Update on Lawsuit Against me

Started by JaneL2 • 7 replies • 346 views

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JaneL2 (Texas)
Posts: 175

Posted:

Hi. Just wanted to update you all about what happened when my psycho neighbor sued me for breach of deed restrictions.

To summerize, She moved into our property in 2018. Our documents state that the exterior of our homes are common property.
At that time Texas law did not make an exception for security cameras. It was not until 2021 when the Texas Law changed that prevented a
HOA from banning the use of security cameras.

SO, in 2019, My neighbor installed cameras on the exterior of her building and aimed them directly at my front window and porch.
I complained to the HOA board and management company for a year and nothing was ever done to stop her.
I eventually put on the sidewalk that leads only to my front door, 3 artificial trees to partially block the view of her cameras.

She was furious and even though her attorney sent a claim and demand letter for the items to be removed and I complied by the deadline,
she sued anyway. On her own she felt as though that she had the power to enforce the covenants. I had never been violated by the association.

We went through a year in the JP court where I was defending myself. They filed a motion for summary disposition and at that hearing, the judge
was leaning towards only giving them $200 and letting the jury that I demanded to decide the other matters. But, I misunderstood something that the
judge had said and while the plaintiff and her attorney were out in the hall, I called the judge biased. SHe was furious and reviersed her ruling
granting them 17K and told me that I would have to pay 33K to appeal in the county court.

I filed to the county court and filed an affidavit of inability to pay and case was not heard until July 2023. By this time, her attorneys fees
were close to 40k which she was trying to get me to pay.

She lost.Our documents say very clearly that IF A OWNER IS IN VIOLATION, AND "THE ASSOCIATION IS IN THE OPINION" THAT ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN OR A VIOLATION IS WRITTEN, that the association
could take legal injuctive relief and recover also attornies fees. I kept telling my neighbor that she had no authority to enforce the restrictions but she believed that since the judge in
the JP ruled in their favor that she would win.

Thank you for all of the advice I received from yall. She has to pay her own attornies fees.

ElleN (Idaho)
Posts: 4,420

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JaneL2 on 10/13/2023 8:50 AM

She was furious and even though her attorney sent a claim and demand letter for the items to be removed and I complied by the deadline,
she sued anyway. On her own she felt as though that she had the power to enforce the covenants.

Thanks for the update. But I do think something got lost in translation here.

Individual owners always or nearly always have the power to enforce the covenants.

Where you appear to have prevailed is with regard to attorney's fees. The latter is a different issue. It's not unusual for the HOA to be entitled to attorney's fees (if the HOA prevails in a covenant-enforcement action). But if an owner prevails, recovery of attorney's fees will not happen unless the covenants or state statute authorize recovery of attorney's fees. Evidently no such covenant or statute exists for this particular situation. Hence you did not have to pay your adversary's attorney fees.

I do not expect to get all the facts here. My post herein is a "just saying."

JaneL2 (Texas)
Posts: 175

Posted:

It depends on what it says in your documents. My neighbor could have sued for injunctive relief. Instead she sue for 20K and attorneys fees.
When a person is given a claim and demand letter with a deadline to remedy that says unless you do these things we will sue you and the person does
what is stated, that in itself negates her ability to recover anything from me.

I will provide anything you ask, I have nothing to hide

ElleN (Idaho)
Posts: 4,420

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JaneL2 on 10/13/2023 9:36 AM

When a person is given a claim and demand letter with a deadline to remedy that says unless you do these things we will sue you and the person does
what is stated, that in itself negates her ability to recover anything from me.

This makes sense to me.

I am just not clear on exactly what the owner sued you for initially in small claims court. Respectfully, I am not all that interested. You ultimately won, and you sound happy with the outcome. Good for you. I mean that sincerely. I do not like what this neighbor did with the cameras. I do not like what is going on with the trash either.

JaneL2 (Texas)
Posts: 175

Posted:

She sued me for a Breach of of deed restrictions for placing items in my front area that would be consider common area since it is outside of my 4 walls without permission irespectively
of the fact that she had violated the restriction by installing the cameras in the common area without permission

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061

Posted:

Lesson learned: Despite the outcome, do not tick off the court.

