Michael Crossleys Deposition

(CROSSLEY)
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IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF ORANGE
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MAHMOOD REZAI,
)
)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
vs.
) Case No.
) 30-2013-00686136HARBOR POINTE-NEWPORT OWNERS
) CU-OR-CJC
ASSOCIATION, a Nonprofit Mutual )
Benefit Corporation, MICHAEL
)
CROSSLEY, CONNIE MORRIS,
)
GEORGIA W. HICKINGBOTHAM,
)
HOUSHANG KHADEMI, and DOES 1-10 )
INCLUSIVE,
)
)
Defendants.
)
________________________________)
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Deposition of:
MICHAEL CROSSLEY
Date and time:
Friday, August 29, 2014, 10:08 a.m.
Location:
30011 Ivy Glenn, Suite 121

Laguna Niguel, California 92677
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Reporter:
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Roxann M. Strid, CSR

Certificate No. 4842
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RMS COURT REPORTING SERVICE - (949) 859-0787
(CROSSLEY)
Deposition of MICHAEL CROSSLEY, taken before
Roxann M. Strid, Certified Shorthand Reporter,
Certificate No. 4842, with principal office in the
County of Orange, commencing at 10:08 a.m., Friday,
August 29, 2014, at the Law Office of Tracy Ettinghoff,
located at 30011 Ivy Glenn, Suite 121, Laguna Niguel,
California.
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APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL:
For the Plaintiff:
LAW OFFICE OF TRACY ETTINGHOFF
Attorneys at Law
BY: TRACY ETTINGHOFF, ESQ.
30011 Ivy Glenn
Suite 121
Laguna Niguel, California 92677
(949) 363-5573
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For the Defendant Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners

Association:
HAIGHT BROWN & BONESTEEL LLP
Attorneys at Law
BY: CHRISTOPHER KENDRICK, ESQ.
555 South Flower Street
Forty-Fifth Floor
Los Angeles, California 90071
(213) 542-8000
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(CROSSLEY)
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APPEARANCES (CONTINUED):
For the Defendants Georgia W. Hickingbotham and
Houshang Khademi:
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THE NAPOLES LAW FIRM

Attorneys at Law
BY: STEVEN R. NAPOLES, ESQ.
120 Vantis
Suite 300
Aliso Viejo, California 92656
(949) 540-6767
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For the Defendant Michael Crossley:

LITCHFIELD CAVO LLP
Attorneys at Law
BY: MARK K. WORTHGE, ESQ.
251 South Lake Avenue
Suite 750
Pasadena, California 91101-3003
(626) 683-1100
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ALSO PRESENT:
Mahmood Rezai
Barbara Cummings
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(CROSSLEY)
I N D E X
Witness:
Examination:
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF ----------------------------------- 9
MICHAEL CROSSLEY
Page
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E X H I B I T S
Description
Map of Harbor Point, one page
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Property profile of Harbor Pointe Drive,

Corona Del Mar, CA 92625-1332,
Orange County, three pages
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Color photograph dated 3-11-86, one page
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Landscape plan, four pages
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Color photograph of sales brochure, marked

"Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0112,
one page
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Photograph, marked "Confidential,

Bates-stamped MC0106, one page
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Letter from CMC association management

dated February 12, 2013, addressed to
Michael Crossley, marked "Confidential",
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Color photograph dated February 25, 2013,

entitled "Trimmings from trees bordering
3 Harbor Pointe", marked "Confidential",
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Page
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(CROSSLEY)
E X H I B I T S
(CONTINUED)
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Description
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Letter from CMC association management

dated April 29, 2013, entitled "2nd
Notice of Violation", addressed to
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Color photograph dated May 7, 2013,

entitled "Podacarpis and ficus trimmings",
marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped ,
MC0060, one page
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entitled "Podacarpis halfway through
trimming", marked "Confidential",
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entitled "Ficus and palm fronds on
driveway", marked "Confidential",
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entitled "More ficus trimming", marked
one page
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Letter from CMC Community Management

Company dated May 20, 2013, entitled
"Hearing Notice", addressed to
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entitled "Second ficus uprooted", marked
one page
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entitled "Second ficus uprooted", marked
one page
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Page
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(CROSSLEY)
E X H I B I T S
(CONTINUED)
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Description
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Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association

Board Of Directors Meeting, Executive
Session Minutes, June 4, 2013,
Bates-stamped HPNOA 0000028 through
HPNOA 0000029, two pages
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Letter from Mike Crossley, dated

August 24, 2013, "Dear Homeowners,",
marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped
MC0016, one page
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Letter entitled "HOMEOWNERS ALERT", marked

one page
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Notice to All Homeowners at Harbor Pointe,

marked "Confidential" and Bates-stamped
MC0031, one page
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Board Of Directors Meeting, General
Session Minutes, December 3, 2013,
HPNOA 0000033, four pages
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Record of Disapproval and Censure of

Board Member, General Meeting of Harbor
Pointe-Newport Owners Association,
December 3rd, 2013, one page
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Request For Variance, one page
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Recorded Agreement For Landscaping

Variance, "Recording Requests By And
When Recorded Return To:
Michael Crossley", dated 12/11/13,
six pages
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Page
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(CROSSLEY)
E X H I B I T S
(CONTINUED)
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Description
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Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association, 157

December 18, 2013, Proposed Amendment To
The CC&R'S To Except And Exclude Palms From
The Ridge Line Height Limitation,
two pages
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Gmail dated Wed. Jan 8, 2014 at 5:35 PM

from "nragenovich@regentcmc.com", "To:
Crossley Mike", one page
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Gmail dated Tue. Jan 14, 2014 At 11:11 AM

from Marshall Freedman, "To: Adams,
William", one page
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Gmail dated Thu. Jan 16, 2014 at 2:01 PM

from "nragenovich@regentcmc.com", "To:
Connie Morris, Michael Crossly,
Mahmood Rezai", one page
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Attention Homeowners of Harbor

187
Pointe-Newport Owners Association:
Special Meeting of the Board of Directors,
Thursday, January 23, 2014, 5:00 PM at
25 Harbor Pointe, one page
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Harbor Point - Newport Owners Association

Ballot for Amendment, Meeting of the
Membership, January 23, 2014, Minutes,
HPNOA 0000035, two pages
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Photocopy of envelopes for two ballots

192
from Stan Gribble and Harbor Pointe-Newport
Owners Association, marked "Confidential",
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(CROSSLEY)
E X H I B I T S
(CONTINUED)
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Description
Page
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194
Amendment to Sections 9.01 and 9.02 of

the Covenants, Conditions, and
Restrictions of Harbor Pointe-Newport
Owners Association, "Recording Requests
By And When Recorded Return To: Harbor
Pointe-Newport Owners Assn.", dated
1/27/14, five pages
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INFORMATION REQUESTED:
QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERED:
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Page
Line
Page
Line
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(None)
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140
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NOTATIONS FOR COUNSEL

Page
Line
(None)
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(CROSSLEY)
LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIFORNIA - FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014
10:08 A.M.
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MICHAEL CROSSLEY
called as a witness, and having been first duly sworn by
the Certified Shorthand Reporter, was examined and
testified as follows:
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EXAMINATION
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Mr. Crossley, my name is Tracy Ettinghoff and
we're here to take your deposition today.
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Have you ever had your deposition taken before?
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Yes.
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Okay.
I'm just going to go over the basic
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ground rules.
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here is going to take down everything that we say during
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the deposition and when we're done, she's going to
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transcribe it into a booklet and you'll be able to
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review that booklet and make sure that the transcription
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of what you said is accurate, okay?
The court reporter seated to my right
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Hm-hmmn.
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I don't want you to guess at any of your
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answers.
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that you don't understand it, because I want to make
If you don't understand my question, tell me
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(CROSSLEY)
sure we have a clear record, okay?
Sounds good.
All right.
And when you answer questions, you
have to answer audibly, because if you shake your head
"yes" or "no", even though I might understand what you
mean, the court reporter won't be able to transcribe it,
okay?
Yes.
You are testifying under oath.
It's the same
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type of oath that you would testify under if you were
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testifying in court, okay?
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Yes.
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And I want to caution you that if you answer
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any of the questions today and if you change your answer
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at the trial or in the deposition transcript after you
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review it, any of the attorneys at the trial could
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comment upon, you know, your changes because you're
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under oath today; do you understand that?
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Yes.
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Okay.
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information.
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Let's go over some background
What kind of education do you have?
Do you
have a college degree?
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To college.
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Which college did you attend?

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(CROSSLEY)
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Orange Coast College, Saddleback College, UCI,
UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton.
THE REPORTER:
MR. WORTHGE:
One more time.

See, the most important person in
the room here is the court reporter --
THE WITNESS:
Oh, yeah.
MR. WORTHGE:
-- not you, not you.
THE WITNESS:
Saddleback College, start there.
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Orange Coast College.
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UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton.
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BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
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Okay.
Sorry about
that.
Oh, College of the Desert, UCI,
When were you at UC Santa Barbara?
That's my
alma mater.
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Oh, really.
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That's just about the time when I --
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Went through a summer session there.
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Oh, okay.
I think it was '76.
I graduated from UCSB, but I can't
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remember the date now, so -- but I was there during the
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Vietnam war.
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Were you there during the Vietnam war?

A
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Right after that.

Were you there when they burned the bank?
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I was there right after that.
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Yeah, same thing.

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(CROSSLEY)
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah, fun place.
THE WITNESS:
Hm-hmmn.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
And did you receive any degrees from --
No.
-- any of these colleges?
No, from -- I believe -- no, I'd say, I don't
think I have any A.A. degree there.
they sent me one or not, but no.
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Okay.
I don't know if
And do you have any -- so you have no
college degrees then?
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No.
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All right.
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A few too many and just short.
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Do you have any type of legal background?
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No.
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Do you have any professional licenses?
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Such as?
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Real estate license, a broker's license.
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Contractor's license, been through real estate.
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I'm sorry.
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Say that again.
You have a
contractor's license?
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I have a contractor's license.
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In California?
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402250.
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(CROSSLEY)
402 --
Inactive.
Oh, okay.
2250.
2250 -- that's a contractor's license?
Yes.
And when did you get that?
'79, '80, unsure.
And what other type of license did you say you
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have?
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Nothing that would -- as far as real estate, I
have a scuba instructor's license --
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Okay.
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-- things like that.
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MR. WORTHGE:
Pilot's license.
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THE WITNESS:
Maybe a pilot's license.
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BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
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And are you currently employed?
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Self-employed.
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And what type of business are you employed in?
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Real estate.
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What's the name of the business?
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We call it Tempest.
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That is what our dba is,
Tempest Equities.
Q
Tempest Equities?
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(CROSSLEY)
Hm-hmmn.
That's a "yes"?
Yes.
I'm sorry.
Don't -- when you say "hm-hmmn",
she can't really --
Yes.
-- interpret that.
Tempest Equities, okay.
And where is that business located?
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Home.
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At your home?
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Yes.
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And what does that business do?
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We have property.
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The Tempest Equities owns properties and you
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We manage it.
are the manager of those properties?
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Correct.
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So those are rental properties then or what?
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Correct.
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Okay.
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And have you ever been employed as a
property manager for anybody else other than --
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No.
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-- yourself?
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Okay.
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Make sure I finish my question before you

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(CROSSLEY)
answer it --
Hm-hmmn.
-- okay, so she can get everything down.
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Have you ever not been self-employed; in other

words, have you ever been employed by somebody else?
Oh, sure.
Okay.
Why don't you just briefly give me a
run-down of some of your employment.
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Rink.
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Palm Springs Plumbing, Palm Springs Ice Skating

I mean, how far do you want to go back?
Well -MR. WORTHGE:
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where you worked.
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BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
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How about the most recent job
Yeah, the most recent before you were
self-employed.
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That would probably be Club Med.
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Club Med, but I mean, they're all over the
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world, so --
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You mean the particular resort?
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Yeah, did you work in a resort or what?
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Yes.
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Which resort did you work at?
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Playa Blanca, Cancun.
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Okay.
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(CROSSLEY)
Tahiti.
And you were a scuba instructor there or what?
Sailing and scuba.
And what did you do before then?
As far as jobs go?
Yes.
I've worked in MacGregory Yachts.
Okay.
That's about it; I mean, I worked construction
Yes, sir.
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in certain locations, but I couldn't tell you the names
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of the people I worked for now, it's been so long.
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Were you ever a real estate developer?
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I built a home out in Palm Desert.
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We've done
projects for ourselves.

