Hidden Hills homeowners’ association loses lawsuit

By Stephanie Bertholdo
Acorn Staff Writer

First of two parts

Four Hidden Hills residents recently prevailed in a court battle against the Hidden Hills Community Association (HHCA).

The plaintiffs, Tracy Golden, Mary Ditto, Marybeth Levine and Brent Gokbudak, filed a preliminary injunction against the homeowners’ group to nullify a change in the bylaws that would allow a HHCA board member to run for office for three consecutive terms without a vote by residents. The court ruling found that the HHCA violated section 5220 of the California Corporations Code.

Hidden Hills is an exclusive, guard-gated equestrian community that straddles L.A. and Ventura county lines in the western foothills of the San Fernando Valley. It’s governed by a city council and mayor—and the HHCA.

The court ordered that the association, pending trial from the court action, disallow "Todd Bernstein to be named as a nominee for the board of directors on the Oct. 21, 2003 election ballot of the HHCA unless and until a majority of the members of the HHCA amend Article 5.4 of the Nov. 5, 1998 version of the HHCA bylaws to permit a director to serve more than two consecutive terms."

Bernstein is the president of the HHCA, and under the old bylaws, would be leaving office for a minimum of one year before he could legally run for reelection.

Bernstein denied that he’d done anything wrong. "I did not violate California Corporate Code 5220." He explained that the board hasn’t yet decided whether it will bring the issue before a jury. He added that the change in the bylaws, which didn’t require a membership vote, did not violate members’ voting rights.

Golden, however, felt her voting rights were violated, especially because two challengers for board seats were disqualified from running against incumbents.

The amended bylaws, Golden said, " . . . changed the criteria as to who could run for the board, and our interpretation is that if the changed criteria affects who I can vote for, then my rights have been affected."

Golden further noted that although she objects to many of the changes in bylaws, she was even more alarmed at the methods in which the association made them. The last time the bylaws were changed (1998), residents were called upon to vote, she said.

The plaintiffs decided that the best way to combat a board of directors (that they believed wasn’t serving their interests) was to elect new board members in the October election. There were to be five candidates, three of whom were incumbents, including Bernstein, who under the old bylaws couldn’t even be a contender. The new bylaws, however, not only allowed Bernstein to run for a third two-year term, they also disqualified the two challengers, Mary Ditto and Lisa Moriarity.

Ditto, a 20-year Hidden Hills resident, addressed the HHCA board of directors in September questioning their decision to disqualify her from running for election to the board. That decision was based upon her lack of qualifications, which she challenged. She said, "Imagine my surprise to receive a response that stated that (my service on) the disaster relief team, a state-mandated requirement for the city, which took several months of training, does not count. The reason being is it is not an ‘association committee,’" she said. Furthermore, she added, she’s been involved in other activities that didn’t meet the HOA’s requirements because she wasn’t allegedly a qualified member of an association committee.

In a Nov. 5 letter to association members, Bernstein addressed in a question and answer format what he said were "rumors that have been floating around the community."

One of the questions focused on the disqualification of the two non-incumbent members.

Bernstein’s answer, in part, said, "The nominating committee did not disqualify the two interested parties. The two members were not qualified to run under the bylaws….In the current election, the two people in question did not ask to be nominated, they submitted petitions. All the nominating committee did was to query the individuals in order to determine whether or not they complied with Article 5.3 of the bylaws, which lists the qualifications for being a candidate for or member of the board….The two petition candidates did not meet the qualifications and therefore were not eligible to run."

In a letter to Moriarity, Jim Cohen, a city councilman and chairman of the HHCA nominating committee, explained that Moriarity was found to be ineligible to run for a board seat because she hadn’t served on the parks and recreation committee long enough (12 months is required), had missed too many committee meetings (the committee had disbanded) and also because she was sited for an architectural violation, which had been corrected.

According to resident Frank Becker, Article 5.3 of the bylaws was another amendment made by the board without the vote of members. He said that under the 1998 bylaws, his wife, Mary Ditto, and Moriarity would have been qualified to run for the board seat after submitting a petition with 25 signatures. The former bylaws also allowed for a resident to run for office immediately after a violation was corrected.

After the nomination fiasco, the election was called off and proxies that had already been mailed were thrown out.

Bernstein refused to comment on changes in the bylaws.

Terms of office and requirements to run for the HHCA board of directors were just two of many changes made to the bylaws without a vote by the homeowners. Other changes to the bylaws also irritated homeowners and maximum fines have shot up dramatically. These will be discussed in Part II.