Ladner v. Plaza Del Prado Condominium Association, Inc.

The Ladners (defendants) owned a condominium unit at the Plaza Del Prado Condominium. The Ladners installed a nonuniform terrace railing on their unit without first seeking association approval, in violation of the condominium’s declaration and restrictions. The condominium association (plaintiff) sued the Ladners to enforce the restriction. The trial judge ordered the Ladners to restore their terrace railing to its original condition, and the Ladners appealed. The association had inherited the responsibility for enforcing the terrace-railing restrictions from the developer, who was lax in enforcing those rules and who had granted permission to some owners to alter their terrace railings before that responsibility was transferred to the association. Those prior alterations were the only alterations that had been allowed to remain since the association had assumed responsibility for enforcing the restrictions, and the trial court found that the association had no authority to compel compliance from the owners who had made the prior alterations. Since the association had assumed responsibility for enforcing the terrace-railing restrictions from the developer, it had applied the rules prospectively and consistently. The Ladners argued that the court’s order requiring them to restore their railing and the association’s actions constituted impermissible selective and arbitrary enforcement of the restrictions.