Q
Have you ever done any projects that involved
CC&R's?
A
I've been on boards for CC&R's for quite a few
years with homeowner associations.
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Right.
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I've been associating with CC&R's for quite a
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few years.
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Are you currently on any of those --
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Yes.
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-- boards, other than the --
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Yes.
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(CROSSLEY)
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-- Harbor-Pointe Newport?
THE REPORTER:
THE WITNESS:
THE REPORTER:
THE WITNESS:
THE REPORTER:
THE WITNESS:
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THE REPORTER:
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-- question, because you're
Okay.
-- of his question and I can't
take two of you at the same time.
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Okay.
stepping on the very end --
You need to let him
finish his --
Excuse me.
Okay.
Thank you.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Okay.
Why don't you tell me the names of the
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other homeowners associations that you are on the board
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for at the current time.
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We have Mesa Business Center.
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Where's that located?
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Pomona and 17th Street.
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That's in Costa Mesa?
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MR. WORTHGE:
Just real quick here, he was
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asking about residential boards, but if you're
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asking -- responding of all the boards you're on, that's
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probably --
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THE WITNESS:
Ahhh.
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MR. WORTHGE:
He'll get there anyway -17
(CROSSLEY)
THE WITNESS:
Okay.
MR. WORTHGE:
-- so --
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, I was just starting with
that.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Then there's Seashore Townhomes.
Well, wait.
Okay.
-- Business Center.
What city is that located in?
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Costa Mesa.
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Okay.
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Let me go back to Mesa --
And that's property that -- do you own
that property or --
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I have a unit in that property.
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And you sit on that, and that is a commercial
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property?
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It's -- they're condos, business condos for
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various businesses.
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basically.
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I think there's a hundred units
And you're on the board of that association,
and what is your position on that board?
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Member at-large.
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Okay.
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Let's go to the next one that you were
going to tell me about.
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Seashore Townhomes.
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Seashore Townhomes?
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(CROSSLEY)
Hm-hmmn.
Where is that located in?
Newport Beach.
And do you own a unit at Seashore Townhomes?
Yes.
And are you an officer of that association?
Yes.
What's your position?
Member at-large again.
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Does Seashore Townhomes in Newport Beach, do
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they have any view protections in their CC&R's?
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that.
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I would have to see the CC&R's to be exact on
You haven't had any view issues then come up on
that board?
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Yes, we have.
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What kind of view issues did you have on that
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board?
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Trees.
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Trees that were blocking other people's views?
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Hm-hmmn.
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That's a "yes"?
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Yes.
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Okay.
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Sorry.
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(CROSSLEY)
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And what did the board decide to do about that
issue?
MR. WORTHGE:
Is that too general of a
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, it really kind of is, yeah.
MR. WORTHGE:
And then, there may be more than
question?
one the reason I'm asking, so --
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
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I don't know.
Was there a lawsuit or was it
just an architectural issue?

A
No, just we've had homeowner complaints at
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specific times that we have taken care of by trimming
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or, you know, saying "This is the way it is."
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Okay.
There's never been a lawsuit then over
the --
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No.
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-- views?
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No.
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Okay.
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A lawsuit is a rare thing, as far as I'm
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concerned, and with homeowners associations, we've not
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had many in 15 years of being on a board.
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Okay.
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I can't answer.
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And why do you think that is?
MR. WORTHGE:
Objection, calls for a legal

20
(CROSSLEY)
conclusion.
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THE WITNESS:
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
All right.
Let's see.
So we've talked about
Mesa Business Center and Seashore Townhomes.
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7
Yeah, can't answer that.
Any other associations that you're on the

board?
No.
Have you ever been on the board of directors of
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any other homeowners association, other than those two?
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No.
12
And how long have you been on the
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Seashore Townhomes board?
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Probably off and on over 20 years.
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And is the property that you own there a
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vacation home or is it a rental property?
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It is -- used to be my primary residence --
18
Okay.
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-- and now it is a satellite home.
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21
22
It's not
either of what you're asking.

Q
And how long have you been on the board at
Mesa Business Center?
23
15 years, give or take.
24
Does Mesa Business Center, do they have any
25
view issues there?

21
(CROSSLEY)
No.
What is your current address?
1 Harbor Pointe.
And how long have you lived there?
A little over two-and-a-half years.
I don't
know the exact date.
Who did you buy it from?
Bought it from the real estate company
from -- Frank Hickingbotham owned it before.
10
So you bought it from Frank Hickingbotham or --
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Well, we -- we worked with the real estate
12
company.
13
owner.
We never had direct association with the
14
You mean you bought it through a realtor?
15
Right.
16
But the seller was Frank Hickingbotham?
17
Hm-hmmn.
18
That's a "yes"?
19
Frank and Georgia, yes.
20
And at the current time, are there any palm
21
trees on your property?
22
Yes.
23
How many palm trees are there?
24
Unknown.
25
Do you know who planted those palm trees?

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(CROSSLEY)
No.
I know your counsel has produced some photos
just recently and I understand that these may be photos
of the Harbor Pointe community when it was originally
developed.
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7
First of all, can I ask you where you got these

photos from?
From an aerial photography company.
What's the name of that company?
10
Is that something I need to tell him or does it
11
matter?
12
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah.
13
THE WITNESS:
Okay.
14
Aerial Eye.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
15
How do you spell that?
16
I have no idea, Aerial Eye.
17
Aerial Eye like --
18
Yeah, E-y-e, I imagine.
19
Okay.
20
Yes.
21
And do you know where they're located?
22
I believe Tehachapi.
23
And you basically told them the coordinates of
Aerial --
24
where you wanted to look for and they found these photos
25
for you?
23
(CROSSLEY)
We contacted them and say, "We're in this
association next to Fashion Island and do you have any
photographs of this particular area?", and that's the
best they -- after researching, that's the best they
could come up with.
6
7
8
And how long ago were you able to obtain these
photographs?
A
Boy, not that long ago; a couple of months.
(Exhibit 1 was marked for identification
10
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy of
11
which is attached hereto.)
12
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
13
14
photos --
15
Hm-hmmn.
16
-- let's mark this as Exhibit 1 and I'm going
17
18
21
22
Let's see.
Before we go into the
to ask you to take a look at that.

A
19
20
Okay.
Hm-hmmn.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Here's an extra copy of that.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
This is a diagram of the Harbor Pointe
community where you live, correct?
23
Appears to be.
24
Yes, and you lived at number 1, right here,
25
(indicating)?
24
(CROSSLEY)
Correct.
2
3
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
So the next thing I want to
do, too, let's mark this as Exhibit number 2.
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BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
This is a property profile of your property.
just printed it for the purpose of determining when it
10
was originally sold, and according to the property
11
profile, it looks like it was originally sold by
12
The Fieldstone Company on August 14th, 1987, to a
13
Gene Hamrick; do you see that --
14
Let's see here.
15
-- on the second page?
16
Second page?
17
Yes.
18
Showing the model, I see that.
What's
19
the -- maybe if you can point out the Gene part.
20
don't --
21
Right here, (indicating).
22
Okay.
23
I'm going to circle it, (indicating).
24
Okay.
25
First of all, do you know Gene Hamrick?

