Category Archives: Superior Court

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Val Vista Lakes sued Susan Wellman over alleged violations of the association’s declaration and governing documents. The November 2023 ruling describes the alleged conditions as a large quantity of trash, unauthorized backyard structures where transient individuals were living, inoperable vehicles, and other nuisance conditions.

A June 2021 default hearing produced a formal judgment against Wellman. In November 2021, after an order-to-show-cause hearing, the court reaffirmed the injunction, ordered notice before the association removed unapproved structures and debris, and stated that trash and debris were not to accumulate in the yard in the future. A correction a week later made clear that Wellman and others were not to interfere with association removal efforts.

The association later used the injunction’s self-help remedy. The November 3, 2023 ruling states that its contractors removed more than 220,000 pounds of trash and other unauthorized items at a cost of $38,960.99, not including attorneys’ fees and costs. The association charged that cleanup amount to Wellman’s ledger under the default judgment and governing documents. After partial payments, it filed a supplemental complaint to foreclose on the remaining balance.

Judge Scott A. Blaney granted partial summary judgment for Val Vista Lakes on lien foreclosure. The court held that the cleanup costs were properly charged to the ledger and secured by the association’s assessment lien. It also held the association was entitled to foreclose because, when the supplemental complaint was filed, Wellman was delinquent in payment of lien-secured amounts of at least $1,200 under A.R.S. § 33-1807(A).

Wellman argued that the association failed to satisfy the A.R.S. § 33-1807(K) notice requirement before filing foreclosure. The court rejected that argument on the facts before it, reasoning that the parties were already litigating the issue and the court had already entered the default judgment, so Wellman had sufficient notice that collection activity was underway.

The collected record continued after the foreclosure ruling. Later entries ordered settlement-conference steps and addressed a separate contempt/enforcement track. On March 28, 2025, the court denied Wellman’s Rule 50 motion, holding that the self-help provision was permissive rather than a prerequisite to court enforcement. The last collected minute entry continued the remaining contempt/enforcement hearing to July 24, 2025.

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Vanyo sought access across property within the Carefree Foothills subdivision to reach adjacent property. The October 1, 2007 ruling framed the key question as whether an implied way-of-necessity easement would allow a road across subdivision property even though all parties agreed such a road would violate the subdivision CC&Rs on their face.

The court denied both sides’ summary-judgment motions. It found factual disputes over whether the property was landlocked, what development would be possible with access, whether road access could connect different parts of the property, whether the association waived the relevant CC&R restriction, and whether plaintiffs had enough evidence to prove an implied way of necessity.

The first jury trial ended on November 20, 2007. The jury answered yes to the special-verdict question asking whether the association had waived the right to enforce the single-family-use restriction in the CC&Rs. The court entered judgment in April 2008 and later denied the defendants’ renewed judgment-as-a-matter-of-law, new-trial, and alter-or-amend motions, stating that the judgment comported with the jury verdict.

The record then resumes after appeal. A 2011 reassignment entry says the Court of Appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. On January 23, 2012, Judge Katherine Cooper ruled that implied way of necessity had already been decided by the appellate court and would not be retried as a claim or defense. The court also ruled that, as a matter of law, access resulting from private condemnation of the CC&R restriction included underground utility access.

The second jury trial ended on February 2, 2012. The jury found plaintiffs entitled to condemn an interest in the CC&Rs for a private way of necessity and set just compensation at zero dollars. On March 15, 2012, the court approved and entered a formal written modified judgment.

Video overview of the ruling

An AI-generated video overview of David B. Vanyo v. Carefree Foothills Homeowners Association (CV2006-011927 (Maricopa County Superior Court)). Juries found HOA waiver of a CC&R use restriction and later allowed private condemnation of CC&R access. This plain-language summary was generated from the court’s filings; the court’s own ruling controls.

Listen: audio deep dive on the ruling

An AI-generated audio deep dive walking through the court’s reasoning and disposition in David B. Vanyo v. Carefree Foothills Homeowners Association. Generated from the case filings; verify against the linked ruling below.

