Bill No. 19-13
Concerning: Common Ownership Communities – Administrative Hearing – Attorney’s Fees
Revised: October 22, 2013 Draft No. 4
Introduced: June 18, 2013
Enacted: October 22, 2013
Executive: November 4, 2013
Effective: February 3, 2014
Sunset Date: September 1, 2016
Ch. 29 , Laws of Mont. Co. 2013
County Council
For Montgomery County, Maryland
By: Councilmember Leventhal
AN ACT to:
(1) [[expand]] modify the authority of the Commission on Common Ownership Communities to award attorney’s fees to a [[prevailing]] party in certain disputes; and
(2) generally amend the law governing common ownership communities.
By amending
Montgomery County Code
Chapter 10B, Common Ownership Communities
Section 10B-13
Boldface Heading or defined term. Underlining Added to existing law by original bill. [Single boldface
brackets] Deleted
from existing law by original bill. Double
underlining
Added
by amendment. [[Double boldface
brackets]] Deleted
from existing law or the bill by amendment. *
* * Existing law unaffected by bill.
The County Council for Montgomery County, Maryland approves the following Act:
Sec. 1. Section 10B-13 is amended as follows:
10B-13. Administrative hearing.
* * *
(d) The hearing panel may award costs, including [a] reasonable attorney's [fee] fees, to [[any prevailing party if]] any party if the other party:
(1) [another] [[any party if the]] [[losing]] [[other party:]]
[(1)] [[(A)]] filed or maintained a frivolous dispute, or filed or maintained a dispute in [other than good] bad faith;
(2) [(2)] [[(B)]] unreasonably refused to [accept] participate in mediation of a dispute, or unreasonably withdrew from ongoing mediation; or
(3) [(3)] [[(C)]] substantially delayed or hindered the dispute resolution process without good cause[.] [[; or
(2)]] [The hearing panel may also award costs or attorney's fees if] [[an association document so requires and the award is reasonable under the circumstances; or
(3) the]] [[to a prevailing party]] [[is an owner or occupant of a dwelling unit]] [[who filed the dispute to enforce the association documents or a State or County law regulating common ownership communities]].
The hearing panel may also require the losing party in a dispute to pay all or part of the filing fee.
* * *
Sec. 2. The Amendments to Section 10B-13 contained in Section 1 of this Act apply to any dispute filed with the Commission after the date this Act takes effect.
Sec. 3. The Amendments to Section 10B-13 contained in Section 1 of this Act expire on September 1, 2016.
Approved: