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  • Robert Kelton Rosenberger, Et Al vs. Harvey LeMasterReal Property - Other Real Property - Ownership/Title document preview
  • Robert Kelton Rosenberger, Et Al vs. Harvey LeMasterReal Property - Other Real Property - Ownership/Title document preview
  • Robert Kelton Rosenberger, Et Al vs. Harvey LeMasterReal Property - Other Real Property - Ownership/Title document preview
  • Robert Kelton Rosenberger, Et Al vs. Harvey LeMasterReal Property - Other Real Property - Ownership/Title document preview
  • Robert Kelton Rosenberger, Et Al vs. Harvey LeMasterReal Property - Other Real Property - Ownership/Title document preview
  • Robert Kelton Rosenberger, Et Al vs. Harvey LeMasterReal Property - Other Real Property - Ownership/Title document preview
  • Robert Kelton Rosenberger, Et Al vs. Harvey LeMasterReal Property - Other Real Property - Ownership/Title document preview
  • Robert Kelton Rosenberger, Et Al vs. Harvey LeMasterReal Property - Other Real Property - Ownership/Title document preview
						
                                

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Filed: 8/7/2019 9:10 AM JOHN D. KINARD - District Clerk Galveston County, Texas Envelope No. 35754746 16-CV-0524-A By: Lisa Kelly 19-CV-1418 8/7/2019 11:22 AM XXXXXXXX CAUSE NO. __________________ ROBERT KELTON § IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF ROSENBERGER and RONALD § ROBERTS § Plaintiffs, § § v. § GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS § WALDEN POND OWNERS § ASSOCIATION, and HARVEY § Galveston County - 212th District Court LEMASTER d/b/a § INSURANCE OFFICE OF § MONTGOMERY § Defendant. § _____ JUDICIAL DISTRICT PLAINTIFFS’ ORIGINAL PETITION AMD INITIAL DISCOVERY Plaintiffs Robert Kelton Rosenberger (“Rosenberger”) and Ronald Roberts (“Roberts”) allege that they are injured by the negligence and breach of governing documents of Walden Pond Owners Association (“Walden Pond”), and materially misled by Harvey LeMaster d/b/a Insurance Office of Montgomery, or both, as follows: I. Discovery-Control Plan 1. Rosenberger and Roberts intend to proceed under Level 2 of Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 190.3. II. Parties 2. Plaintiff Robert Kelton Rosenberger (“Rosenberger”) owns an undivided Status Conference set 10-31-19 fee-simple interest in Unit 403 in Building 400 (sometimes known as Building 4) of the Walden Pond Condominiums, located at 111 Dunbar Estates in Friendswood, Galveston County, Texas (“Unit 403”), and he has been a Member of Walden Pond continuously since acquiring Unit 403. 3. Plaintiff Ronald Roberts (“Roberts”) owns an undivided fee-simple interest in Unit 503 in Building 500 (sometimes known as Building 5) of the Walden Pond Condominiums, located at 111 Dunbar Estates in Friendswood, Galveston County, Texas (“Unit 503”), and he has been a Member of Walden Pond continuously since acquiring Unit 503. 4. Defendant Walden Pond Owners Association (“Walden Pond”), a Texas nonprofit corporation, may be served with process by serving its registered agent for service of process, Associa Houston Community Management Services, at its registered office, 17049 El Camino Real, Suite 100, Houston, Harris County, Texas 77058, or wherever it may be found. 5. Defendant Harvey LeMaster, doing business under the assumed name of Insurance Office of Montgomery (“Le Master”), may be served with process by serving him at his place of business, 19700 Highway 105 West, Montgomery, Texas 77356, his home, 250 Spring Edge Dr., Montgomery, Texas 77356, or wherever he may be found. III. Jurisdiction and Venue 6. Plaintiffs seek monetary relief over $1,000,000, which is within the jurisdictional limits of this Court. Walden Pond is a Texas non-profit corporation with 2 its principal place of business in Galveston County, Texas, where itis responsible for managing the Walden Pond Condominiums in accordance with the duly adopted and applicable Declarations, By-laws, and Rules and Regulations (collectively, the “Governing Documents”). All (or a substantial part) of LeMaster’s conduct on which these claims are based occurred in Galveston County, Texas. IV. Factual Basis for Plaintiffs’ Requested Relief 7. At all material times, and in accordance with the Governing Documents, Walden Pond owed Plaintiffs (and other owners) a duty to maintain, repair, and replace Common Elements, including the exterior envelopes (roofing, siding, flashing, etc.) on Buildings 400 and 500, and to insure against losses. Despite being aware of water leaks in Unit 403 since at least 2012, Walden Pond neglected and failed to do so. When Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Gulf Coast in August of 2017, Rosenberger and Roberts suffered water damage in their units – not due to the hurricane’s widespread flooding (Units 403 and 503 did not flood), and not due to windstorm damage caused by the Hurricane, but due to pre-existing leaks in the exterior envelopes for those units. 