Procedural timeline

Case Dossier

This dossier combines the case metadata, linked court sources, and the explanatory sections below. It distinguishes court rulings from party filings, allegations, and requested relief.

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Carpediem Investments bought Desert Mountain property that had been treated as one assembled parcel even though the final plat showed two lots. The dispute turned on whether Carpediem could undo that arrangement and develop the property as two separate lots, or whether Desert Mountain and neighboring owners could force the property to remain a single unit.

The December 10, 2007 under-advisement ruling narrowed the case. Judge Paul A. Katz granted summary judgment to the real-estate defendants, denied Carpediem’s own summary-judgment request to declare the lot tie invalid, denied Desert Mountain’s summary-judgment request on negligent misrepresentation and part of the declaratory claim because genuine issues remained, and granted Desert Mountain summary judgment on promissory estoppel.

The key HOA ruling came on May 7, 2008. The court granted Carpediem’s summary-judgment motion against Desert Mountain on the enforceability of the lot assemblage. It held that Desert Mountain did not have standing or contractual rights to compel Carpediem to maintain and develop the property as a single unit. The court reasoned that the association was not in privity with the City of Scottsdale or Carpediem’s predecessor on the hold-as-one-parcel agreement and was not a third-party beneficiary of that agreement.

The ruling did not strip Desert Mountain of ordinary HOA powers. The court said the association could enforce restrictive covenants for the association’s benefit, and that Carpediem’s future construction plans remained subject to association approval. But that approval could not be unreasonably withheld, and the association’s review power did not create a separate right to require one-home development if city approval, the final plat, zoning, and restrictive covenants allowed two separate lots.

Later entries focused on trial settings, sanctions procedure, a special-action stay, and settlement. In January 2009 the parties reported a settlement between Carpediem and the association defendants, and the court vacated the sanctions hearing, final pretrial conference, and trial. On March 18, 2010, the court entered a judgment signed three days earlier after finding Carpediem entitled to its requested attorneys’ fees and costs.

Video overview of the ruling

An AI-generated video overview of Carpediem Investments LLC v. Desert Mountain Master Association (CV2006-052755 (Maricopa County Superior Court)). Association could review plans but could not force two recorded lots to stay assembled as one parcel. This plain-language summary was generated from the court’s filings; the court’s own ruling controls.

Listen: audio deep dive on the ruling

An AI-generated audio deep dive walking through the court’s reasoning and disposition in Carpediem Investments LLC v. Desert Mountain Master Association. Generated from the case filings; verify against the linked ruling below.

Procedural timeline

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This dossier combines the case metadata, linked court sources, and the explanatory sections below. It distinguishes court rulings from party filings, allegations, and requested relief.

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Foothills Club West is a master planned community with a separate Golf Course Declaration. The Master CC&Rs required 75% owner approval for most amendments, including amendments involving addition or annexation of property. The Golf Course Declaration restricted the golf-course property to golf-course and related uses and allowed the original declarant to transfer declarant rights by recorded instrument.

The association accepted an Assignment of Declarant Rights in 2010. In 2018, the association signed a First Amendment to the Golf Course Declaration adding a process for member approval of a future change from golf use to non-golf use. The Conservancy alleged the association and board members lacked authority to accept those declarant rights, lacked authority to amend the Golf Course Declaration, and used executive sessions in a way that violated Arizona’s planned-community open-meeting statute.

Judge Daniel Kiley first denied the association defendants’ motion to dismiss. The July 1, 2020 ruling held the Conservancy had sufficiently pleaded representational standing, that the golf-course owner was not a basis for dismissal under Rule 19, that A.R.S. § 10-3304 did not bar declaratory relief, and that Paragraph 11.8 of the CC&Rs was broad enough to let owners enforce the governing documents through the Conservancy.

After an evidentiary hearing, Judge Kiley entered a preliminary injunction. The October 30, 2020 ruling found serious questions about whether the board could accept declarant rights and amend the Golf Course Declaration in executive session, and about whether a tract declaration could use a lower amendment threshold than the 75% threshold in the Master Declaration. The injunction barred votes to amend the governing documents to authorize non-golf use or development while the merits were pending.

