Homeowner Directors OK Settlement With Developer
Officials of a Thousand Oaks homeowner association have approved a proposed $123,000 settlement with a developer who was awarded about $688,000 in damages by a federal judge.
The five directors of Westlake North Property Owners Assn. approved the proposed settlement Thursday after negotiating for several months with Lang Ranch Co., one of two developers of the 2,500-acre Lang Ranch. The damages, believed to be among the highest ever imposed on a homeowner group, were awarded in February by U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian Jr., who dismissed a suit filed by the homeowners against a 2,257-unit housing project. He ordered the association and its attorneys to pay a total of $735,000 to Lang Ranch Co. and the Anden Group, the co-developer.
Members Informed
Information about the proposed settlement was mailed Friday to the association’s 450 members. It must be approved by a majority vote of the members. The votes will be tallied at a June 1 meeting, said Rick Dixon, the group’s president.
Dixon and other association officials Tuesday refused to comment on the board’s action, saying it is up to homeowners to decide whether to settle the case instead of pursuing it in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Dixon said that if homeowners approve the agreement, the association will pay the $123,000 over five years by dipping into its general fund or by voting to impose a special assessment on members.
He declined to reveal how much money is in the group’s general fund or whether members can resign to escape an assessment. The association owns a community center on about an acre of land on Westlake Boulevard at Valley Spring Drive.
Dixon said the homeowners are still negotiating a settlement with the Anden Group, which was awarded $47,000 in damages.
Settlement Welcomed
Paul Hamilton, an attorney for Lang Ranch Co., said the developer welcomes the settlement because “there comes a time when it is best for all concerned to put matters of dispute behind and go on with everyone’s lives.” But Hamilton said Lang Ranch Co. will still hold Shelby Moore and Teresa Hooks, the association’s attorneys, liable for the remaining $565,000 in damages if the homeowners approve the $123,000 settlement.
Hooks said she and Moore have appealed the damages rather than negotiate a settlement with the developer because they are confident that they will win.
Ordinarily, they would have to post a bond for the damages, but last week a three-judge panel in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals waived the requirement, based on the strength of their case, Hooks said.
“It’s unfortunate that the board had so much pressure exerted on it by homeowners who were scared their homes would be taken away that it felt it had to pay Lang Ranch any money to settle the case,” Hooks said.
