AWAC's rights are questionable.
The majority of CCRs and AWAC's authority were scheduled to expire at midnight on December 31, 2010 unless extended by a legitimate vote of the requisite Arrowhead Woods property owners. For the reasons stated below and hereafter, we believe that the CCRs and AWAC’s authority did expire in Tracts 8053, 7891 and may have expired for the majority of the tracts, on December 31, 2010.
On May 22, 2022, after investigating the 2010 AWAC extension vote and Senate Bill 1405, Ted Heyck, a long time Arrowhead Woods resident and attorney, delivered a homeowner's warning letter to LACSD General Manager, Catherine Cerri and the LACSD Board of Directors. The letter was subsequently read at the following LACSD board meeting by Arrowhead Woods resident, Garin Vartanian. Joseph Byrne of BB&K, the attorney for LACSD, was also present. John Wurm the President of LACSD and attorney of record for AWAC was asked to recuse himself from the meeting. The letter was never refuted and virtually ignored. The letter is reprinted below.
The letter stated that the majority of the CCRs mandate that the actual signatures of the acknowledging and consenting property owners must be filed with the County Recorder's Office before any changes become effective. However, AWAC filed an affidavit stating that various property owners had agreed to an extension of the CCRs and AWAC's authority. The filing of an affidavit was not only insufficient, but also raised the question as to the existence of the signatures.
If the 2010 filing was insufficient, then 32 of the tracts created after 1960 have no CCRs and 30 of those are no longer under the jurisdiction of AWAC. In Section "AWAC 2010 Vote" and "Tract 8053 Vote Audit" we explain how our audit of only one tract, Tract 8053, has revealed that it had insufficient valid signatures and none were acknowledged. If this is true for other tracts, and AWAC knows it, then AWAC appears to be "dumping" its CCR management for fear of endless future litigation and LACSD is buying “a pig in a poke” consisting of endless future expensive litigation. Meanwhile, AWAC, if and when in financial crisis and/or dissolved, will escape "free and clear."
If you don’t believe that AWAC failed to properly renew the CCRs in December of 2010 by filing the actual signatures with the County Recorder, simply ask to see those signatures and let us know if you find them.
Click PDF to Download
Ted Heyck's Warning Letter to LACSD
Recent court decisions limiting AWAC's claims for attorney's fees and damages.
Since AWAC, Inc. was formed in 1988, it has had an extremely reliable source of money from 1) fees which it has imposed based on its assessments of what it costs to manage the CCRs and 2) its litigation settlements. AWAC’s website states “AWAC has the authority to enforce CC&Rs on properties within Arrowhead Woods, and AWAC has proven this time and again in a court of law.”
That is not true. It has not proven its authority time and time again in a court of law. According to Stacey Lippert, Executive Director of AWAC, since AWAC’s formation in 1988 it has gone to trial in only 3 cases and in the balance of cases: “35-50” have been settled. [1] In the past, AWAC has always avoided going into a court of law by managing to convince the opposition to settle.
However, those settlement days may be over. Two Woods property owners have requested that the courts examine AWAC’s income which is based on AWAC’s theories of its damages and demands for litigation costs. [2] A little known settlement occurred in 2017. That settlement may indicate that AWAC is now concerned that the CCRs and its authority may have expired for the majority of the Tracts [3] and it has settled rather than have that litigated in court. [4]
​
If AWAC’s authority did expire at midnight on December 31, 2010, then AWAC and its one employee and staff may no longer have their formerly reliable source of income. However this will not pose a problem to LACSD since it relies on its ratepayers to cover many expenses. SB 1405 allows AWAC to escape free and clear while leaving the LACSD ratepayers holding the bag with an expensive “Pig In a Poke”.
[1] Declaration of Stacy Lippert in the cases of Hatt and Tran attached.
[2] In AWAC vs Hatt Case No. CIVDS1400240 (1/7/2014) the court after trial denied their attorneys demand for $33,990.36 in attorney’s fees, AWAC’s claim for expert fees of $1230.00 and denied AWAC’s claim for $12,400 in damages for cutting down a tree and granted instead $50.00.
[3] See the AWAC 2010 VOTE section on this website which outlines how AWAC failed to property renew the CCR’s and its powers through many errors including the failure to have all property owners’ signatures notarized.
[4] In Samarah and Murra vs. AWAC Case No CIVDS1717319 (9/7/2018) and its predecessor case of AWAC vs. Murra, Case No CIVDS1405048 (4/25/2014) when the property owner raised the issue of AWAC’s claimed extension of the ccr’s and its authority to enforce them beyond December 31, 2010 (issues which have been pointed out in this website), AWAC capitulated and withdrew its claim for damages and attorney’s fees (2014) and subsequently filed a stipulation (2017) that it had no right, title or interest in enforcing the CCRs in controversy in that litigation.
Hatt Declaration
Tran Declaration
Click PDF to Download