Judge Andrew Russell later resolved the merits on summary judgment. The March 23, 2021 ruling held that accepting declarant rights effectively brought the golf-course property under association control and therefore required compliance with the Master CC&Rs’ annexation/amendment process. The court also held the association violated A.R.S. § 33-1804 because accepting the assignment and executing amendments occurred in executive session, and executive sessions may not be used for final votes or action.

Final Rule 54(c) judgment was entered November 10, 2021. The judgment declared the Assignment of Declarant Rights, the First Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment null and void ab initio; held Shea Homes did not validly transfer declarant rights to the association; held the association did not become declarant under the Golf Course Declaration; awarded the Conservancy $5,108.83 plus interest; released the injunction bond; and stated no matters remained pending.

Video overview of the ruling

An AI-generated video overview of Club West Conservancy v. Foothills Club West Community Association (CV2020-003577 (Maricopa County Superior Court)). HOA lacked authority to accept golf-course declarant rights without a 75% CC&R amendment vote. This plain-language summary was generated from the court’s filings; the court’s own ruling controls.

Listen: audio deep dive on the ruling

An AI-generated audio deep dive walking through the court’s reasoning and disposition in Club West Conservancy v. Foothills Club West Community Association. Generated from the case filings; verify against the linked ruling below.

Procedural timeline

Case Dossier

This dossier combines the case metadata, linked court sources, and the explanatory sections below. It distinguishes court rulings from party filings, allegations, and requested relief.

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Nicdon 10663 LLC owned a residence in Desert Mountain. In 2018, Desert Mountain Master Association recorded an amendment to its Master Declaration that restricted short-term rentals to eligible renters and generally barred rentals to ineligible renters for periods of less than thirty days. The court described the core dispute as whether the association followed the correct procedure to adopt that rental restriction and whether the restriction was valid.

The association first tried a 60-day rental proposal, received substantial owner objections, then rescinded that proposal and moved forward with a 30-day minimum. The February 2018 board resolution triggered the Section 5.20 objection process. More than ten percent of members objected, so the matter went to a member vote. The ruling states that 1,323 owners voted for the amendment, 430 voted against it, and 8 abstained out of 1,761 votes cast.

Nicdon argued the amendment was invalid because the declaration did not warn buyers that the association could add a new 30-day rental minimum, because the amendment allegedly favored the Desert Mountain Golf Club, because Arizona law required a different level of consent, and because the amendment process allegedly violated open-meeting requirements and the governing documents. Desert Mountain argued Section 4.2 expressly allowed use restrictions to be amended or added, and Section 5.20 supplied the voting process for that major decision.

Judge Danielle J. Viola granted Desert Mountain summary judgment on July 29, 2019. The court held that Section 4.2 expressly contemplated adding use restrictions, Section 5.20 required two-thirds of eligible votes present in person or by absentee ballot at the called meeting rather than a majority of all members, the amendment applied uniformly, and A.R.S. § 33-1806 supported enforcement of declaration-based rental time-period restrictions. The court also found Nicdon had not shown that alleged open-meeting problems voided the later owner vote.

On October 24, 2019, the court clarified that the July ruling did not give Nicdon any new right to rent to prospective club members who were not eligible renters under the amendment. The same ruling denied Nicdon leave to file an amended complaint, awarded Desert Mountain $109,145.00 in attorneys’ fees and $4,673.79 in costs, and denied Nicdon’s fee request. Later entries denied Nicdon’s new-trial motion, set a supersedeas bond, temporarily stayed enforcement after a subpoena dispute, and denied Desert Mountain’s supplemental fee application as untimely.

Video overview of the case record

An AI-generated video overview of Nicdon 10663 LLC v. Desert Mountain Master Association (CV2018-015165 (Maricopa County Superior Court)). CC&R amendment adding a 30-day rental minimum upheld under the declaration’s voting procedure. This plain-language summary was generated from the court’s filings; the court’s own ruling controls.