25
(CROSSLEY)
Never heard the name.
Have you ever spoken to him?
Never heard the name; never spoken to him.
Also, according to this property profile, when
you purchased the property, it looks like you purchased
it in January of 2011; does that sound correct?
Sounds good, yes.
And shows that the seller was Ocean Sunset
Trust; do you see that?
10
Hm-hmmn.
11
That's a "yes"?
12
That's a yes.
13
Who is Ocean Sunset Trust?
14
I see that here.

Are the
Hickingbothams involved with Ocean Sunset Trust?
15
MR. WORTHGE:
If you know.
16
THE WITNESS:
I -- you know, I wouldn't say I
17
know.
18
involved in it.
19
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
20
21
No, I don't know anything about that, who's
Well, when you said that you bought the
property from Frank Hickingbotham --
22
Uh-huh.
23
-- why did you -- or what did you base that on?
24
Just from what we've talked about and in the
25
past with Frank, yeah.

26
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
Did he tell you that he was the seller of the
property that you bought?
That's what I was understanding, yes.
Did he sign the sales documents and the
Grant Deed and so forth?
6
7
I'd have to look through my papers on that.
8
9
You know, I can't tell you if he did or not.
But your understanding is that he was somehow
involved or that he owned that --
10
Yes.
11
-- property at 1 Harbor Pointe for a while?
12
Hm-hmmn, yes.
13
Have you ever talked to Frank Hickingbotham
14
about any of the trees on your property about who
15
planted them?
16
Yes.
17
What did he say?
18
They were there, I believe, when he purchased
Oh, okay.
19
20
21
it.
But did he tell you whether or not
he knows who planted them?
22
He does not know.
23
Okay.
24
As far as I know, he does not know.
25
Okay.
27
(CROSSLEY)
I can't be sure if he knows or not.
2
3
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah, we're going to mark this
Actually, these are going to go
to the court reporter.
9
10
I think you said that.
as Exhibit 2, so you can hold onto that, if you want.
7
8
I don't know if I --
did I say we were going to mark this as Exhibit 2?
Okay.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Yeah, those are going to the
court reporter.
11
THE WITNESS:
Okay.
12
MR. WORTHGE:
So we have -- her job is at the
13
Oh.
end of this deposition not --
14
THE WITNESS:
Okay.
15
MR. WORTHGE:
-- to let any of us leave until
16
she has all these documents.
17
THE WITNESS:
18
for now then?
19
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
So I can keep these here
20
Yeah, you can just --
21
Okay.
22
-- for reference, because I'm going to be
23
asking you some questions about some dates that are on
24
some --
25
Sure.
28
(CROSSLEY)
-- photos, okay?
Now, let's see.
Let's mark this as Exhibit
number -- these are -- by the way, let's let the record
reflect that your counsel has agreed to produce these
photos this morning and they look like they're color
copies.
So is it okay for me to mark these as original
exhibits?
10
11
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
in other words, you can
reproduce these, right?
12
13
Sure.
MR. WORTHGE:
Right, and they already are in
black and whites.
14
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
15
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah.
So the prior production of
16
documents which you requested that we produce color
17
copies, we said we'd try to find them and we did
18
eventually locate those and brought them here today for
19
you.
20
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
21
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
So let's just mark --
You may just want to reference
22
the black and white through the Bates number and have
23
the witness confirm that that's the same photo, because
24
I believe it's --
25
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
I've got the black and whites

29
(CROSSLEY)
also.
2
3
4
5
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah, okay.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Okay.
Let's start.
There's a handwriting on
the bottom left-hand corner that says March 11, 1986.
Correct.
Who wrote that on there?
Barbara did.
And how do you know that that was the date that
10
11
12
this was taken?

A
Because Aerial Eye copyrights and documents the
date that they were taken.
13
So that information was provided to you?
14
Yes.
15
16
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
So let's mark this photo as
Exhibit number 3 then.
17
18
19
20
21
22
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
And I take it, this is a photo showing your
house; is that correct?
23
Correct.
24
All right.
25
And so as of March 1986, it appears
that there was no trees planted yet on your property; is

30
(CROSSLEY)
that --
2
3
4
5
On my property, no; on the community property,
And these are the palm trees planted near
yes.
the --
Mailboxes.
-- Mailboxes?
Correct.
So this shows that as of March 1986 the
10
developer of Harbor Pointe had already planted palm
11
trees in the common area?
12
Yes.
13
Is this a corner over here part of the common
14
area of Harbor Pointe?
15
Yes.
16
And so the area that is -- looks like a slope
17
that is mostly green then, does the Harbor
18
Pointe-Newport Homeowners Association maintain that
19
slope?
20
21
22
Yes.
MR. WORTHGE:
Let's just make sure it's clear
on the record.
23
Do you know what roadway this is, (indicating)?
24
THE WITNESS:
San Miguel, I --
25
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
So you've been indicating
31
(CROSSLEY)
that the green area to the south --
THE WITNESS:
I guess that'd be the south.
MR. WORTHGE:
So this is San Miguel,
(indicating)?
5
6
THE WITNESS:
No, this is MacArthur,
(indicating).
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
THE WITNESS:
San Miguel, (indicating).
MR. WORTHGE:
-- this is San Miguel which is --
10
THE WITNESS:
Correct.
11
MR. WORTHGE:
-- the intersection of the
13
THE WITNESS:
Hm-hmmn.
14
MR. WORTHGE:
-- and so this green area that
12
So --
"V" --
15
you've been pointing to is kind of the end of the
16
triangle, (indicating)?
17
THE WITNESS:
Correct.
18
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
19
THE WITNESS:
Yeah.
20
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
21
THE WITNESS:
South-facing.
22
MR. WORTHGE:
All right.
23
24
25

32
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
All right.
The next photograph appears to have
the same date, and we'll mark this one as number 4, and
again this photo has a date on it of March 11, 1986.
5
6
I'll ask you where that date came from.

A
Again, from the company that took the
photograph.
they take this picture.
9
10
They have -- they have to date the date
And this is showing the other half of
Harbor Pointe-Newport, correct?
11
Correct, the entranceway and the upper streets.
12
Right.
13
So this is the entranceway and it looks
like there were some palm trees --
14
Correct.
15
-- already planted by the developer on that
16
date?
17
Correct.
18
And do you -- by the way, let me ask you a
19
couple questions.
20
21
Is this a color copy from a photo that's been

printed on real photo paper or what?
22
8-by-10, yeah, correct.
23
So this company that you bought these
24
photographs from, they provided you with 8-by-10 color
25
photos?
33
(CROSSLEY)
Correct.
And then you put those on a color copy machine
and you copied them?
Correct.
Did they give you the digital files, too?
No.
And is this the actual size that they produced
the photos to you in, 8-by-10?
Yes.
10
Have you done any analysis of these photographs
11
to determine what some of these things are in the
12
photos?
13
lives, it looks like there's some -- I don't know if
14
those are poles or trees or what.
15
16
For instance, on the street up where Mr. Rezai
They appear to be power poles.
I have not done
any analyzation.
17
Okay.
18
All I know is that it shows the palm trees were
19
20
21
planted at that particular time.

Q
Do you believe it shows that there's any palm
trees planted on Mr. Rezai's lot?
22
No.
23
But it appears there may be some palm trees
24
25
planted on Mr. Khademi's lot, correct?

A
Yes.
34
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
in the front of Mr. Khademi's yard?
4
5
So it looks like there may be some palm trees
Yes.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
The next one that we'll
mark, we'll mark as number -- let's see, number 4?
MR. KENDRICK:
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
That one was 4.

Okay.
We'll mark this one as
5.
10
11
12
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
13
It appears to be dated July 21st 1987?
14
Correct.
15
And that date came from the aerial company that
16
17
you got this photo from?

A
18
19
Correct.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
And by the way, I think I have
some extra copies of these, if you guys want them.
20
MR. KENDRICK:
21
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
22
MR. KENDRICK:
No thanks -You don't?

-- if you don't mind me looking
23
over Mark's shoulder here.
24
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
25
This appears to be a photo that shows the

35
(CROSSLEY)
entire project at Harbor Pointe, correct?
Appears, yes.
And according to the date of it, it's July 1st,
1987, so that's about three weeks before the developer
sold your house to the original owner, correct?
If you say so.
And this -- it doesn't appear that there's any
trees on your lot at that date, correct?
Not yet, no.
10
And can you tell on this photo or have you
11
analyzed it to determine whether there are any palm
12
trees planted on the Hickingbotham property at number
13
7 Harbor Pointe?
14
I don't know.
All I can see is there are palm
15
trees in Stanley's place and at the entranceways and in
16
the common areas.
17
Stanley Gribble you're talking about?
18
Stanley and Hans' down here, (indicating).
19
can see those in the picture, but --
20
You're talking about these palm trees --
21
Yes, those here, (indicating).
22
-- right here, (indicating)?
23
Yeah.
24
And did the developer put these pools in?
25
I have no idea.
36
You
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
Okay.
Do you know the dates that these houses
appear they were sold?
No idea.
MR. NAPOLES:
Tracy, belatedly, you might want
to clean -- when you referenced the Hickingbotham
property, which property you're talking about, because
you already established at one point they own more than
one.
9
10
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
property at 7 Harbor Pointe.
11
MR. NAPOLES:
12
I'm talking about.
13
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
14
Well, I'm talking about their
Just for a clear record is what
So this shows that as of July 21st, 1987, there
15
was some palm trees on Stan Gribble's property, but I
16
don't know.
17
for that.
18
sale of that one, though, is, so --
19
20
23
I'm not sure what the date is of original
MR. WORTHGE:
The document might as well speak
for themself.
21
22
I'm not sure if I have a property profile
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Yeah.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
And do you see any palm trees on any other
24
properties other than Stan Gribble's and on
25
Hans Khademi's?
37
(CROSSLEY)
Not with this picture.
that good.
glasses.
4
5
My eyesight isn't all
I'd have to get my magnifying and my
Is the original photograph that this was copied
from, is it better quality than this picture?
I believe so.
And you have the original of that?
Yes.
Do you know if that company that sold you this,
10
do they have the -- did they offer you to sell you the
11
actual digital files or --
12
No.
13
-- maybe they're not digital; I don't know.
14
No, they're very protective of their files.
15
had a hard time getting these.
16
Oh, okay.
17
They're very protective, yeah.
18
So they won't give you the negative or the
19
We
digital?
20
No.
21
That's all they will give you is a color print
22
23
of the photos?
A
They will sell you a print, yeah.
24
25
Oh, no.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
this one.
And next in line then will be
We'll mark this one as number 6.

38
(CROSSLEY)
4
5
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
This photo appears to be taken at almost the
same location as Exhibit number 5 and it has a date on
it of December 20th, 1990.
8
9
Again, is that a date that was provided to you

by the seller --
10
Yes.
11
-- of the photo?
12
MR. KENDRICK:
Yes, I just wanted to see what
13
was referenced, (indicating).
14
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
15
Okay.
So this photo appears to show various
16
palm trees at different locations in the community.
17
guess we would have to go search the --
18
Correct.
19
-- the deeds on each property to see when they
20
were originally sold, right?
21
Hm-hmmn.
22
Okay.
Other than these photographs that you
23
produced to us today, and I know there's a couple other
24
black and white ones, are you aware of any evidence
25
about what trees were planted by The Fieldstone Company

39
(CROSSLEY)
before the lots were sold?
There's one more picture, I believe, of
Connie's house, but it doesn't really show much in palm
trees.
are.
consistent through the homeowners association.
7
8
9
10
It shows -- I forgot what kind of trees they

I know they're not Robelinis, but they're
What was the date?
Is that one of the pictures
we have?
A
It's one of the -- I believe so.
I believe
it's at --
11
Well, we'll go through --
12
Yeah.
13
-- all of these, but have you spoken to anybody
14
that used to work at The Fieldstone Company?
15
Yes.
16
Who did you speak to?
17
Have no idea, no.
We called Fieldstone.
We
18
explained who we are, what we were after.
19
they had nothing in their files of anything anymore.
20
They got rid of it all.
21
22
Okay.
They told us
So you didn't get information from
anybody --
23
No.
24
-- at Fieldstone?
25
I wish we could have; we did not.

40
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
But have you tried to get any information from
anybody else like the City of --
Yes.
-- Corona Del Mar or the City of Newport Beach
or anything?
6
7
plans for the original landscaping plans on the project.
8
9
City of Newport Beach, we have the landscaping
And can you tell me, do you have those in your
possession?
10
No, I do not.
12
Okay.
13
Yeah.
14
-- copied them from the city then?
15
You go to the city and you ask them and they
11
16
17
18
They -- I have them at my house,
yes.
So you've --
make a copy for you.

