Scoggins v. Lee's Crossing Homeowners Ass'n

• Decision Date: 17 May 2013
• Docket Number: Nos. 11–2202,11–2373.,s. 11–2202
• Citation: 718 F.3d 262
• Parties: Jacob SCOGGINS, an individual; Dan Scoggins; Debbie Scoggins, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. LEE'S CROSSING HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, a Virginia corporation and Property Owner's Association; Jack H. Merritt, Jr., an individual, Defendants–Appellees. Jacob Scoggins, an individual; Dan Scoggins; Debbie Scoggins, Plaintiffs–Appellees, v. Lee's Crossing Homeowners Association, a Virginia corporation and Property Owner's Association; Jack H. Merritt, Jr., an individual, Defendants–Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

718 F.3d 262

Jacob SCOGGINS, an individual; Dan Scoggins; Debbie Scoggins, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v.LEE'S CROSSING HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, a Virginia corporation and Property Owner's Association; Jack H. Merritt, Jr., an individual, Defendants–Appellees.

Jacob Scoggins, an individual; Dan Scoggins; Debbie Scoggins, Plaintiffs–Appellees,

v.Lee's Crossing Homeowners Association, a Virginia corporation and Property Owner's Association; Jack H. Merritt, Jr., an individual, Defendants–Appellants.

Nos. 11–2202, 11–2373.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: March 20, 2013.

Decided: May 17, 2013.

ARGUED:Charles Duke Ferguson, Marko & Magolnick, Miami, Florida, for Appellants/Cross–Appellees. Michael Sterling Dingman, Reed Smith, LLP, Falls Church, Virginia, for Appellees/Cross–Appellants. ON BRIEF: J. Damian Ortiz, The John Marshall Law School, Fair Housing Legal Clinic, Chicago, Illinois; Miguel M. de la O, De la O, Marko, Magolnick & Leyton, Miami, Florida, for Appellants/Cross–Appellees. Richard D. Kelley, Reed Smith, LLP, Falls Church, Virginia, for Appellees/Cross–Appellants.

Before NIEMEYER, MOTZ, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded by published opinion. Judge KEENAN wrote the opinion, in which Judge NIEMEYER and Judge MOTZ joined.

OPINION

BARBARA MILANO KEENAN, Circuit Judge:

In this appeal, we consider the district court's summary judgment holding that the plaintiffs, Dan Scoggins, Debbie Scoggins, and their son Jacob Scoggins (collectively, the plaintiffs), were not entitled under the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601 through 3631 (the FHAA), to an accommodation and a modification that they requested from the Lee's Crossing Homeowners Association (the HOA). The plaintiffs had requested: (1) a modification to add a ramp leading to the front door of their home for use by Jacob, who requires the use of a wheelchair; and (2) an accommodation to an HOA policy prohibiting the use of certain types of vehicles to allow Jacob to use an All–Terrain Vehicle (ATV) within the Lee's Crossing subdivision (Lee's Crossing or the community).

After the HOA failed to grant their requests, the plaintiffs filed a complaint against the HOA and Jack Merritt, Jr., a member of the HOA's board of directors (together, the defendants). The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, but denied their request for attorneys' fees and costs. The plaintiffs appeal from the district court's award of summary judgment to the defendants, and the defendants appeal from the court's denial of their request for attorneys' fees and costs.

Upon our review, we vacate the district court's holding on the merits of the modification request for the wheelchair access ramp, because that claim is not ripe. We affirm the district court's holding with respect to the accommodation request for permission to use an ATV, because that request was not “reasonable” within the meaning of the FHAA. We also affirm the district court's denial of the defendants' request for attorneys' fees and costs.

I.

Dan and Debbie Scoggins purchased a ten-acre lot in 2002 in Lee's Crossing, a subdivision in Loudoun County, Virginia, where they built a home in which they have resided for several years.¹ Dan and Debbie live with their 22–year–old son Jacob, who requires the use of a wheelchair because he is partially paralyzed as a result of a car accident that occurred when he was a child.

All individuals purchasing property in Lee's Crossing are required to abide by the rules of the HOA and certain restrictive covenants (collectively, the covenants). The covenants require that homeowners obtain approval from the Lee's Crossing Architectural Review Board (the review board) for any changes that the owners seek to make affecting the external appearance of their property. During construction of their home, the plaintiffs were granted permission from the review board to build a walk-out basement to facilitate Jacob's access to the residence. The plaintiffs later installed a wheelchair ramp in their garage, which is attached at the main level to one end of their home, giving Jacob an additional means of entering the residence in his wheelchair.

