Alpine Haven Property Owners Association, Inc. v. Edward Deptula

VERMONT SUPREME COURT Case No. 22-AP-255
109 State Street
Montpelier VT 05609-0801
802-828-4774
www.vermontjudiciary.org

Note: In the case title, an asterisk (*) indicates an appellant and a double asterisk (**) indicates a cross-
appellant. Decisions of a three-justice panel are not to be considered as precedent before any tribunal.

ENTRY ORDER

MAY TERM, 2023

Alpine Haven Property Owners Association, } APPEALED FROM:
Inc. v. Edward Deptula* }
} Superior Court, Franklin Unit, Civil Division
} CASE NO. 21-CV-02220
Trial Judge: Thomas Carlson

In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

Defendant appeals from the trial court’s summary judgment decision in plaintiff’s favor
and its award of attorney fees to plaintiff. We affirm.

This appeal involves plaintiff’s longstanding attempts to collect annual homeowner
association fees from defendant. The court cited the following undisputed facts in reaching its
decision. Plaintiff sought three years of fees from defendant, from 2019 to 2021, less $800 that
defendant had paid. While defendant claimed some additional credit for work he allegedly
performed, he did not file any counterclaims or allege any legal basis for such credit. The court
found plaintiff’s annual fee of $1,678.10 reasonable as a matter of law. It explained that this
same fee had been found reasonable in multiple prior cases, including three appeals to this Court.
It found defendant’s other alleged disputes of fact to be rehashes of facts and issues resolved
long ago in prior lawsuits involving the reasonableness of the fee. The court found plaintiff was
entitled to the fees it sought, plus prejudgment interest, for a total of approximately $4590.

The court also granted plaintiff’s request for attorney fees. It referenced its prior
determination that plaintiff would be awarded attorney fees incurred in litigation that remained
ongoing after August 2018 when the reasonableness of the annual fee had been clearly
established, again, in Alpine Haven Property Owners’ Association, Inc. v. Brewin, 2018 VT 88,
¶ 20, 208 Vt. 462. Given defendant’s ongoing and persistent obstinacy and perseveration in
pleadings in the tenth chapter of this same dispute, the court also awarded plaintiff fees incurred
since filing its motion for summary judgment. It awarded plaintiff a total of $9,169.53 in
attorney fees and costs. In doing so, the court emphasized again that defendant’s endless
motion-to-motion fight over a long-resolved matter had no reasonable basis and could only be
viewed as vexatious in the extreme. This appeal followed.

Defendant raises numerous arguments on appeal. Essentially, he appears to argue that
the court violated his procedural due process rights in granting judgment to plaintiff; the court’s
reasoning was faulty; and its conclusions are not supported by the evidence. We have reviewed
the record and considered those arguments discernible in defendant’s brief. We reject
defendant’s arguments on the merits for the reasons articulated in plaintiff’s brief. Defendant
fails to show any error in the trial court’s decisions or in the conduct of the proceedings below.
We therefore affirm the court’s decision in plaintiff’s favor.

Affirmed.

BY THE COURT:

Paul L. Reiber, Chief Justice

Karen R. Carroll, Associate Justice

William D. Cohen, Associate Justice

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