Q
Those are landscape plans that were submitted
by The Fieldstone Company?
19
Correct.
20
Can you tell me what those landscape plans
21
22
show, if you remember?

A
It shows the community landscaping, including
23
the palm trees and the size and what type of plants
24
throughout the community that they were going --
25
planning on putting in.
Whether the city held to it

41
(CROSSLEY)
exactly, I don't know.
2
3
But it's only on the common areas; they're not
on individual lots?
Only on -- yes.
What generally does it show then?
Does it show
these palm trees in the entranceway then?
Correct.
And the palm trees near the mailbox?
Correct.
10
Anything else?
11
It may show these up here, (indicating).
12
can't be sure.
13
up the plan and see what they have or I can bring mine
14
down.
15
16
They're at the city.
It's easy to pick
Okay.
MR. WORTHGE:
You know, I may have a set in my
18
THE WITNESS:
Hm-hmmn.
19
MR. WORTHGE:
If you want to take a quick
17
20
car.
break, I can --
21
THE WITNESS:
Sure.
22
MR. WORTHGE:
-- go check and that way we won't
23
be speculating --
24
THE WITNESS:
Yeah.
25
MR. WORTHGE:
-- what's where -42
(CROSSLEY)
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, because I have no idea.
MR. WORTHGE:
-- if you want, or we can just
wait.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
Well, why don't you get
them, because I think that was one of the documents we
asked to be produced at the deposition was any documents
you have regarding the trees that show what this --
MR. WORTHGE:
but if I have them --
I don't know if you did or not,
10
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
11
MR. WORTHGE:
12
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
13
Yeah, let's --
-- I'll bring them in.

Let's go off the record for a
minute.
14
THE WITNESS:
Okay.
15
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
16
minutes or something.
17
THE WITNESS:
18
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
19
(Recess from 10:38 a.m. to 10:54 a.m.)
20
THE REPORTER:
21
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
22
So we'll take about ten
Okay.
Sure.
Back on the record?

Yeah, let's go back on the
record.
23
Is everybody ready to go back on the record?
24
MR. KENDRICK:
25
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah.
These are copies that we or you
43
(CROSSLEY)
have from the city.
You gave them to me?
THE WITNESS:
Yes.
MR. WORTHGE:
So you don't have them?
THE WITNESS:
Yeah.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Yeah, here's what -- so let's
go back off the record then.
THE WITNESS:
(Discussion off the record).
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
10
11
Okay.
Off the record.
Let's go back on the record.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
We'll mark this set.
These are landscape plans
12
that Mr. Crossley has provided to us through his counsel
13
that appear to be the original landscaping plans that
14
were submitted by The Fieldstone Company to the City of
15
Newport Beach; is that where you got these?
16
Correct, yes.
17
And it looks like there's one, two, three, four
18
pages of this landscape plan.
19
correct order.
20
21
MR. WORTHGE:
I'm not sure of the
Just there's a little block on
the bottom right corner, that if you can read it --
22
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, I need -- that's -- my
23
eyesight's so bad, I can't even --
24
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
25
Makes it kind of hard.

44
(CROSSLEY)
Can you tell, what was this?
MR. WORTHGE:
sticker.
Well, it's obliterated with some
Why don't you just pick an order.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
It doesn't matter.
There's a little coding over the
document, that usually it's "1 of 15" or "2 of 15", but
someone put a sticker over it at the city.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. KENDRICK:
10
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
11
THE REPORTER:
12
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
13
Okay.
14
Okay.
Let's mark this as --
Tracy, this will be 7?

This is number 7.
What was number 6?
6 was a color photograph.
We're marking what's been identified as
Exhibit number 7 now to this deposition then.
15
16
17
18
19
20
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Mr. Crossley, these are the plans that the
City of Newport Beach provided to you a copy of?
21
Yes.
22
And when did you get these from the city?
23
I can't be sure; probably nine, ten months ago.
24
25
I'm not sure.

Q
And are these the actual pages that they

45
(CROSSLEY)
provided to you right here that we're looking at?
I'm not sure.
Or is that a copy then?
It may be a copy.
got here.
7
8
9
Yeah, let's see what we've
What was the size of the plans that they
actually provided to you?

A
This -- your plan legend is here and it tells
you what -- what you have, like a 60-inch box.
10
really read that too well.
11
but --
I can't
I think it says 60-inch box,
12
Yeah.
13
-- those will probably be the palm trees.
14
Again, I'm unsure without my glasses and magnifying and
15
you have to do all that, and --
16
17
So did you at one point sit down and analyze
these plans then?
18
Yes.
19
Okay.
Why don't you -- just based on your
20
analyzation of the plans, why don't you tell us what you
21
believe they show.
22
Again, without seeing this, I can't be sure,
23
but it does show there are palm trees planted here, you
24
know, in the entryway and various spots in the
25
community.
Whether they're, you know -- each circle has

46
(CROSSLEY)
a designator and it goes back to the legend.
pretty self-explanatory.
It's
So to the best of your knowledge then, it
showed there were going to be palm trees planted in the
entryway, right?
Correct.
And in the mailbox area?
Correct.
But does it show any trees being planted on any
10
individual lots?
11
12
city.
13
14
This is just a community plan submitted to the

Individual lots, they -- we couldn't get any.
Okay.
I believe this is Mr. Rezai's lot, lot
number 16; do you --
15
Correct.
16
-- do you see that?
17
Do you see that slope right there?
18
Correct.
19
Is that slope maintained by the homeowners
20
association?
21
22
here.
23
24
25
This is a very interesting situation we have
Why don't you tell me what you mean by that.

MR. WORTHGE:
Well, let's make sure we know
what page we're referring to.

47
(CROSSLEY)
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
Everything is Exhibit 7.
We'll number them.
then.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
We'll number them then.
Here's 7.
Okay.
For the record, I'm
going to mark these four pages as 7, 7-1, 7-2, 7-3 and
10
7-4.
11
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
12
Okay.
Why don't you put 7.1, 7.2, 3, 4
Well, you want to --
Okay.
Looking at what we've identified as page 7-2, I
13
was referring to the slope area on lot 16 which is now
14
owned by Mr. Rezai and I'm --
15
Accompanying lot 16, 'cause it's not lot 16.
16
Oh, okay.
I guess that's a good question
17
is -- my eyesight is so bad, I can't even see where the
18
lot is either.
19
20
So these plants then are on a slope area

that --
21
Correct.
22
Is that slope area designated by the homeowners
23
association as common area?
24
It appears to be.
25
Does the homeowners association maintain it?

