Glassner

BACKGROUND

Glassner’s live-in partner, Crystine Lee, purchased a home in the Pointe Marin neighborhood and became a member of the Pointe Marin Homeowners’ Association (HOA). Glassner, Lee, and Glassner’s two sons from a prior marriage moved into the Pointe Marin home in April 2011. Upon moving in, as Glassner tells it, “our home had no landscaping and was not appropriately graded,” such that water would, after rainstorms, pool and flow toward the home, rendering “[o]ur yard” unsightly and threatening long-term structural damage. Thus, Glassner and Lee decided to make improvements to the property. As the improvements were not approved by the HOA, the HOA, in June 2011, imposed a fine of $5,925 on Lee, who was then sole owner of the property. Lee eventually paid $4,000 to the HOA under protest, and then, in December 2011, sued the HOA in small claims court, seeking reimbursement of $2,979, claiming the levied fine was improper and excessive. In February 2012, Lee filed a second small claims action against the HOA, seeking $5,137.50 because of its alleged failure to disclose records to her upon request. Just after Lee filed her first lawsuit, Glassner, in late January 2012, sent a…