Moran

Angela Moran sued the Oso Valley Greenbelt Association (Association) for failure to produce the Association’s minutes for inspection. Although the court found the board of directors’ meeting minutes had been “wrongfully” withheld and ordered the minutes produced, the court declined to award Moran her attorney fees and costs pursuant to Corporations Code section 8337. Moran appeals this decision, arguing that without reimbursement of attorney fees and costs, she has suffered a pyrrhic victory. The Association argues the court did not abuse its discretion, because, inter alia, the delay was reasonable and mostly attributable to Moran. We disagree with this conclusion, because once the court concluded the Association acted “wrongfully,” denying attorney fees and costs without further explanation was an abuse of discretion. We therefore reverse and remand.

I

Facts

Angela Moran is a member of the Association, a common interest development under the jurisdiction of the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act. (Civ. Code, § 1350 et seq.) In October 1998, Moran sent a letter to the Association’s management company, CC&R Management, asking for the Association to contact…