Neighbors take fight another yard
After foreclosure win, residents filing lawsuit over maintenance fees By JO ANN ZUÑIGA 
Courtesy Houston Chronicle Copyright 2002 ( 01 - 08 - 2002 )

 
An elderly woman's neighbors who successfully fought a homeowners association for the return of her foreclosed home filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday accusing the association of overcharging them on maintenance fees for about 15 years. 

About 100 longtime residents of the Champions East subdivision on FM 1960 allege Champions Community Improvement Association may have overcharged them by perhaps $1 million, said their attorney, Marian Rosen. 

"While we were researching Mrs. (Wenonah) Blevins' case, we discovered the association had violated its own bylaws," Rosen said. 

In 1987, she said, the association increased maintenance fees from $72 to $400 annually. 

The lawsuit said the association's amended Maintenance Fund bylaws filed in 1965 stated fees would not exceed $72 per year through 1996. 

Rosen represented Blevins after the Champions association foreclosed on her $150,000 home and she was evicted for failure to pay $814.50 in maintenance fees. 

Blevins sued, saying her eviction stemmed from deception, and settled last month, with the association agreeing to pay her $300,000. She recently moved back into her home. 

More than 100 of the 900 homeowners in the Champions subdivision have lived there since 1987 and paid the overcharges each year, Rosen said. 

"This will add up to several thousands of dollars per homeowner and could reach a million dollars" in damages, she said. 

Champions Community Improvement Association President Albert C. Brooks said Tuesday that for the past five years maintenance fees have not covered the costs of extra law enforcement patrol, garbage pickup, street lighting and other things. 

"If anyone thinks they have been overcharged, come see our books," Brooks said. 

He declined to comment directly on the lawsuit, saying he had not been served with a copy and had not discussed it with an attorney. 

Maintenance fees have recently been raised to about $460 annually, he said. 

Rosen said homeowners have also paid unauthorized late fees and charged interest exceeding the 6 percent listed in the association's bylaws. 

Listed as a member of the proposed class in the lawsuit, resident Walter J. Boyce with his wife, Rosemary, said they purchased their home in the 5800 block of Wanakah in 1976 and have paid maintenance fees of $400 a year since 1987. 

The lawsuit is requesting that the courts declare the alleged excess maintenance fees invalid. 

It also says affected homeowners are entitled to credit for all such excess fees paid and accuses the association of negligence, breach of contract and fraud in passing the excess fees. 

It asks that damages, punitive damages, prejudgment interest and court costs be awarded to the homeowners against the association. 

Rosen said she is scheduled to testify on homeowners' rights before a legislative hearing Jan. 16 at the University of Houston campus initiated by state Sen. Jon Lindsay, R-Houston. 

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