Listen: audio deep dive on the case record

An AI-generated audio deep dive walking through the court record and procedural posture in Nicdon 10663 LLC v. Desert Mountain Master Association. Generated from the case filings; verify against the linked case records below.

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Case Dossier

This dossier combines the case metadata, linked court sources, and the explanatory sections below. It distinguishes court rulings from party filings, allegations, and requested relief.

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Joyce Jasper-Burnett sued the Chateau De Vie Four Townhouse Association (the “Association”) and AAM, LLC in Maricopa County Superior Court under 2017 case number CV2017-015815. As reflected in the court’s July 2018 ruling, her complaint included counts for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and equitable estoppel against the Association, and counts for aiding and abetting and negligence against AAM. The collected minute entries do not recite the underlying factual allegations behind those counts.

On April 23, 2018 the defendants jointly moved to dismiss certain counts of the complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. Judge Randall H. Warner set oral argument for June 27, 2018, noting that the June judicial rotation would move the civil calendar to Judge Pamela Gates. At the June 27 argument, Joseph C. Dolan appeared for the plaintiff and Lydia A. Peirce Linsmeier appeared for the defendants in place of Nicholas C.S. Nogami; Judge Gates took the motion under advisement.

Judge Gates issued the under-advisement ruling on July 18, 2018. Quoting Coleman v. City of Mesa, the court framed the question as whether the facts alleged were sufficient “to warrant allowing the [Plaintiff] to attempt to prove [her] case,” accepting all material facts alleged by the plaintiff as true and permitting dismissal only when a plaintiff “would not be entitled to relief under any interpretation of the facts susceptible of proof.” Applying that standard, the court denied dismissal of Count Three (negligence) and Count Four (equitable estoppel) against the Association and Count One (aiding and abetting) against AAM, but granted dismissal of Count Two — breach of fiduciary duty against the Association and negligence against AAM.

The case then moved toward resolution. In October 2018 the parties jointly asked for a referral to a settlement conference, and at a November 7, 2018 status conference the court granted the request, referring the case to the Superior Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Department for appointment of a judge pro tempore to conduct a mandatory settlement conference no later than February 11, 2019. Plaintiff’s counsel confirmed the case was on the arbitration track, and the matter was continued on the dismissal calendar to February 28, 2019.

In February 2019 the parties jointly requested an emergency status conference. At that conference on February 27, 2019, the court found the parties had not knowingly or intentionally waived their right to arbitration and ordered arbitration to proceed. The court-appointed arbitrator, Nicholas C. Abdo, had filed a Notice of Potential Conflict; after the plaintiff’s counsel objected to his continuing, the court excused Mr. Abdo and sent the case to the arbitration desk for appointment of a new arbitrator. The dismissal deadline was extended to August 27, 2019.

Arbitration never ran its course. The parties filed a Notice of Settlement on March 5, 2019, and the next day the court vacated the August dismissal deadline, set the case for dismissal on May 6, 2019 unless a stipulated judgment or stipulation for dismissal was submitted, and deemed all pending motions moot. The collected minute entries end there.

Video overview of the case record

An AI-generated video overview of Joyce Jasper-Burnett v. Chateau De Vie Four Townhouse Association, et al. (CV2017-015815 (Maricopa County Superior Court)). The superior court granted in part and denied in part the defendants’ Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss: it dismissed… This plain-language summary was generated from the court’s filings; the court’s own ruling controls.

Listen: audio deep dive on the case record

An AI-generated audio deep dive walking through the court record and procedural posture in Joyce Jasper-Burnett v. Chateau De Vie Four Townhouse Association, et al.. Generated from the case filings; verify against the linked case records below.

Procedural timeline

Case Dossier

This dossier combines the case metadata, linked court sources, and the explanatory sections below. It distinguishes court rulings from party filings, allegations, and requested relief.

