Blue Lagoon Community Assn. v. Mitchell

In Blue Lagoon Community Assn. v. Mitchell (1997) 55 Cal. App. 4th 472, the association brought a petition under Civil Code section 1356, which allows "the superior court to reduce the percentage of affirmative votes necessary to amend a declaration where the property owners' association is unable to obtain approval of the proposed amendments by the percentage of votes required by the declaration." (55 Cal. App. 4th at p. 474.) The association proposed amendments that had received approval by a majority of the members but had not received the supermajority vote required by the CC&R's. Members who were opposed to the amendments hired an attorney and filed papers in opposition to the petition, successfully defeating it after a contested hearing. However, the trial court refused the successful members' request for attorney fees under section 1354, subdivision (f). The Court affirmed the denial of attorney fees, finding the purpose of Civil Code section 1356 is to allow the association to eliminate the supermajority vote requirement when, "because of voter apathy or other reasons," diligent efforts to permit members to vote have not been effective in obtaining approval of important amendments through the procedures authorized in the governing documents. We stated, "When the limited purpose of section 1356 is fully understood it is obvious a petition brought under this section is not an adversarial proceeding. No defendants are named. No rights are sought to be protected. No wrongs are sought to be redressed. As such, it cannot be said that by opposing the petition the objectors were enforcing the governing documents and thus entitled to attorney fees and costs." ( Blue Lagoon Community Assn. v. Mitchell, supra, 55 Cal. App. 4th at p. 477.)