Property Law Keyed to Dukeminier
Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Association, Inc.
ProfessorTodd Berman
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
Nahrstedt (P) owned her condominium in Lakeside Village, a common interest development in Los Angeles County, with 530 units. It was overseen and the CC&Rs enforced by the Lakeside Village Condominium Association (D), of which Nahrstedt was also a member since she owned her condo. One of the CC&Rs prohibited keeping any animals in any of the units. Nahrstedt allegedly was ignorant of this clause when she bought her condo. She kept her three cats in her unit, but did not allow them to have the run of the development’s common areas. Once the homeowners association found out about the pets in her home, they issued monthly fines for her violation of the CC&Rs. She sued the homeowners association, seeking invalidation of already imposed fines and an injunction preventing future fines on this issue, and a declaration that the pet-keeping restriction was unreasonable if applied to pets kept exclusively in the home, without disturbing anyone else. The homeowners association moved for dismissal of her complaint on the ground that she had no stated claim upon which to base relief. The court accepted their motion. Nahrstedt appealed, and the intermediate appellate court reversed the verdict, holding that the recorded restriction on use needs to be evaluated as to reasonableness on a case by case basis. The case went to the state supreme court for review.
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