8. The envelopes on Buildings 400 and 500 are General Common Elements. See, e.g., Declaration at 1.1.k.2. Walden Pond is responsible for maintaining, repairing and insuring Common Elements, including the exterior envelopes of Buildings 400 and 500. Declaration at 1.1.d.2 and 4.6.a (duty to insure); compare Declaration 3.7 (omitting roof from Owner Maintenance) and 3.8 (prohibiting Owner from work on Common Elements). Rule 21 of the Association’s Rules and Regulations bars an owner from 3 entering onto the roof of the Owner’s unit or conducting any roof repairs, and thus prohibited Rosenberger and Roberts from making their own roof repairs. 9. The Governing Documents appoint Walden Pond as an Owner’s fiduciary for dealing with damage to that Owner’s condominium unit (Bylaws XI.11). Walden Pond’s breaches of its duties (fiduciary or otherwise) proximately caused injury to Plaintiffs. Nearly two years after Hurricane Harvey, Walden Pond has not replaced or even adequately repaired the exterior envelopes of Buildings 400 and 500. Walden Pond has failed and refused to compensate Rosenberger or Roberts for the water damage to their units during (and since) Hurricane Harvey. 10. Walden Pond claims that it did not have the funds to provide insurance, replace the envelopes or compensate plaintiffs, but Walden Pond’s finances have not been audited in years. It is far from clear why Walden Pond lacked both the insurance coverage and the funds to meet its basic obligations, or what expenses could possibly rate a higher priority than Walden Pond’s fiduciary duties to protect owners as recognized in its own Governing documents, but it appears that Walden Pond squandered a substantial portion of its funds paying its lawyers to bully Owners like Rosenberger with meritless lawsuits that never had a realistic hope of justifying their fees. 11. Contrary to Walden Pond’s denial that it obtained (or could obtain) the required insurance coverage, by letter dated July 29, 2016, LeMaster affirmatively represented to Rosenberger that his Building 400 was insured through a Commercial 4 Property policy, a General Liability policy, and a Texas Windstorm Association wind and hail policy. From that letter through and including the arrival of Hurricane Harvey, LeMaster never advised Rosenberger of any change in this coverage. Rosenberger reasonably relied on LeMaster’s assurance that Rosenberger’s building was insured. Rosenberger has been unable to discern whether it was Walden Pond, LeMaster, or both who misled him about insurance coverage. 12. Walden Pond has breached, and continues to breach, each of the following duties owed to Plaintiffs: a. the duty to keep the common elements and all common personal property in good order, condition and repair, consistent with managing the Project in a first-class manner and consistent with the best interests of the owners (Bylaws IV.2.c and k); b. the duty to insure and to keep insured the common elements and property (Bylaws IV.2.d); c. the duty to protect and defend the entire project from loss and damage (Bylaws IV.2.g); d. the duty to keep and maintain full and accurate books and records showing all of the Association’s receipts, expenses and disbursements, and to permit examination thereof by owners during normal business hours (Tex. Prop. Code § 82.114(b); Bylaws IV.2.l and m); 5 e. the duty to prepare and deliver annually to each Owner, and upon request, to each holder of a first mortgage on a Condominium Unit, a statement showing receipts, expenses and disbursement since the last such statement (Bylaws IV.2.m); f. the duty to have the Association’s books and records independently audited each year by a certified public accountant (Tex. Prop. Code § 82.114(c); Bylaws IV.2.l); and g. the duty to act as a fiduciary for Rosenberger and Roberts with respect to damage to their units. These breaches have proximately caused injury to Rosenberger and Roberts. 13. If Walden Pond had insurance for Buildings 400 and 500 as Le Master represented, but failed to promptly pursue coverage for damage to Buildings 400 and 500, then Walden Pond breached its fiduciary duties to Rosenberger and Roberts. If Walden Pond did not have insurance as Walden Pond now claims, then Walden Pond breached its duty to provide insurance and LeMaster materially misled Rosenberger. V. Plaintiffs’ Causes of Action A. Negligence and Gross Negligence 14. By reserving to itself the exclusive right to maintain, repair, and replace Common Elements as needed, Walden Pond accepted a duty to do so reasonably and promptly, and in a “first-class” manner. Walden Pond breached that duty, and plaintiffs were injured as a result of Walden Pond’s negligence or gross negligence. 