Pasternack v. Bear Brand Ranch Community Assn.
Plaintiffs Lawrence Howard Pasternack and Lynette Gayle Pasternack (the Pasternacks) purchased an undeveloped lot adjacent to their residence in the Bear Brand Ranch residential housing development in Laguna Niguel (the development). The Pasternacks noticed that defendant Bear Brand Ranch Community Association (the Association) maintained irrigation pipes on their new property and, in June 2004, they demanded that the Association immediately remove the irrigation pipes. After the Association did not move as quickly as the Pasternacks desired, in early August the Pasternacks sued the Association for trespass. Although the Association removed all the pipes by the end of August 2004 and all related equipment by the end of May 2005, the Pasternacks continued to pursue their lawsuit because the Association refused to compensate the Pasternacks for fees and costs they incurred in prosecuting the complaint.
The trial court also denied the Pasternacks costs on the ground they were not the prevailing party under Code of Civil Procedure section 1032 and on the alternative ground the Pasternacks had failed to carry their burden of showing their claimed costs were reasonable and necessary. The Pasternacks do not address on appeal the courts alternative ground, and thus fail to carry their burden of showing the denial of prevailing party costs was erroneous.
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