I do have a question: Did the judge allow the other issues to go to a jury (and if so, are those trials still pending) or did the judge rule on everything when they changed their mind?

JaneL2 (Texas)
Posts: 175

Posted:

Tim, The JP court judge, who is only an elected citizen with no legal training other than a required 30 hours, blanketed the judgment also denying my counterclaims of trespassing.

Her other issue was that she accused me of damaging her garage when I pulled down a tree limb that she kept coming about. However, I had pics of her garage before and after and the

damage was already there.

When I finally got to the County Court at Law #1 the actual hearing, by then I had a probono attorney. The judge who actually knows how to interpret law and in this case, the judge
was not corrupt so politics were not involved, she was furious with the plaintiff and her counsel because I had already remedied the issues before they sued me. My attorney and her attorney
were in talking to the judge for 5 hours while the plaintiff and I were out in the hallway with the wood be jury. THe attorneys came out and my attorney told me that the judge denied their
claims and he wanted me to drop my counterclaim because I was not going to have to pay any of her fees. Her outstanding claim after the judge denied the MSJ on the breech was about the tree.
the judge told my attorney that if we took it to trial that she most likely would have had to pay me becuase the jury would have mostly likely granted my trespassing claim.
I do not know why I agreed to drop the counterclaim. The judge ordered us to come to some terms to agree upon. However, the plaintiff is asking me to do things that were not even a part of the lawsuit
I asked that she would stop recording at my front window and to stop throwing trash in my yard, SHe refused to agree and for all practical purposes their claim was denied but the case remains open
because we have not come to terms. Any orders written besides the denial of their MSJ are not signed by the judge. I truely regret not pursuing the trespass claim but, if she insist on going down
that path, it is not too late for me to sue her for trespass to real property.

JaneL2 (Texas)
Posts: 175

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JaneL2 on 10/13/2023 8:50 AM
Hi. Just wanted to update you all about what happened when my psycho neighbor sued me for breach of deed restrictions.

To summerize, She moved into our property in 2018. Our documents state that the exterior of our homes are common property.
At that time Texas law did not make an exception for security cameras. It was not until 2021 when the Texas Law changed that prevented a
HOA from banning the use of security cameras.

SO, in 2019, My neighbor installed cameras on the exterior of her building and aimed them directly at my front window and porch.
I complained to the HOA board and management company for a year and nothing was ever done to stop her.
I eventually put on the sidewalk that leads only to my front door, 3 artificial trees to partially block the view of her cameras.

She was furious and even though her attorney sent a claim and demand letter for the items to be removed and I complied by the deadline,
she sued anyway. On her own she felt as though that she had the power to enforce the covenants. I had never been violated by the association.

We went through a year in the JP court where I was defending myself. They filed a motion for summary disposition and at that hearing, the judge
was leaning towards only giving them $200 and letting the jury that I demanded to decide the other matters. But, I misunderstood something that the
judge had said and while the plaintiff and her attorney were out in the hall, I called the judge biased. SHe was furious and reviersed her ruling
granting them 17K and told me that I would have to pay 33K to appeal in the county court.

I filed to the county court and filed an affidavit of inability to pay and case was not heard until July 2023. By this time, her attorneys fees
were close to 40k which she was trying to get me to pay.

She lost.Our documents say very clearly that IF A OWNER IS IN VIOLATION, AND "THE ASSOCIATION IS IN THE OPINION" THAT ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN OR A VIOLATION IS WRITTEN, that the association
could take legal injuctive relief and recover also attornies fees. I kept telling my neighbor that she had no authority to enforce the restrictions but she believed that since the judge in
the JP ruled in their favor that she would win.

Thank you for all of the advice I received from yall. She has to pay her own attornies fees.

SPEAKING OF LAWSUITS, In Texas for a HOA who is a non profit corporation that decides to sue a property management company over mismanagement of funds or mismanagement of documents or anything like that an owner would have an interest in, aside from the public domain, Would the owners themselves need to be involved in this or can a Board of directors sue on behalf of the association without input from the association?

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