The covenants also contain rules governing activities conducted on the common grounds of Lee's Crossing. These rules include a policy prohibiting the use of off-road vehicles such as ATVs on the common driveways and roads of the community.

The plaintiffs requested an exception to the HOA's policy prohibiting the use of ATVs (the ATV request). They made this request because the streets of Lee's Crossing are unpaved, making it difficult for Jacob to travel within the community using either his manual or power wheelchair.² The plaintiffs asserted that Jacob's use of an ATV would allow him to accompany his family and friends on walks within the community.

In May 2009, Debbie Scoggins sent an email to representatives of the HOA, in which she asked that Jacob be allowed to use an ATV on the common roads of Lee's Crossing. At HOA meetings in July 2009 and September 2009, the members of the Lee's Crossing board of directors (the board of directors) discussed the ATV request, but “tabled” the request on each occasion pending the receipt of further details. However, the board members did not contact the plaintiffs to obtain these additional details. Further, although these board meetings were open to the public, the plaintiffs were not notified that the ATV request was scheduled to be discussed and they did not attend either meeting.

The ATV request remained dormant until August 26, 2010, when Debbie Scoggins sent an email to the property manager for Lee's Crossing, renewing the ATV request and expressing concern that the HOA had ignored the previous request. A representative of the board of directors replied on September 11, 2010, 16 months after the plaintiffs' initial ATV request, seeking additional information concerning the request. The plaintiffs did not respond to this inquiry.

About this same time, on September 20, 2010, the plaintiffs submitted a written request to the review board seeking permission to construct a ramp leading to the front door of their home (the ramp request).³ The covenants require that homeowners planning such external construction submit a written application to the review board, containing “detailed plans and specifications,” including the size and materials for the proposed construction.

Under the covenants, the review board is allotted 30 days to respond to a written request.⁴ The covenants also grant the review board “the unilateral right to request additional information as well as the right to reject any and all applications which are not complete.”

The plaintiffs did not wait for a denial or the expiration of the 30–day period, but filed a complaint in the district court on October 13, 2010, which included a claim based on the “denial” of their ramp request. The review board later responded to the plaintiffs' ramp request in a letter dated October 18, 2010, which stated that the board denied the application “procedurally, as being incomplete.” The review board also identified “numerous missing items in the application,” and asked that those items be submitted. Finally, the letter stated that the review board's response was “not a substantive denial of a request for a second ramp at your house, but merely requires you to provide a complete application so the [HOA] can properly determine what you wish to construct.”

In their amended complaint filed under the FHAA, the plaintiffs asserted that the defendants' failure to allow a reasonable modification of the plaintiffs' home, to add a front ramp (the ramp request claim), violated 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A). The plaintiffs further alleged that the defendants' refusal to permit a reasonable accommodation allowing Jacob to operate an ATV within the community (the ATV request claim) violated 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B). The plaintiffs sought monetary damages and injunctive relief directing the defendants to grant permission for construction of the front ramp and to approve the ATV request.

Upon completion of discovery, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment.⁵ The district court granted the defendants' motion, concluding that the plaintiffs' evidence failed to show that the ramp was “necessary,” within the meaning of the FHAA. The court alternatively held that the ramp request claim was premature because the review board had not denied the ramp request but, rather, timely had informed the plaintiffs that the ramp request would be considered if they completed the application process and filed the necessary materials. With respect to the ATV request claim, the district court held that the plaintiffs failed to produce evidence showing that the ATV request was either “reasonable” or “necessary,” within the meaning of the FHAA. ⁶ The court also held alternatively that the ATV request claim was premature.

After the district court entered final judgment, the defendants filed a motion seeking attorneys' fees and costs. The court denied the motion, holding that the lawsuit was not frivolous and that, therefore, an award of attorneys' fees and costs was not required under the FHAA. The court also declined to apply a provision in the covenants requiring that a homeowner pay the HOA's attorneys' fees and costs if the HOA substantially prevailed in litigation brought by the homeowner. The court concluded that such a provision was unenforceable in this action as being contrary to the public policy interest of encouraging private parties to pursue potential FHAA violations.

II.

We first address the issues presented in the plaintiffs' appeal. We review de novo the district court's award of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, viewing the facts, and all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from those facts, in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs. See ...