SB Liberty v. Isla Verde Assn
In 2006 Gregg and Janet Short (together the Shorts, who are not parties to this appeal but are interested persons) purchased a home in the Isla Verde residential community (Isla Verde). They then transferred title to themselves as trustees of their family trust and later transferred title to plaintiff SB Liberty, LLC (SB Liberty), a California limited liability company organized in early 2011, which is owned by the Shorts as trustees of their trust and is managed by Gregg Short, SB Liberty's sole manager. The Shorts reside in the home. Defendant Isla Verde Association, Inc. (the Association) is a California nonprofit mutual benefit corporation that is an association of the Isla Verde homeowners. It is undisputed that SB Liberty is a member of the Association.
This action against the Association for injunctive relief (among other things) arose when the Association's board of directors (the Board) denied SB Liberty's retained counsel, Peter D. Lepiscopo, access to the Board's September and October 2011 meetings. SB Liberty brought a motion for preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin the Association and the Board from taking any action to prevent or interfere with SB Liberty's representatives, including Lepiscopo, attending and participating in the Board's meetings. The court denied the motion.
SB Liberty appeals the denial of its motion for preliminary injunction, contending (1) the Association─a "quasi-government entity"─has prevented SB Liberty─ whose association, speech, and member rights are fundamental in nature─from attending the open sessions of the Association's Board meetings by excluding its chosen representative─attorney Lepiscopo[1]─from those meetings, thereby causing SB Liberty to suffer great and irreparable harm; and (2) SB Liberty is entitled to send the representative of its own choosing (Lepiscopo) to the open sessions of the Board's meetings because SB Liberty is a member of the Association but not a natural person. We affirm the order denying SB Liberty's motion for preliminary injunction.
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