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The dispute grew out of an earlier lawsuit against the association itself. A homeowner in the Sycamore Hills community sued the association in Pima County Superior Court (Zablotny v. Sycamore Hills Estates Homeowner’s Association, No. C20154533), alleging the wrongful and/or unauthorized expenditure of association funds on a property improvement project. The association retained the Phoenix law firm Jones Skelton & Hochuli — through one of its attorneys, Diana Elston — to represent it, including in negotiating a settlement of that dispute. Before the settlement was final, the association brought in a Tucson firm, Goldschmidt Shupe, which took over the final stages of negotiations and completed the settlement on or about March 13, 2017.

Dissatisfied with the settlement, the association sued Jones Skelton & Hochuli in Pima County Superior Court on November 27, 2018 (No. C20185762); venue was changed to Maricopa County Superior Court on or about July 12, 2019, where the case became CV2019-094307. The complaint pleaded three counts: negligence/legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, and — against the firm only — breach of contract. The association alleged the firm entered into a settlement agreement without appropriate approval from the association’s board of directors and failed to abide by “oral directions” given by board members, arguing that those oral directions formed a series of “mini-contracts” separate from the written retainer agreement.

The firm moved for summary judgment on the contract count on July 24, 2019. After briefing and a December 10, 2019 oral argument, Judge David J. Palmer issued an under-advisement ruling on December 11, 2019 granting the motion. Relying on Keonjian v. Olcott and Collins v. Miller & Miller, Ltd., the court explained that claims for professional malpractice are generally tort claims, and that the distinction is between nonfeasance and malfeasance: carrying out a task negligently does not change the gravamen of the action from tort to contract. The court was unpersuaded that oral directions from the settlement committee of the association’s board created a new contract separate from the signed retainer agreement, found no genuine issues of material fact, and ordered the firm to submit a proposed form of judgment with Rule 54(b) language.

Two follow-on fights were argued together on March 3, 2020 and decided in an April 9, 2020 under-advisement ruling. The first was discovery: the firm — which had filed a notice naming Goldschmidt Shupe as a non-party at fault — subpoenaed the association’s communications with that successor firm, and the association objected on attorney-client privilege grounds, arguing the parties had agreed to limit discovery to November 29, 2016 through March 15, 2017. Applying the three-part waiver test from Elia v. Pifer, the court found that by filing the lawsuit the association put its Goldschmidt Shupe communications at issue, that those discussions were “clearly relevant and vital” to the malpractice claims, and that privilege was therefore waived as to any communications with Goldschmidt Shupe related to the underlying litigation, the settlement negotiations, or the settlement agreement. It ordered the association and Goldschmidt Shupe to comply with the firm’s second subpoena.

The second issue was attorneys’ fees. Both parties agreed the court had discretion under A.R.S. § 12-341.01 to award fees based on its resolution of the contract question. Citing Lacer v. Navajo County — “[a] party is entitled to an award of its attorney’s fees under A.R.S. §12-341.01 if judgment in its favor is based upon the absence of the contract sued upon by the adverse party” — the court found that an award of attorneys’ fees to be paid by Sycamore Hills to Jones Skelton was appropriate, and set a schedule for the firm’s fee application and the association’s response.

The case never reached trial on the remaining tort counts. The court had ordered a mandatory settlement conference in January 2020 (with the completion deadline later extended to October 30, 2020), and on June 10, 2020 the defendants filed a Notice of Settlement. The court vacated the pretrial conference, placed the matter on the dismissal calendar, and — after the parties filed a stipulation to dismiss on June 28, 2020 — dismissed the case with prejudice as to all parties and claims on June 30, 2020. The settlement terms and any final fee amount do not appear in the minute entries.

Video overview of the ruling

An AI-generated video overview of Sycamore Hills Estates Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Jones Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C., et al. (CV2019-094307 (Maricopa County Superior Court)). An attorney’s alleged failure to follow a client’s oral directions — including directions from the settlement… This plain-language summary was generated from the court’s filings; the court’s own ruling controls.

