HOA Law Blog
Calaveras Enterprise – April 13, 2005
Copperopolis couple get their house back
By Vanessa Turner
Tom and Anita Radcliff got the deed to their house back and the Copper Cove couple is ready to get on with their lives.
The Radcliffs get to keep their home and have received money from the Copper Cove Lake Tulloch Homeowners Association and Coast Assessment Services of Garden Grove as part of a lawsuit settlement reached Friday.
Back in December 2003, the Radcliff’s home was foreclosed on and auctioned off for $70,000 after they failed to pay a $120 association bill.
The Radcliffs continued to live in their home while they sued the association, Coast and Robert Vardanega of Oakland, the man who bought their home.
The association and Coast settled out of the lawsuit two months ago, the Radcliff’s attorney Michael Macomber of Sonora said.
“They paid money damages,” Macomber said. “It was a cash payment.”
During a case settlement conference Friday, Macomber announced he and Vardanega’s attorney agreed on a settlement at 10:30 a.m. that morning.
Macomber wouldn’t say what the Radcliffs would pay Vardanega to get their home back.
“He’s entitled to get his initial payment plus 10 percent,” he said.
The paperwork still needs to be drawn up between the two parties and a case settlement conference is set for July 11.
If dismissal papers are filed before that, that date will be vacated, Judge Dwayne Martin said.
Martin told Macomber he did, “Good work. I’m sure you saved their home.”
“It’s all we can expect,” Anita Radcliff said about the settlements. “I just want to put it behind us now.”
The Radcliff’s ordeal sparked an attempt to get legislation passed that would prevent homeowners’ associations from foreclosing for trivial delinquent fees.
One such bill, co-authored by former Sen. Rico Oller, R-San Andreas and Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, was vetoed by the Governor in September 2004.
This year Ducheny renewed her attempt by introducing very similar legislation and vowing to work with the governor to get the bill passed.