Stewart Beach Condominium Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Gili N Prop Investments, LLC Barak Resheff and Rami Barnea

481 S.W.3d 336, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 11809, 2015 WL 7263705
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 17, 2015·No. NO. 01-15-00169-CV·Published·Cited by 25 cases

Opinion

*341 OPINION

Harvey Brown, Justice

Four condominium owners obtained temporary injunctions to- prohibit Stewart Beach Condominium Homeowners Association from foreclosing pn their condominiums. Stewart Beach appeals the trial court’s denial of its motion -to dissolve the four temporary injunctions. 1 . Stewart Beach argues: (1) the temporary injunction orders do not meet the requirements of Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 683; (2) Gilí N Prop Investments, LLC, Baryo Investments LLC, Rami Barnea, Simca and Ahuva Heled, and Pavel Gorbuslski (collectively referred to as the “homeowners”) did not meet their burden to prove the elements of a temporary injunction; and (3) the homeowners had “unclean hands” and thus were barred from seeking temporary injunctions. The homeowners argue that we do not have jurisdiction over this appeal. We affirm. ■

Background

Stewart Beach is a homeowner’s association. It charged the homeowners assessments for community maintenance ranging from $3,500 to $6,200—assessments that the homeowners admit they owe. Stewart Beach’s demand included an amount for its attorney’s fees incurred during its assessment-collection efforts. The homeowners contest the amount of'the attorney’s fees demanded, claiming the fees were excessive, unconscionable, and unauthorized by the association agreement. They paid neither the assessment nor the attorney’s fee demand. Because the homeowners did not pay the amount demanded, Stewart Beach attempted to foreclose on their condominiums. The homeowners sought, and the trial court granted, temporary injunctions to avoid foreclosure.

A. . Attorney fee agreement .

The engagement letter between Stewart Beach and its attorney provides for a hybrid attorney fee consisting of three parts: (1) a flat fee of $75 for “jcjollection cure letters” and $225 for filing notices of liens; (2) a contingency fee “equal to 20% on all collections”; and (3) an hourly fee of $195 for the attorney’s work and $65 for- his paralegal's wbrk.

B. Attorney’s work on the case

Stewart Beach’s attorney mailed a form collection cure letter to each of the homeowners. The boilerplate, form letter merely plugged in information he received from his client, Stewart Beach. The attorney also filed liens—again using boilerplate forms—against each of the homeowners. His paralegal prepared these two documents, which the attorney reviewed.

Stewart Beach’s attorney demanded in the' “collection cure” letter that the homeowners pay his attorney’s fees ranging from $1,600 to $2,150. No calculation or description of the time or services was included in the demand letter. Testimony during the temporary-injunction hearing revealed that the fee included: (1) $300 for the two documents prepared by the paralegal, (2) $585 for hourly charges,- and (3) an amount that represents 20% of the uncollected assessments. For all four homeowners, the total demanded for attorney’s fees was over $16,000.

C. Lawsuit against homeowners

Stewart Beach sued the homeowners for breach of contract and attempt *342 ed to foreclose on their condominiums. In the homeowners’ answer to Stewart Beach’s lawsuit, they admitted they owe some assessments but argued that the attorney’s fees were excessive. They raised counterclaims for fraudulent liens 2 and excessive demand. 3

D. Temporary injunction

After an evidentiary hearing, which included testimony by Stewart Beach’s attorney on his fees and testimony by the homeowners’ expert that the fees were “clearly excessive,” “unreasonable,” and “unconscionable,” the trial court granted four temporary injunctions, one for each of the four units.

Each of the orders granting a temporary injunction found that “there are unpaid assessments against the property” and that the “reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees and costs ... are $300”—the amount set forth in the engagement letter for the demand letter and lien. The orders also found that the “owner will suffer imminent and irreparable harm if this Court does not enjoin the foreclosures of the Property;” -The orders set a bond at the amount of the assessment plus the $300 in attorney’s fees.

Stewart Beach then filed a motion to dissolve the temporary injunctions, which the trial court denied. Stewart Beach now appeals the trial court’s denial’of its motion to dissolve.

Standard of Review

We review a trial court’s decision to grant or deny a motion to dissolve a temporary injunction under an abuse of *343 discretion standard. Conlin v. Haun, 419 S.W.3d 682, 686 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2013, no pet.). A trial- court has broad discretion in denying or granting such a motion. Id. “A trial court abuses its discretion only if it reaches a decision so arbitrary and unreasonable that it amounts to a clear and prejudicial error of law or if it clearly fails to correctly analyze or apply the law.” Id. (citing Intercontinental Terminals Co. v. Vopak N. Am., Inc., 354 S.W.3d 887⅝ 892 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2011, no pet.)), We only review the validity of .the temporary injunction order; we do not review the merits of the underlying case. INEOS Grp. Ltd. v. Chevron Phillips Chem. Co., 312 S.W.3d 843, 848 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2009, no pet.). We review the evidence in the light most favorable, to the district court’s ruling, drawing all legitimate inferences from the evidence and deferring to the district court’s resolution of conflicting evidence. Id. A district court abuses its discretion if it misapplies the law to established facts. Id. There is no abuse of discretion as long as some evidence reasonably supports the district court’s decision. Butnaru v. Ford Motor Co., 84 S.W.3d 198, 211 (Tex.2002).

When a party challenges a finding of fact, like Stewart Beach does here, the finding is not determinative unless it is supported by the record. Brejon. v. Johnson, 314 S.W.3d 26, 30 (TexApp.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2009, no pet.). We review the sufficiency of the evidence to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in -making the finding. Id. The “legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence are not independent grounds for asserting error, but they are-relevant factors in assessing whether the trial court abused its discretion.”' Dunn v. Dunn, 177 S.W.3d 393, 396 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2005, pet. denied). ■ “A trial court does not abuse its discretion when there is some evidence of a substantive and probative character to support the trial court’s judgment.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Stewart Beach Condominium Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Gili N Prop Investments, LLC Barak Resheff and Rami Barnea, 481 S.W.3d 336, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 11809, 2015 WL 7263705 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

481 S.W.3d 336 (Stewart Beach Condominium Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Gili N Prop Investments, LLC Barak Resheff and Rami Barnea) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Le v. Exeter Fin
Fifth Circuit, 2021