Listen: audio deep dive on the ruling

An AI-generated audio deep dive walking through the court’s reasoning and disposition in Sycamore Hills Estates Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Jones Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C., et al.. Generated from the case filings; verify against the linked ruling below.

Procedural timeline

Case Dossier

This dossier combines the case metadata, linked court sources, and the explanatory sections below. It distinguishes court rulings from party filings, allegations, and requested relief.

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Steven and Janet Piper sued the Will Rogers Equestrian Ranch Community Association in Maricopa County Superior Court in 2013, and the association filed a counterclaim. The collected minute entries do not restate the pleadings in detail, but the court’s dispositive ruling shows what the fight was about: the community barn, and whether a person who keeps a horse there is bound to participate in the barn’s program under the community’s governing document.

The first ruling came on the counterclaim. The Pipers moved in January 2014 to dismiss it for failure to state a claim. On February 4, 2014, Judge Michael J. Herrod denied the motion without oral argument but ordered the association to file an amended pleading stating its claim more definitely. In August 2014 an application for entry of default on the counterclaim was filed against the Pipers; the assigned division took no action on it and routed any Rule 55(b) default-judgment proceedings to Commissioner James Morrow. No default ruling appears in the collected minute entries.

The case then moved to dueling summary-judgment motions before Judge James T. Blomo. The association filed a verified motion for summary judgment on August 6, 2014, followed by a request for summary disposition under Rule 7.1. The Pipers responded on September 14, 2014 and cross-moved for summary judgment, supported by Janet Piper’s affidavit. The association moved to strike the Pipers’ response; the court denied that motion on September 22, 2014. Briefing closed in late October 2014, and oral argument — originally set for January 30, 2015 — was reset to February 20, 2015.

At the February 20, 2015 argument, J. Roger Wood appeared for the Pipers and Augustus H. Shaw IV and Lydia Linsmeier appeared for the association. After hearing argument, the court denied the Pipers’ cross-motion from the bench and took the association’s motion under advisement. On March 2, 2015, Judge Blomo issued the under-advisement ruling granting the association’s verified motion. Applying the Rule 56 standard, the court found — based on the pleadings, affidavits, statements, and argument of counsel — that “if a person decides to keep a horse in the community barn they agree to participate in the barn’s program,” that “[w]hile the document may be inartfully drafted, the plain meaning is clear,” and that there were no material facts in dispute as to Counts 1, 2, 3, and 4.

The counterclaim was resolved next. The association, as counterclaimant, filed its own motion for summary judgment on March 17, 2015. The Pipers filed no response, and on April 29, 2015 the court granted the motion under Rule 56(e)(4) and Rule 7.1, finding it “uncontested, supported by the facts and appropriate.”

The endgame was brief. The Pipers filed a motion for reconsideration and a request to extend the summary-judgment briefing schedule, and on May 11, 2015 the court ordered the association to respond within ten days. The next day, May 12, 2015, the court received a Notice of Settlement and placed the case on the dismissal calendar for June 16, 2015 — unless a stipulated judgment or stipulation for dismissal was submitted by that date, all remaining claims and parties would be dismissed. The collected minute entries end there.

Video overview of the case record

An AI-generated video overview of Steven Piper v. Will Rogers Equestrian Ranch Community Association (CV2013-014446 (Maricopa County Superior Court)). The superior court granted the association’s verified motion for summary judgment on all four of the plaintiffs’… This plain-language summary was generated from the court’s filings; the court’s own ruling controls.

Listen: audio deep dive on the case record

An AI-generated audio deep dive walking through the court record and procedural posture in Steven Piper v. Will Rogers Equestrian Ranch Community Association. Generated from the case filings; verify against the linked case records below.

Procedural timeline

Case Dossier

This dossier combines the case metadata, linked court sources, and the explanatory sections below. It distinguishes court rulings from party filings, allegations, and requested relief.

