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Court Holds Homeowners Association May Exclude A Member’s Representative From Board Meetings

June 25, 2013

A new opinion published on June 20, 2013, holds that a homeowners association may exclude an owner’s representative from a board meeting because the representative was not “member” as defined by the association’s governing documents. In SB Liberty, LLC v. Isle Verde Association, Inc., the homeowner formed a limited liability company (“SB Liberty”) to hold […]

Ninth Circuit Decides A Copyright Troll Has No Standing to Sue

June 25, 2013
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“Trolls,” or intellectual property assertion entities, refer to business entities that purchase I.P. portfolios and file infringement lawsuits. Many are familiar with this concept in the patent context, but few recognize there are also assertion entities that purchase copyright assignments. In a recent Ninth Circuit case, Righthaven LLC v. Hoehn, 2013 WL 1908876, the panel […]

Beware: Independent Contractors May Not Be So Independent

April 24, 2013

HOA’s Maybe Liable For The Acts of an Independent Contractor Conventional wisdom has often assumed that when an HOA hires and independent contractor that the HOA will not be liable if the contractor is negligent and harms someone. After all, the contractor is “independent” and why should the HOA be liable when the contractor, over […]

Thou Shall Not E-Mail!

April 24, 2013

For better or worse, E-Mail has changed how common interest developments are governed. It has enabled more volunteer Board members to actively participate in the day to day operation of their common interest developments. Through the use of E-mail, Board members instantly can be apprised by their managing agents as to the status of construction, […]

Association Liability for Criminal Acts Causing Loss or Damage to Owner Property

March 25, 2013

In 1986, the California Supreme Court issued its ruling in Frances T. v. Village Green Owners Association. That decision – which has been the subject of critical commentary – holds that an association and its individual Board members can, in certain circumstances, be liable for bodily injuries sustained by a homeowner arising from a criminal […]

March 2013 Cut-off for Objections to New Top Level Domain Names

March 1, 2013

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will be issuing new generic top level domain names (gTLDs), like .sport or .hotel, to applicants later this year. Although the availability of generic top level domains is applauded by some because they will give companies another means to control their brand, others fear it will […]

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