This is the case information page for George Evans, et al. v. Seven Springs Farm HOA, Case No. CL15001273-00, Sixteenth Judicial Court, Culpeper, Virginia
Here is a linked list of the various documents concerning the case:
- Original Complaint
- Defendant's Answer to Complaint
- Defendant's Demurrer
- Plaintiff's Brief in Opposition to Defendant's Demurrer
- The Decision
- Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgement
- Plaintiff's Brief in Support of Their Motion for Partial Summary Judgement
- Final Order of the Court
- Exhibit A: Plat
- Exhibit B: Corrected Declaration (Corrected incorrect references to plat)
- Exhibit C: Modified Declaration (in effect at time issue arose)
- Exhibit D: Bylaws
The bottom line of this case insofar as the MALA lien issue is concerned is that there is no way for any non-VPOAA* association to enforce a lien that it has recorded in the land records. Note Judge Whitlock's final order, in pertinent part, says:
IT FURTHER APPEARING TO THE COURT that Count III of plaintiffs' Complaint seeks a permanent injunction barring enforcement of liens on plaintiff's home resulting from the March 29,2074 road assessment, and requiring defendant to remove said liens, and that the court's ruling that the defendant does not qualify as a Property Owners' Association under the Act prevents the valid enforcement of such liens, it is accordingly ADJUDGED and ORDERED that Count III of plaintiffs' Complaint for Permanent Injunction is GRANTED, the court finding that the liens on plaintiffs' property from the March 29, 2014 road assessment may not be enforced and must be removed within sixty (60) days from the date of this Order.
This explicitly says, in words that the FCC has been using, that such liens "may not be enforced" without the authority of the VPOAA. The validity of the claim makes no difference - whether the debt is justified or not, such liens may not be recorded, and if they are, they are unenforceable and represent legal liability due to the (now) intentional clouding of otherwise clear titles. This amount of this liability dramatically increases should MALA sell another house (yes, MALA has sold houses at auction in the past without any authority to do so) and the owner contests the sale.
*The Subdivided Land Sales Act (SLSA) could provide such authority, but it appears that no sales have ever been executed** using a "Land Sales Installment Contracts" as required by the SLSA (Original version; starts at end of first page). The SLSA also requires lots to be sold "pursuant to a common promotional plan" and requires that
§ 55-339: Notice of Intention.--It shall be unlawful for any developer or agent directly or indirectly to offer or dispose of any lots in a subdivision, whether located in or out of the State, without first filing with the Board a notice of intention to offer and dispose of real property. Such notice of intention shall include:...
Additionally, Mark Sharp, in his letter to Elmore, stated:
We don't believe that § 55-337(4)(b) can be stretched to include any subdivision in this Commonwealth with thirty or more lots. Such a view would effectively nullify the provisions of the VPOAA and the cases decided thereunder. As well, it would fly in the face of settled Virginia law that restrictions affecting the rights of landowners are not favored.
** FCC has examined more that 400 of the deeds of original transfers from Merifield Inc. to individual lot purchasers. All of these transfers so examined are either direct purchases without loans or had Deeds of Trust filed with the deeds, and almost all of those were financed by local banks of the time.