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Woodmar IV Association, Inc. is a homeowners association; Paul S. Rubin, Inc., doing business as PRM Association Management, is the property-management company that previously managed the community. The Association filed its complaint on July 31, 2017, alleging that while PRM managed the property it stole approximately $244,000 from the association. As the case developed, the Association’s claims included breach of contract, negligence, and conversion, built on allegations that PRM economically damaged the Association by mismanaging its funds, failing to keep accurate financial records, and failing to properly disclose those records to the Association.

The case began on the compulsory-arbitration track. At a January 2018 telephonic status conference, Judge Joshua D. Rogers vacated a scheduled arbitration hearing and extended the arbitration deadline while the Association’s motions to amend the complaint and to vacate arbitration were briefed. In March 2018 the court granted the Association’s motion to amend the complaint after oral argument, and in June 2018 — under the parties’ joint scheduling order — it referred the case to a mandatory settlement conference to be held by the end of November 2018.

Discovery became the center of the case. After PRM failed for roughly a year to allow entry onto its premises and forensic inspection of its computers, the Association moved to compel in June 2018; Judge David J. Palmer granted that motion by an order entered September 25, 2018. PRM moved for reconsideration, arguing among other things that the material was privileged because of a fiduciary duty owed to individual homeowners. In a January 30, 2019 under-advisement ruling the court rejected that argument — finding correct the Association’s position that an association owes no fiduciary duty to individual members, so its agent-manager owes none either — and denied reconsideration. The next day the court ruled on the Association’s motion for discovery sanctions: striking PRM’s answer and entering a default judgment of $244,567.00 was “too extreme” at that point, but the court warned it would seriously reconsider such sanctions if PRM kept delaying, and it awarded the Association additional attorneys’ fees and costs. In June 2019, with no response from PRM, the court set those at $8,000.00 in fees and $54.20 in costs.

The forensic-inspection fight continued into 2019. After an April status conference, the court ruled on April 29, 2019 that the Association could remove imaged copies of data from PRM’s computer servers, laptop and desktop computers, and QuickBooks files from PRM’s premises for off-site examination, rejecting PRM’s insistence that review happen only at its offices with its own expert “looking over their shoulder.” When PRM sought “clarification” in May 2019 to protect attorney-client material — an issue the court noted had never before been raised — the court on August 12, 2019 simply added a clawback protocol: if the Association received a document reasonably deemed privileged, it must stop reading it, make no use of it, and notify opposing counsel. The same day, the court denied PRM’s request to transfer the case to Commercial Court as impermissibly late under either version of Rule 8.1.

PRM’s main merits attack also failed. Its motion for judgment on the pleadings argued the Association had not complied with contractual conditions precedent — notice of the alleged breach, a 30-day opportunity to cure, and an offer to mediate. In an April 3, 2019 under-advisement ruling the court denied the motion, noting the Association’s arguments that the cure provision presupposed an ongoing business relationship that no longer existed, that the parties had actually mediated unsuccessfully, and that the Association had offered to dismiss the litigation to mediate — an offer PRM refused. The same ruling granted the Association leave to file a second amended complaint adding a punitive-damages claim based on information turned up in discovery, applying Rule 15(a)(2) and Owen v. Superior Court and finding no unfair prejudice since no trial date had been set. The court denied PRM’s motions to reconsider that ruling on April 30 and again on August 9, 2019.

The endgame came quickly. On August 14, 2019 the court set oral argument on the Association’s renewed motion to reconsider sanctions, to which PRM had filed no response in sixty days. One week later, on August 21, 2019, a Notice of Settlement was received; the court vacated the argument and placed the case on its dismissal calendar for October 21, 2019, to be dismissed unless a stipulated judgment or stipulation for dismissal was submitted first. The collected minute entries do not disclose the settlement terms.

Procedural timeline

Case Dossier

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Penelope Johnson sued The Pointe South Mountain Residential Association in Maricopa County Superior Court in 2012 (case No. CV2012-017609). The minute entries show the litigation revolved around several distinct disputes: whether the Association could use “courthome” exterior-maintenance assessments to pay for common-area landscaping, watering, and road maintenance; a claim the minutes identify as the “cable issue,” which turned in part on what it means for units to be “separately metered and/or separately charged”; a “trust issue”; a fiduciary-duty allegation; and a claim for injunctive relief.