6 B. Negligent Misrepresentation 15. By making conflicting representations about the nature, extent, and existence of insurance coverage in the course of their business, one or both of Walden Pond and LeMaster negligently misrepresented the status of insurance coverage for Building 400 by supplying false information for the guidance of Rosenberger without exercising reasonable care or competence, and Rosenberger justifiably relied on the representation(s) to his injury. C. Fraud 16. To the extent their false representations about insurance coverage were intentional, or were made without the actual knowledge defendants claimed to have, defendants defrauded Rosenberger. D. Breach of Governing Documents 17. The Governing Documents impose on Walden Pond a duty to maintain, repair, and replace Common Elements as needed, and to insure them. Walden Pond breached these duties, injuring Rosenberger and Roberts as a result. E. Breach of Fiduciary Duty 18. By agreeing to act as an agent for an Owner whose Unit suffered damage (including, inter alia, Rosenberger and Roberts), Walden Pond agreed to accept the responsibilities of a fiduciary, including the duties of loyalty, utmost good faith, candor, full disclosure, fairness, a high degree of care, honesty and the strictest kind of integrity, as well as the duty to refrain from self-dealing with Walden Pond’s agents (including its 7 lawyers). Walden Pond has breached its fiduciary duties, and Rosenberger and Roberts have been injured as a result. F. Attorney Fees 19. Rosenberger and Roberts are entitled to recover their attorney fees from Walden Pond as actual damages caused by Walden Pond’s breaches of duty, or as a matter of law. Tex. Prop. Code § 5.006; Tex. Civ. Prac. and Rem. Code § 38.001 et seq. E. Exemplary Damages 20. Walden Pond and Le Master breached their duties to Rosenberger and Roberts with malice, fraud, or at least gross negligence. Plaintiffs are entitled to recover exemplary damages. See Tex. Civ. Prac. and Rem. Code §§41.003(a) and 41.004(a). When exemplary damages are awarded for breach of restrictive covenants, a successful plaintiff may recover up to $200 per day for each violation. KBG Investments, LLC v. Greenspoint Property Owners Assn, Inc., 478 S.W.3d 111, 122-23 (Tex. App. – Houston [14th Dist.] 2015, no pet.) (construing Tex. Prop. Code §202.004(c)). F. Joint and Several Liability 21. Walden Pond and LeMaster conspired or otherwise acted in concert to mislead Rosenberger into relying on insurance coverage which apparently did not exist. Walden Pond and LeMaster are jointly and severally liable for Rosenberger’s damages. VI. Jury Demand 22. Rosenberger and Roberts demand a trial by jury and pay the jury fee concurrently with the filing of this petition. 8 VII. Discovery Requests 23. Pursuant to Rule 194, each defendant is requested to disclose, within 50 days after service of citation, the information or material described in Rule 194.2. Pursuant to Rule 196 and the Texas Property Code provisions authorizing condominium unit owners to inspect a condominium association’s books and records, each defendant is also requested to produce, within 50 days after service of citation, all documents after January 1, 2009 constituting, containing, modifying, transmitting, summarizing, referring to, or otherwise relating to, any one or more of the following: a. insurance policies naming Walden Pond as an insured; b. communications about insurance policies (actual, proposed, or merely hypothetical) naming Walden Pond as an insured; c. invoices or payments for insurance premiums allegedly due from Walden Pond; d. communications about insurance coverage for Walden Pond Buildings 400, 500, or both; e. communications about insurance coverage for any claims asserted against Walden Pond in lawsuits or demand letters; f. invoices or payments for attorney fees due from Walden Pond; g. audited financial records, together with all cover letters, footnotes, audit reports, and other material associated with those financial records, and any communications from accountants regarding audits, whether actual or hypothetical; 9 h. financial reports from Walden Pond to any one or more owners of Walden Pond Unit(s); i. funds received by Walden Pond as a result of foreclosure auctions, lawsuits, attorney demand letters, dispute settlements, or other action by Walden Pond’s attorneys; j. funds received by Walden Pond from WP Acquisitions, LLC, or funds paid by Walden Pond to WP Acquisitions, LLC; k. Walden Pond agreements for attorney services, and communications terminating any one or more such agreements; and l. work orders, vendor contracts, change orders, invoices, receipts, cancelled checks (front and back), and other records of Walden Pond expenditures or services received by Walden Pond. This category includes, but is not limited to, correspondence and other accounting records documenting services received by Walden Pond from Owners and consideration received by Owners in exchange for those services. WHEREFORE, Rosenberger and Roberts respectfully request that they be awarded actual damages, attorney fees, exemplary damages, court costs, and pre-and post-judgment interest, as well as all further relief to which they may be entitled. Respectfully submitted, By: /s/ David A. McDougald________ David A. McDougald Texas Bar No. 13570525 10 4309 Yoakum Blvd., Suite 3000 Houston, Texas 77006 (713) 522-1177 – telephone (888) 809-6793 – telecopier david@davidmcdougaldlaw.com ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFFS 11