Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of September 4, 2018.

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

Severs v. Mira Vista Homeowners Ass’n, Inc., No. 02-16-00157-CV (Sept. 6, 2018) (Pittman, J., joined by Meier and Gabriel, JJ.).

Held:  In lawsuit brought by homeowners against their HOA and neighbors, we hold that the trial court did not err in granting summary judgment on homeowners’ claims against the HOA for breach of declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CCRs) and other tort claims; the trial court did err in denying the HOA’s counterclaim for its reasonable attorney’s fees under the CCRs because the HOA was a “prevailing party” in successfully defending and obtaining a take-nothing judgment on the homeowners’ claims; and the trial court did not err in denying neighbors’ counterclaim for their reasonable attorney’s fees under either the CCRs or Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act because the neighbors were not a “prevailing party” following the homeowners’ voluntary nonsuit without prejudice when none of the Epps factors were present.  Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s judgment in part, reverse in part, and remand solely to determine the HOA’s reasonable attorney’s fees under the CCRs.