The early rounds went to the Association. In February 2013 it moved for partial dismissal of the fiduciary-duty allegations and of the claim for injunctive relief. After Johnson exercised a change of judge and the case was reassigned to Judge Douglas L. Rayes, the court granted both partial motions on April 11, 2013 — striking the words “and fiduciary capacity” from Paragraph 63(e) of the complaint — while denying the Association’s request for attorneys’ fees. In May 2013 the court also struck Johnson’s application for entry of default, again denying the Association’s fee request.

Both sides then moved for partial summary judgment, and Johnson sought a preliminary injunction. At a July 1, 2013 oral argument the court denied the preliminary injunction, granted the Association partial summary judgment on the trust issue, and denied the balance of both summary-judgment motions — except the courthome exterior-maintenance issue, which it reserved for trial. The Association’s cross-motion on the cable issue was taken under advisement and, at the August 1, 2013 final trial management conference, both sides’ cable-issue motions were denied, sending that question to trial as well.

The court held a two-day bench trial on August 12–13, 2013. Witnesses included Mike P. Harris, Kathleen Daurio, Steven J. Schloeder, and Johnson herself for the plaintiff’s case, and Kenneth Hensman, Barry Smith, and Guilford Nergard in the defense case; Harris was recalled to the stand on day two, and plaintiff’s counsel — limited at the pretrial conference to calling one Gosnell witness — was permitted to call Stuart “Steve” Berres out of order during the defense case. At the close of trial, for reasons stated on the record, the court found in favor of the Association on the cable issue and in favor of Johnson on the courthome exterior-maintenance issue, and directed each side to submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law on the issue it had won.

The remedy was refined over the following months. At a September 5, 2013 telephonic conference the court clarified that its ruling was intended “to stop and move forward prospectively,” observed that starting the assessment changes on January 1, 2014 “makes sense,” and directed the parties to mediate the start date and amounts. At a November 22, 2013 hearing — attended by the Association’s board president as an observer — the court ruled on objections to Johnson’s proposed findings, defined “separately metered and/or separately charged” as when each unit is metered separately and charged an individual amount, and clarified that its earlier use of the phrase “good faith” was a term of art rather than a legal finding. On December 11, 2013 the court issued its written clarification: paragraph 6.2 of the Declaration, read with paragraph 1.15, makes the courthome exterior-maintenance obligation include repair and maintenance of all courthome balconies, trellises, patio covers, and boundary walls that enclose courthome patios and/or backyards — and the Association may use courthome assessments only for repair and maintenance of the courthome exteriors as described by paragraph 6.2.

Both sides then moved for attorneys’ fees. In its March 17, 2014 under-advisement ruling, the court acknowledged that each party had prevailed on some claims, but found the heart of the case was whether the Declaration allowed courthome assessment fees to pay common-area landscaping, watering, and road-maintenance expenses — an issue Johnson won, with the Association ordered to discontinue the misuse of the courthome assessments. Applying the factors in Associated Indemnity Corporation v. Warner, the court granted Johnson’s fee motion under A.R.S. § 12-341.01, awarded her $56,000 in fees and $2,889.15 in costs, denied the Association’s fee motion, overruled its objection to the form of judgment, and entered judgment under Rule 54(c). A June 2020 clerk’s notice on exhibit disposition states the case is not subject to further modification.

Video overview of the ruling

An AI-generated video overview of Penelope Johnson v. The Pointe South Mountain Residential Association (CV2012-017609 (Maricopa County Superior Court)). After a bench trial, the court held that the Declaration did not permit the Association to use courthome… This plain-language summary was generated from the court’s filings; the court’s own ruling controls.

Listen: audio deep dive on the ruling

An AI-generated audio deep dive walking through the court’s reasoning and disposition in Penelope Johnson v. The Pointe South Mountain Residential Association. Generated from the case filings; verify against the linked ruling below.

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Case Dossier

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