LUTZ - Loung Vuu and Lang Phung, a Calusa Trace couple, have accomplished something many others have tried and failed: They have won a lawsuit over deed-restriction violations. It took four years and an investment of more than $7,000.

Winning such cases is rare because homeowners legally commit to obey deed restrictions when they purchase a house in a deed-restricted community.

Vuu and Phung bought a new home in Calusa Trace six years ago. A year later, they got permission from the Calusa Trace board to add a Florida room.

Later, Calusa Trace would argue in a lawsuit that the addition didn't conform to the plans and didn't blend with the original house the way the plans showed.

But Brett Wadsworth, attorney for Vuu and Phung, found a weakness in the suit: Calusa Trace had no written architectural guidelines, even though the deed restrictions called for them.

"They have to be very specific and very succinct as to what they are restricting," Wadsworth said.

Gerry Reno, president of the Calusa Trace Master Association, thought the case still was worth pursuing, based on other deed restrictions. Calusa Trace won an order that Vuu and Phung remove a window air-conditioner.

But last year, a judge dismissed Calusa Trace's efforts to have the Florida room dismantled. In June, the homeowners association reimbursed Vuu and Phung for $7,100 in attorney's fees.

The association has long since adopted architectural guidelines.

"I'm still smarting over this lawsuit," Reno said.

"In my opinion," Wadsworth said, "it should never have been brought in the first place."