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February 2009
We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and CID/HOA board of directors and report the facts!
David
Vs. Goliath or David and His Saithe?
Posted
by CotoBlogzz 01/18/2009 7:00 PM
An
undated article titled Community
Association Conflict, available online
from the Community
Associations Institute (CAI) asserts that “Rather
than David-versus-Goliath conflicts, as occasionally
portrayed in the media, disputes in community
associations are disagreements among people.
Differences of opinion among homeowners, or between
individual homeowners and their community
associations, often reflect the challenge of balancing
the preferences of the individual homeowner with the
best interests of the community as a whole”.
To underscore this point, the most frequent
answer to homeowner’s complaints we often hear
from public servants is: “why don’t you
throw the bums out”?
The
CAI is a national organization describing itself as
“the leader in providing education and
resources to the volunteer homeowners who govern
community associations and the professionals who
support them. CAI
advocates for legislative and regulatory policies that
support responsible governance and effective
management. In addition, state Legislative Action
Committees represent CAI members before state
legislatures and agencies on issues such as assessment
collection, foreclosure and construction defects”
However,
CAI critics argue there are
fundamental flaws in the legal concept of planned
communities, which organically promote authoritarian
governments that deny homeowners the rights and
freedoms available to them outside the HOA
A
piece titled YOUR
HOME AS THE GROUP’S CASTLE published September
30, 2007 by the Wall Street Journal, the author cites
results from a survey of 3,000
newsletter subscribers where
“69% of homeowners polled said associations are
either a “major headache” or a “minor
annoyance,” though 25% of respondents had not lived
under an association” and also mentions two
most frequently common interest development (CID)
complaints: “Unexpected increases in dues and
unwelcome rule changes”, then goes on to advice on
what potential CID buyers should do before they
buy”. The findings seem to be in stark
contrast with CAI’s findings claiming
that “ that 95% of the people living in
associations love it”
Perhaps
the recent California Supreme Court Decision (Golden
Rain Foundation vs Franz
and Golden Rain Foundation vs Lyon) can
help decide whether the “David-versus-Goliath
conflicts” are simply media-fabricated:
On
January 5, 2009, Judge Ronald L. Bauer ruled on
Defendant and Leisure World titleholder David Lyon’s
Motion for an award of fees incurred during the
litigation. He ruled in Lyon’s favor.
The reasons were many yet uncomplicated. But for
sake of brevity, the Judge wrote “when compared
with the costs and burden they could face, litigants
had little prospect of personal gain; On the contrary,
they have carried the case forward, against formidable
resistance, for the principal benefit of thousands of
others who are similarly situated. The newspaper
reports collected and presented by Attorney Rice were
probative on this point. Even more compelling
was the Declaration of Donie
Vanitzian regarding the magnitude and scope of
impact of this litigation”
Mr.
Lyon’s quest for homeowner association-related
transparency in its operations began in January 2004
when a group of seven owners filed some 16 suits in
Small Claims Court after they were refused access to
the GRF’s financial records. They soon were
involved in an owner’s worst nightmare,
indeed a David vs. Goliath battle.
After all, it is widely known that the Attorney
General, the
California Real Estate Commission and the State
Bar do no have the tools to resolve resident
conflicts, and the tools provided by the CAI for the
last 35-years or so, have not made it any better.
Much less the Sheriff or the District Attorney’s
Office, or even the government-sponsored lobby the California
Law Revision Commision. And how many
residents in their own mind would fund litigation
through several
appeals, all the way to the Supreme Court?
After all, the local governing bodies have virtual
bottomless pockets, funded by the same residents who
are conflicted.
In
David
Vs Goliath, David had the Almighty on his
side. In this case David Lyon et al, had the
help of a number of pro-bono attorneys, - unheard of
in California today, and perhaps a miracle in
itself!
So,
are the David-versus-Goliath conflicts in community
associations more like David and his Saithe – that
is, media-fabricated, as the CAI contends?
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