Court Opinion

ID: 9690637
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 19:27:35.734509+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:00.456138
License: Public Domain

LÓPEZ, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
Although I concur with the majority’s analysis of the monthly security guard assessments, I disagree with the majority’s analysis of road and drainage assessments. Section H of the restrictive covenants provides that the Association “may levy, in any assessment year, a special assessment applicable to that year only_” (Emphasis added). The plain meaning of the phrase “applicable to that year only” is that any special assessment levied is effective for the year in which it is assessed. The provision simply does not provide that the special assessment may be extended beyond the year assessed. Although the majority reasons that it is unreasonable to require the board to return to the property owners each year for approval of this special assessment, the practicality of rules contained within the restrictive covenants and amendments is not for this court to decide. There is no evidence in the Association’s motion for summary judgment to suggest that the Association obtained the requisite voter approval to levy special assessments for road and drainage for 1991 through 1996. As a result, this court cannot determine as a matter of law that the road and drainage assessments were valid for those years. I would reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand the cause to the trial court for the re-computation of damages. In addition, because the trial court’s judgment includes attorney’s fees, I would also remand for recalculation of attorney’s fees.