to make a prima facie showing that plaintiffs cannot establish any of the three elements necessary to set aside the foreclosure, it is not entitled to summary adjudication on plaintiffs second, third, sixth or seventh causes of action.

C. Plaintiffs Have Forfeited Any Claim of Error Regarding Additional Causes of Action Pleaded in the Second Amended Complaint

In addition to their four claims seeking to set aside the foreclosure, plaintiffs’ second amended complaint asserts 13 tort and statutory-based claims arising from various acts that defendants allegedly committed during the foreclosure process. The trial court dismissed all 13 of these additional claims at various points in the proceedings. The court sustained a demurrer without leave to amend on two of the claims — violations of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and RICO — prior to the hearing on the motion for summary adjudication. The trial court’s order granting defendants’ motion for summary adjudication dismissed four of the claims — fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional infliction of emotional distress and unfair business practices — on the basis that each claim was predicated on “actions … subject to immunities set forth in [Civil Code sections] 47 and 2924(b).” The summary adjudication order also dismissed plaintiffs’ four interference claims, concluding that they were “time barred.” Finally, the court dismissed the remaining three claims for violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, accounting and forcible detainer pursuant to an order granting defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings.

[1457] Although a large majority of plaintiffs’ 60-page brief argues that we should reinstate their foreclosure claims because there is evidence defendants committed various procedural irregularities, the final five pages of the brief asserts that their “claims for wrongful closure are not based on a communicative act” and are therefore not precluded under the “litigation privilege.” (See Civ. Code, § 47, subd. (b).) In the course of this discussion, plaintiffs allude to various other claims in their complaint. Specifically, plaintiffs assert that Civil Code “[s]ection 47(b)(2), does not bar Plaintiffs’ cause of action for intentional interference with contractual relations because it is based upon an alleged tortious course of conduct. While the isolated act of filing a notice of lien was communicative, it was only one act in the overall course of conduct alleged in Appellant’s eight through twentieth causes of action.” This five-page section of the brief does not include a single citation to the record.

For the purposes of this appeal, we need not assess whether the litigation privilege applies to plaintiffs’ claims seeking to set aside the foreclosure sale. The trial court’s order granting the motion for summary adjudication demonstrates that it dismissed those particular claims based on its finding that plaintiffs had not complied with the tender rule and had not been prejudiced by any “procedural irregularity,” not because the claims were precluded under the litigation privilege. For the reasons discussed above, we have reversed the trial court’s dismissal of those claims.

(17) As to the remaining causes of action set forth in the second amended complaint, plaintiffs have forfeited any claim of error. “[I]t is appellant’s burden to affirmatively show error. [Citation.] To demonstrate error, appellant must present meaningful legal analysis supported by citations to authority and citations to facts in the record that support the claim of error. [Citations.]” (In re S.C. (2006) 138 Cal.App.4th 396, 408 [41 Cal.Rptr.3d 453] (S.C.).) “Mere suggestions of error without supporting argument or authority other than general abstract principles do not properly present grounds for appellate review.” (Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control v. Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Bd. (2002) 100 Cal.App.4th 1066, 1078 [123 Cal.Rptr.2d 278].) “Hence, conclusory claims of error will fail.” (S.C., supra, 138 Cal.App.4th at p. 408.)

Plaintiffs’ conclusory assertions that the litigation privilege does not apply to their “cause of action for intentional interference with contractual relations” or their “eight through twentieth causes of action”[15] does not constitute “adequate factual or legal analysis.” (Placer County Local Agency Formation Com. v. Nevada County Local Agency Formation Com. (2006) 135 [1458] Cal.App.4th 793, 814 [37 Cal.Rptr.3d 729].) The record demonstrates that most of these claims were not dismissed pursuant to the litigation privilege. The trial court dismissed the plaintiffs’ 13th through 16th claims, which allege interference with contract relations and prospective economic advantage, based on the statute of limitations. The 10th and 11th claims for violations of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Practices Act and RICO were dismissed pursuant to an order sustaining a demurrer that is not in the record and was not appealed by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs’ 12th and 17th claims for forcible detainer and an accounting were dismissed pursuant to an order granting defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings. Plaintiffs, however, provide no independent legal analysis of that motion or the resulting order.

