Court Hearing on Election Continued to 2/20/2020
Court hearing began today 2/19/2020, continued to tomorrow, may extend to Friday.
On 2/19/2020, the case Lake Lindero HOA et al vs Christopher Barone et al for the determination of the validity of election was scheduled to be heard in Superior Court in Van Nuys. It opened with a discussion of legal issues, first the court addressed the defendants’ attorney not having filed proper papers and the defendants not having paid fees. Then the court entertained a legal challenge of the meaning of a section of our HOA bylaws brought up by the defendants. After the court explained the laws in the context of the bylaw section, the court strongly suggested that the parties hire a court reporter so there would be a transcript in the event of an appeal. Adjourned for lunch during which the parties were to hire a reporter. Court reconvened after lunch, no court reporter, court continued the case to 10:00 AM February 20, 2020.
The defendants’ legal maneuvers started the day before, on 2/18/2020, when Christopher Barone filed a Challenge to Judicial Officer and a Notice of Related case was filed by Barone et al. The Challenge to Judicial Officer means Barone asked the case to be assigned to a different judge and the Notice of related case claims the case is related to and therefore should be linked to another case. The original judge assigned the case was replaced and a new Judge was assigned, the same judge for the GPL case. Normally, challenging a judge would wipe clean the case calendar, postpone the hearing for up to 2-3 months. A delaying tactic employed by Christopher T. Barone before in the GPL lawsuit and once again yesterday to stall the case. This time there was no delay, the court changed the judge but kept the hearing date. The hearing proceeded as scheduled on 2/19/2020.
At the opening of the hearing, Defendants’ new attorney requested to postpone the hearing for 2 weeks, so he would have time to prepare the case. The defendants’ attorney explained he was hired by the Defendants on 2/18/2020. The judge denied his request stating that this is an expedited hearing and postponements are not issued in expedited hearing.
On a side note: a security update at the club
24-hour security guards have been hired to protect the HOA property and the members and patrons.
The security guards have interrupted several late night efforts to gain access to the club. Last night, or early this morning, 2-18-2020 / 2-19-2020, was the most recent.
Around 12 o’clock am 2/19/2020 (midnight), the security guard thwarted an attempt to gain access to the club to possibly steal or vandalize. The security guard spotted individuals on site, called the sheriffs, called another security guard for backup, and pursued the would be thieves and vandals, but they managed to escape the site before Sheriffs arrived. This is just one of many incidences that have occurred in the week the guards have been on site.
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