Opinion ID: 6491588
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Incorporation of KHHA, Its Charter, and Its By-Laws

Text: On October 1, 1982, employees of OHC filed a Petition for Charter of Incorporation with the Department of Regulatory Agencies (now known as the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs), State of Hawaii, seeking to form KHHA as a non[ jprofit corporation. The petition was granted. KHHA’s Charter of Incorporation (Charter) .... provided that each owner of a lot in the Subdivision “shall automatically become a member of [KHHA] and shall be entitled to and be bound by all the rights, duties, privileges and obligations of a member” as established by the Charter, the By-Laws of KHHA, and any rules and regulations adopted by KHHA. The Charter granted various powers to KHHA, including the following express powers: (d)It may fix, levy, collect, and enforce payment of, by any lawful means, any and all charges and assessments against its members.... (e) It may adopt rules and regulations governing the facilities, properties, easements, and other areas owned and/or maintained and operated by [KHHA]. (f) It may, but shall not be obligated to, take such action as is deemed necessary to enforce any recorded or unrecorded covenants and restrictions governing the use of the property within the Subdivision, including, but not limited to, the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions ... as same may be amended from time to time. KHHA’s By-Laws provided, among other things, that [t]he rights of membership [in KHHA] are subject to the payment of assessments levied by [KHHA], the obligation of which assessments is imposed against each Owner of and becomes a lien upon the lot against which such assessments are made.... Neither OHC nor Pioneer recorded KHHA’s Charter or By[-L]aws against title to the lots in the Subdivision in the Bureau of Conveyances of the State of Hawaii. The Declaration and the First Amended Declaration, which were recorded, do not mention KHHA or refer to the power of a homeowners’ association to levy assessments on lot owners in the Subdivision. KHHA I, 112 Hawaii at 358-59, 145 P.3d at 901-02 (emphasis added) (some alterations in original).