Plaintiffs’ discussion of the litigation privilege consists of little more than a summary of general abstract principles that is devoid of a single citation to the record. (See generally Metzenbaum v. Metzenbaum (1950) 96 Cal.App.2d 197, 199 [214 P.2d 603] [“[A]n appellate court cannot be expected to search through a voluminous record to discover evidence on a point raised by appellant when his brief makes no reference to the pages where the evidence on the point can be found in the record.”].) Although plaintiffs’ brief summarizes various holdings pertaining to different aspects of the litigation privilege, it fails to adequately explain how those holdings relate to the nonforeclosure claims asserted in the complaint.

In sum, to the extent plaintiffs were requesting that we reverse the trial court’s dismissal of any claims beyond those seeking to set aside the foreclosure sale, they failed “to provide meaningful legal analysis and record citations for [their] complaints.” (S.C., supra, 138 Cal.App.4th at p. 408.)[16] These claims have therefore been abandoned. (Reyes, supra, 65 Cal.App.4th at p. 466, fn. 6.)

DISPOSITION

The trial court’s judgment is reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings. The trial court’s order granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment, or, in the alternative, summary adjudication is reversed to the [1459] extent it dismisses plaintiffs’ second, third, sixth and seventh claims. The trial court’s order granting defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings is affirmed. Each party shall its own costs.

Perluss, P. J., and Jackson, J., concurred.


[1] This factual summary is predicated on the allegations in plaintiffs’ second amended complaint, which was filed on June 28, 2010.

[2] Civil Code section 1058.5, subdivision (b) states, in relevant part: “Where a trustee’s deed is invalidated by a pending bankruptcy or otherwise, recordation of a notice of rescission of the trustee’s deed … shall restore the condition of record title to the real property described in the trustee’s deed and the existence and priority of all lienholders to the status quo prior to the recordation of the trustee’s deed upon sale….”

[3] Unless otherwise noted, all further statutory citations and references are to the Code of Civil Procedure.

[4] Defendants filed objections to numerous aspects of Rahim Multani’s deposition. The record, however, does not indicate whether the court ruled on the objections, and defendants have not asserted there were any erroneous evidentiary rulings.

[5] The record indicates that, several months prior to the hearing on the motion for summary judgment or adjudication, the trial court had sustained a demurrer to plaintiffs’ claims alleging violations of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and RICO. Appellants do not challenge that ruling.

[6] Plaintiffs sought to set aside the foreclosure in four separate claims: declaratory relief, quiet title, wrongful foreclosure and rescission. We refer collectively to these four claims as the “foreclosure claims” or as “claims seeking to set aside the foreclosure.” Plaintiffs also pleaded a claim for cancellation of deed against ProValue, which is not a party to this appeal.

[7] Plaintiffs’ notice of appeal and portions of their appellate brief also allude to the trial court’s order granting the Association’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. As discussed in more detail below, however, the brief contains insufficient legal analysis of any of the three claims dismissed in that order. Plaintiffs have therefore abandoned any claim of error regarding the trial court’s order granting defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings. (Reyes v. Kosha (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 451, 466, fn. 6 [76 Cal.Rptr.2d 457] (Reyes).)

[8] Plaintiffs raise numerous additional arguments as to why we should reverse the trial court’s dismissal of their foreclosure claims. Because we reverse the dismissal of those claims based on defendants’ failure to provide evidence demonstrating compliance with section 729.050, we need not address plaintiffs’ additional arguments.

[9] The parties do not dispute that the Multanis’ condominium unit was part of a common interest development governed by the Act.

