Source: http://ca.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20140312_0001771.CA.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2017-01-20 18:34:19
Document Index: 732645636

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1368', '§6150', '§ 6150', '§ 4', '§ 2017', '§ 952', '§ 2017', '§ 6150', '§ 5980']

| Seahaus La Jolla Owners Association v. Superior Court (La Jolla View Ltd., LLC)
Seahaus La Jolla Owners Association v. Superior Court (La Jolla View Ltd., LLC)
SEAHAUS LA JOLLA OWNERS ASSOCIATION, Petitioner,v.THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Respondent LA JOLLA VIEW LTD., LLC et al., Real Parties in Interest.
Petition for writ of mandate after superior court (Hon. John S. Meyer) granted motion to compel discovery responses over Petitioner's assertion of attorney-client privilege. San Diego County Super. Ct. No. 37-2009-00095253-CU- CD-CTL; No. 37-2010-00092634-CU-IC-CTL.
Bryan Cave, Robert E. Boone III, Edward M. Rosenfeld, Tony Tootell and David Harford for Real Parties in Interest Bank of America Corporation, Bank of America, N.A. and Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.
The record shows that counsel for the Association's board of directors (the Board) gave notice to the individual homeowners in June 2009 that the Board was pursuing mediation but was also contemplating filing construction defect Page 760
litigation. (Former Civ. Code, former § 1368.5, now §6150.)[1] Such litigation was filed in July of 2009, and the Board and its counsel subsequently conducted meetings with many individual homeowners of the 140 units, to apprise them of the status and goals of the litigation. Pursuant to the provisions of the governing documents, at one such litigation update meeting, the Board sought and obtained majority approval by the homeowners for pursuing the action. (Civ. Code, § 6150, subd. (b); Association's Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CCRs), § 4.4.11, "Members' Approval of Certain Actions.")
By the time of the later litigation update meetings, a subgroup of individual homeowners had filed its own companion action in which they seek damages for construction defects in their private individual units, and their action was coordinated for discovery purposes with the Association's action. (Sarnecky v. La Jolla View Ltd., LLC (Super. Ct. San Diego County, 2010, No. 37-2010-00092634-CU-IC-CTL)) (Sarnecky action).)[2]
Defendants' contested discovery requests were made during depositions of many individual homeowners, and seek to inquire into the content and disclosures made at those informational litigation update meetings, which were conducted by the Association's counsel. The Association objected, invoking the attorney-client privilege under Evidence Code[3] section 952 and the "common interest" doctrine. (See OXY Resources California LLC v. Superior Court (2004) 115 Cal.App.4th 874, 887-888 [9 Cal.Rptr.3d 621] (OXY Resources) [parties who possess common legal interests may share privileged information without losing the protection afforded by the privilege].) However, several rulings by the trial court have declined to allow such a privilege to be asserted by the Association, or have concluded any privilege was waived, regarding the communications received at the meetings by Page 761
individual homeowners who are not the actual clients of the Association's retained counsel. This petition ensued.
"Confidential communications" between client and lawyer are defined in section 952 as meaning "information transmitted between a client and his or her lawyer in the course of that relationship and in confidence by a means which, so far as the client is aware, discloses the information to no third persons other than those who are present to further the interest of the client in the consultation or those to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for the transmission of the information or the accomplishment of the purpose for which the lawyer is consulted, and includes a legal opinion formed and the advice given by the lawyer in the course of that relationship." (Italics & underscoring added.)
We evaluate this discovery dispute in the context of the usual first principles, that parties may obtain discovery regarding any unprivileged matter that is relevant to the subject of the pending action, or motions, but subject to the rule that "the matter either is itself admissible in evidence or appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence." (Code Civ. Proc., § 2017.010, italics added.) Defendants' claim to entitlement to information about the litigation update meetings is apparently based upon the claim of some of the individual plaintiffs to stigma damages for their units (apparently in the Sarnecky action). Defendants argue that in the Association's common area action, they should be able to inquire into the beliefs of the individual homeowner plaintiffs about damages and the source of their beliefs (such as any perceptions gained from information given to them by the Association's attorneys at the Board's litigation update meetings).
To the extent this record reveals anything about the purpose of the requested discovery, it shows that counsel for Defendants is seeking to develop information about the litigation strategy of the Association's counsel, including the legal opinions formed and the advice given by the lawyers in the course of that relationship, and such disclosures would not likely lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. (§ 952; Code Civ. Proc., § 2017.010; Mitchell v. Superior Court (1984) 37 Cal.3d 591, 609-610 [208 Cal.Rptr. 886, 691 P.2d 642] (Mitchell) [public policy concerns outlined against unwarranted invasions of privilege].)
In the Act governing common interest developments, the Legislature placed certain obligations on homeowners' association governing boards to communicate with individual owners about proposed construction defect litigation by the Association regarding the common areas. (Civ. Code, § 6150, subd. (a).) The Association may sue developers over common area defects, and Page 762
also over alleged damage to the separate interests that the Association must maintain or repair, or damage to the separate interests that is integrally related to damage to the common areas. (Ibid.; Civ. Code, § 5980.) By the same token, individual owners have economic interests in the value of not only their own individual units, but also in the state of the development as a whole. (Ostayan v. Nordhoff Townhomes Homeowners Assn., Inc. (2003) 110 Cal.App.4th 120, 126-127 [1 Cal.Rptr.3d 528] (Ostayan).)
On January 13, 2010, the Board and its mediation and litigation committee sent out a notice of an informational meeting to all homeowners, at which Page 763
counsel for the Association would be present to provide owners with information about the status of the claims against the developers and builders of the complex. The meeting was scheduled for January 26, 2010 for presentations by the attorneys and some of the ...