Trabuco Highlands Community Association v. Loeffler CA4/3

FACTS

Litigation between the parties has been ongoing for years. It began after Loeffler stopped paying homeowner’s association assessments to the Association and filed a preemptive lawsuit against it. Among other matters, she sought to quiet her property title and challenge the validity of assessment liens recorded against her property by the Association. The Association cross-complained, seeking to recover roughly $17,000 in unpaid

1 All further statutory references are to the Code of Civil

Procedure, unless stated otherwise.

2 assessments, late charges, and interest. We refer to the prior action (Orange County Superior Court case number 30-2016-00873201) involving Loeffler’s complaint and the Association’s cross-complaint as the “Prior Action.”2 After the Association successfully disposed of certain causes of action in the Prior Action early on, the remaining ones went to trial. The ultimate result was a judgment in the Association’s favor on both the complaint and the cross-complaint. Thereafter, the Association filed two motions for attorney fees—one relating to Loeffler’s complaint and the other relating to the cross-complaint—collectively seeking over $900,000. The…