[10] Civil Code section 1367.4 imposes various other conditions on an association’s use of nonjudicial foreclosure. First, “[p]rior to initiating [the] foreclosure,” the association must “offer the owner and, if so requested by the owner, participate in” various, enumerated forms of alternative dispute resolution, including binding arbitration. (Civ. Code, § 1367.4, subd. (c)(1).) Second, the statute requires that the decision to initiate foreclosure must be made by the association’s board of directors in an open vote. (Civ. Code, § 1367.4, subd. (c)(2).) Third, the board must provide the owner notice of its decision. (Civ. Code, § 1367.4, subd. (c)(3).)

[11] A judicial foreclosure involves significant “court oversight” (Arabia v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P. (2012) 208 Cal.App.4th 462, 470 [145 Cal.Rptr.3d 678]) and provides the creditor and the debtor certain rights that are generally not available in nonjudicial foreclosure: “In a judicial foreclosure, if the property is sold for less than the amount of the outstanding indebtedness, the creditor may seek a deficiency judgment, or the difference between the amount of the indebtedness and the fair market value of the property, as determined by a court, at the time of the sale. [Citation.] However, the debtor has a statutory right of redemption … for a period of time after foreclosure. [Citation.]” (Alliance Mortgage Co. v. Rothwell (1995) 10 Cal.4th 1226, 1236 [44 Cal.Rptr.2d 352, 900 P.2d 601] (Alliance).) By contrast, in a nonjudicial foreclosure, there “is no oversight by a court, … the debtor has no postsale right of redemption[,] … [and] the creditor may not seek a deficiency judgment.” (National Enterprises, Inc. v. Woods (2001) 94 Cal.App.4th 1217, 1226 [115 Cal.Rptr.2d 37].)

[12] Plaintiffs argue that the notice of sale was ineffective because there is a triable issue of fact as to whether defendants sent it to the correct address. For the purpose of our analysis, however, we need not resolve that dispute.

[13] The Civil Code has since been amended to require that, as of January 1, 2011, “whenever a sale is postponed for a period of at least 10 business days pursuant to Section 2924g, a mortgagee, beneficiary, or authorized agent shall provide written notice to a borrower regarding the new sale date and time, within five business days following the postponement.” (Civ. Code, § 2924, subd. (a)(5).)

[14] Defendants also argue that plaintiffs were not harmed by the trustee’s failure to comply with section 729.050 because, shortly after the foreclosure sale, the trustee recorded a certificate of sale referencing the date of the sale and the 90-day redemption period. According to defendants, the trustee’s recording of the certificate provided plaintiffs “constructive notice of the right to redemption.” This argument fails for the same reasons discussed above. First, the argument presumes that plaintiffs had a duty to monitor whether a certificate of sale was recorded against their property. The Legislature relieved CID owners of any such duty by requiring that the trustee provide notice of the redemption period promptly after the sale pursuant to section 729.050. Second, the trustee’s act of recording a certificate of sale that included the sale date and a statement regarding the right to redemption was statutorily mandated under section 729.040. Thus, defendants argue that a trustee who complies with section 729.040’s recording requirements need not comply with section 729.050’s postsale notice requirements. Such an outcome would be inconsistent with the legislative scheme.

[15] Although plaintiffs’ brief references their “eight through twentieth causes of action,” the second amended complaint only contains 18 claims.

[16] The final paragraph of plaintiffs’ brief asserts that “Respondents were awarded attorneys’ fees as prevailing parties” and requests that the “award of costs and attorney’s fees … be vacated.” This portion of the brief does not contain any citation to legal authority or the record. Moreover, plaintiffs failed to include a copy of the order awarding fees and costs in the appellate record. Without such materials, we have no basis to review the order. (Bennett v. McCall (1993) 19 Cal.App.4th 122, 127 [23 Cal.Rptr.2d 268], citing Buckhart v. San Francisco Residential Rent Etc., Bd. (1988) 197 Cal.App.3d 1032, 1036 [243 Cal.Rptr. 298] [“The appellant must affirmatively demonstrate error by an adequate record.”].)