By David Swedelson, Partner at SwedelsonGottlieb, Community Association Attorneys
The list is out, and an article in the LA Times reports that neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and the Westside will feel the biggest impact from Los Angeles’ new law requiring the retrofitting of wood-frame apartment buildings to better withstand a major earthquake, according to a Times data analysis.
The article tells us that LA City inspectors spent about two years developing a list of 13,500 so-called soft-story buildings that will probably need seismic strengthening. And that list includes soft condominium associations, likely apartment buildings that were converted to condos. So, your condominium association may be on the list.
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I recently posted to HOALAWBLOG an article entitled 
I recently assisted a large condominium association in dealing with a claim by an owner that she had fallen and injured herself after tripping on a common area walkway. Management looked at the area where this woman claimed to have fallen, and all they could find was a slightly raised area of concrete – a trivial defect. It reminded me of a 2011 Court of Appeal decision in the case of 
On March 29, 2016, we posted an article regarding the SB Liberty, LLC, v. Isla Verde Association, Inc. Court of Appeal decision that confirms the law that only owners or members of an a California community association are entitled to attend association board meetings. 
It is a common scenario. A homeowner (usually disgruntled or in trouble with their association) either wants their attorney to attend a board meeting with them or in their place. Often, we hear about it after the meeting where the attorney appeared on behalf of their client and intimidated the board. This situation raises three hotly contested issues: (1) Do homeowners have the right to have their attorney present at board meetings? (2) Can homeowners delegate their right to attend board meetings to nonmembers? and (3) Does it make a difference in delegating powers to attend board meetings if the owner of a unit is a natural person or an entity? We have not had a solid answer to these questions. That is, until the Court of Appeal came down with its decision in the case of 
Many of our condo and HOA association clients have employees. Some have many employees. And this week, many of those employees are talking about and betting on the game, oftentimes while at work. In fact, some employees have set up betting pools encouraging other staff members to place wagers on various aspects of the game. Legal? What about all that cash that is being passed amongst employees? And what about the lost productivity?
H.R. 3700 has passed the House of Representatives and now moves on to the Senate, to the cheer of affordable housing advocates and Community Associations Institute, which issued 
The City of Laguna Beach has for a long time had an ordinance that provided homeowners in that city some protection of their ocean and mountain views.