48
(CROSSLEY)
I don't know.
if they do or not.
does to it.
I would ask our landscape people
Maybe Mr. Rezai can tell us what he
But you don't believe it's on lot 16, though?
Well, the problem with this layout here, you've
got -- this is something we may wish to look at.
Let's look at the tract map.
lot 16 on there?
actual tract map that was recorded.
10
11
This is the
it?
A
Here's probably the better example here,
(indicating).
14
15
Yeah, this shows lot 16.
So lot 16 is right here, (indicating), isn't
12
13
Does that show
Okay.
Yeah, let's -- looks like lot 16 goes
all the way to the end where the curb is.
16
So you see the confusion.
17
Okay.
So it's not clear to you then whether or
18
not the landscaped area near lot 16 on Exhibit 7-2 is
19
part of lot 16 or whether it's part of the common area
20
or whether the association is supposed to maintain it or
21
not?
22
No, it's unclear to me.
23
What about these other areas near
24
San Miguel Drive that are shown here, are those
25
maintained by the homeowners association?

49
(CROSSLEY)
Yes.
What about the ones near MacArthur Boulevard?
Yes.
That's maintained by the association?
Yes.
What about the ones that are backing up to the
nursery behind you, are those maintained by the
homeowners association --
Yes.
10
-- at the end of this cul-de-sac?
11
That would be 7.2?
12
Yeah, it's 7.2.
13
Okay.
14
So to the best of your knowledge, on
15
Exhibit 7.2, everything that is shown as landscaping on
16
this plan is maintained by the homeowners association,
17
but you're unclear about the ones shown near lot 16?
18
Correct.
19
Also on Exhibit number 7.2, lot 9, I believe
20
that's the lot that Mr. Khademi owns, correct?
21
Appears to be.
22
But it doesn't appear that there's any
23
24
25
landscaping shown on there, though.

A
There's no individual residence landscaping on
7.2 at all that I can see.

50
(CROSSLEY)
Okay.
So to the best of your knowledge then,
7.2 only depicts the common areas that the developer was
planning --
Correct.
-- for purposes of the city approval?
On Exhibit 7.4, there's kind of like a
boomerang-shaped area there that looks like it has
landscaping on.
Does your homeowners association maintain that
10
area?
11
Yes.
12
And what about the area near -- I'll call it
13
near the mailboxes, does your homeowners association
14
maintain that area?
15
16
That would be the lower mailbox.
take care of that.
17
There's a lower and an upper?
18
Yes.
19
Where's the upper one located?
20
Probably -- da-da-da.
21
Yes, they
Right above the
Cape Court name, I believe.
22
Oh, there's a mailbox up here on the street?
23
Yes.
24
It's not shown on any of that?
25
It's not shown on that at all.

51
(CROSSLEY)
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
And then we're going to
stipulate that this document will be returned to you, a
copy of it or what?
How do you --
MR. WORTHGE:
Sure.
I propose that the court
reporter take this, make a copy of these, this set of
plans; that the copy be attached as the actual
Exhibit 7 --
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
Oh, okay.
-- 1 through 4, and that the
10
originals be sent with the original transcript to my
11
office.
12
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
13
MR. WORTHGE:
14
17
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
That's stipulated to.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Just a couple more questions then.
18
19
We'll talk about that at the end,
so we can return this back to Mr. Crossley.
15
16
Okay.
When you got these plans from the City of

Newport Beach, were they full size plans, like 24-by --
20
No, they weren't.
21
They were --
22
They were larger than this somewhere, I
23
believe.
24
Oh, okay.
25
Yeah.
So this is actually --
52
(CROSSLEY)
-- a reduced copy of them?
I believe so, yeah.
It's been ten months.
not sure and we've got -- as you can see, we have the
other plans over here and I get confused.
5
6
And what department at the City of
Newport Beach did you obtain these from?
Building department.
The building department of the City of
Newport Beach?
10
Building and planning.
11
Now, your project is located in the City of
12
I'm
Corona Del Mar, isn't it?
13
Hm-hmmn.
14
Was the city handling the permits for that back
15
then?
16
17
18
Yes.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. KENDRICK:
Pardon me, Counsel.
Let me look
at Exhibit 7.
21
MR. WORTHGE:
22
map?
23
important or not.
24
25
Let's mark this next exhibit
then as Exhibit number 8.
19
20
Yes.
Do you want to attach the tract
You referenced them.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
I didn't know if it's
I don't think I need to right
now.
53
(CROSSLEY)
MR. WORTHGE:
you change your mind.
I'll keep them handy just in case
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Yeah.
There's Exhibit 8.
7
8
9
10
11
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
And Mr. Crossley, is this something that you
obtained, this Exhibit number 8?

A
I don't recall, but I would imagine.
It looks
to be --
12
Well, your counsel --
13
-- an original, yeah.
14
Well, your counsel produced it to me.
15
So yeah.
16
Where did you get it from?
17
It looks to be an original sales brochure.
18
Okay.
19
Not sure.
20
Do you have that sales brochure in your
21
And do you have --
possession?
22
No, I do not.
23
Where did you get this from?
24
Unsure.
25
Did you ask other homeowners in the community

54
(CROSSLEY)
whether they had any original documents from the
purchase?
I have in the past, yes.
And was this one of the things that might have
been given to you?
It could be.
Other than this, do you have any other
documents that show the placement of trees in the
community by the original developer?
10
The only other items that we got were
11
architectural sketches of extremely large trees next to
12
the homes, but nothing that was ever planted.
13
was Fieldstone.
14
basically.
15
16
It
It was boilerplate from Fieldstone
I don't know where they got it.
Okay.
But you don't really know whether those
were planted or not?
17
No, they were not.
18
Okay.
19
MR. WORTHGE:
They were architectural concept
21
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, exactly.
22
MR. WORTHGE:
Art sketches?
23
THE WITNESS:
Art sketches.
20
24
25
types?
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
And Exhibit 8 appears to show the project from

55
(CROSSLEY)
an aerial view and there's only three houses built.
looks like number 8 is built.
yet, number 1.
hard to see them.
6
7
10
11
12
13
Your house is not built
It appears to show some trees, but it's
I wish I knew who took this picture; I don't.

MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
Let's go on to -- we'll
mark this as number 9.
8
9
It

BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Actually, I happen to have a color photo of
that one to show you.
14
I think you do.
15
Well, I can't find a color photo of this, but
I think I saw it in there.
16
let's mark this as 9 then, and I'm going to ask you
17
where this photograph came from.
18
19
I believe this is a photograph from Mahmood's
lot, lot number -- what is it -- 16.
20
This is a photograph from Mahmood's lot?
21
I believe so, yes.
22
Oh, one of the photos that he produced?
23
I believe it is.
24
Okay.
25
I think it's spectacular.
The black and white
56
(CROSSLEY)
doesn't do it justice.
Yes.
I think the color is very nice.
Then the next one I have here is -- let's see.
Is this a duplicate of -- well --
Yes.
Is this a duplicate --
It is.
-- of one of the other ones we already saw?
10
that this, (indicating)?
11
that.
12
won't bother with that one.
13
to bother with.
14
15
16
Yeah, that's the same thing as
Yeah, that's the same picture it looks like.
MR. WORTHGE:
Let's keep these in order.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Let's see.
Do we already have that one in
color?
18
looks like the same picture, just in black and white.
19
So that one we won't bother with.
20
Is that this one, (indicating)?
Yeah, that
This one right here, do we have this one,

(indicating)?
22
23
So this one we're not going
17
21
Is
Okay.
That's that one, (indicating).
How about this one right here, do we have this,

(indicating)?
24
(Indicating).
25
Okay.
I'm not going to bother with that.

57
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
Yeah, what about this one, (indicating)?

this something we already have?
3
4
MR. WORTHGE:
These photographs, if this is in
the second disk, they may be actual blowups --
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
-- digitally blown up from these
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
These are what you gave
me, but they're taken from the same photographs, though?
10
11
Yeah, this is the second disk.
prior ones.
8
9
MR. WORTHGE:
I believe so.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
12
Okay.
Let me ask you just a general question,
13
Mr. Crossley:
14
today is it looks like we've got four, four color
15
photographs from the aerial photo.
16
photographs you bought from them?
17
18
What your counsel has provided us with
We have three.
Is that how many
One of this is combined.
forgot which one it is.
19
20
Is
Is it this one or this one, (indicating)?
Hold
on.
21
MR. WORTHGE:
Like a panorama?
22
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, if you take the border out
23
and I think you put those two together, you have one
24
picture, I believe.
25
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
58
(CROSSLEY)
then?
Yes.
So what you're referring to is what we've
Is that an enlargement of the actual photograph
marked as Exhibits 3 and 4 then.
8-by-10 photo that was given to you --
That was taken from an
I believe so, yes.
-- and then you enlarged it?
Yes.
10
So am I correct then that you only purchased
11
three 8-by-10 photos from this company?
12
Yes.
13
Okay.
14
Four?
We had four.
Oh, that's -- they
15
probably broke that up into two.
16
look at it.
17
and --
We just -- you know, it's been awhile
18
Okay.
19
So --
20
I have to go back and
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
You said these are just
21
blowups, right, of the same photos we've already got
22
marked?
23
24
25
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah, you can probably match up
the locations.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Yeah, these are -- let's see.

59
(CROSSLEY)
This goes to --
MR. WORTHGE:
They've got the same reddish, so
I'm going to guess it's this one right here,
(indicating).
5
6
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
right here, (indicating).
MR. WORTHGE:
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
right?
10
11
Okay.
Oh, yeah, you're right.
Yeah, you can see the quality
then is fading.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
15
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Yeah.
MR. WORTHGE:
18
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
use this one then.
20
21
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm not going to
This one right here is a blowup of this I

think, (indicating), right?
MR. WORTHGE:
23
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
25
Okay.
Put it right there.
22
24
-- of this one, (indicating),
right?
17
19
And this one then looks
like -- this looks like it's a blowup --
14
16
That's just a blowup of that,
I'm not going to mark that then.
MR. WORTHGE:
12
13
No, I think it's this one
Yeah.
Okay.
That one we already
have.
This is just a blowup of this I think, right
60
(CROSSLEY)
down in the corner, (indicating).
the same like that right there, (indicating).
Yeah, it looks like
And this is a blowup of this, (indicating),
right?
not going to bother marking all those.
Yeah, that's the same as that.
Okay.
THE WITNESS:
You're going to be busy.
MR. WORTHGE:
I told you.
So I'm
She's not going to
let us out of the room until she has all of those.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
10
Other than the photographs that we've looked at
11
today, are you aware of any other photographs that show
12
what the trees were like when the developer originally
13
sold the homes here?
14
15
16
I believe Mahmood has some, but I don't have
any possession of anything, so -Q
Oh, of the -- my question to you -- listen
17
carefully to my question:
18
photos that depict what the trees were like when the
19
developer originally --
Are you aware of any other
20
Oh, no.
21
-- sold the homes?
22
Absolutely not.
23
Okay.
24
Yes.
25
-- you're aware of?
These are all the photographs that --
61
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
Let's start through this stack of documents

right here.
3
4
I'm going to mark the first letter as

number -- are we on 9 or -- oh, wait.
5
6
MR. KENDRICK:
I think we have more.
This will
be 10, I think.
7
8
This is 9.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
This will be 10.
Mark this
letter as number 10.
MR. NAPOLES:
Thank you, sir.
10
11
12
13
14
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Is this a copy of a letter that you received
15
from the Harbor Pointe-Newport Homeowners Association in
16
or around February 2013?
17
18
It appears to be, yes.

MR. KENDRICK:
Excuse me.
I'm just going to
19
lodge an objection here to any documents from
20
association files that might potentially reveal private
21
information of members of the Harbor Pointe-Newport
22
Owners Association.
23
The association doesn't authorize, did not
24
authorize the release or use of any such documents and
25
objects to their introduction into evidence, and just so

62
(CROSSLEY)
that we don't go through this over and over again, I'm
going to make this a continuing objection to any and all
such documents that come out of the Harbor-Pointe Owners
Association records.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Well, for the record, this is
a document that was produced by Mr. Crossley and I don't
see any information that's private, so I don't know what
the big deal is.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
10
Anyways, this is a copy of a letter that was
11
sent to you by Mr. Ragenovich, the property manager at
12
Harbor Pointe?
13
Appears to be, yes.
14
And what's this handwriting on the lower
15
right-hand corner?
Whose handwriting is that?
16
This would be Barbara's handwriting.
17
And who's "Lydia"?
18
Someone at CMC.
19
Okay.
And after you received this letter, this
20
letter was asking you to trim some overgrown trees along
21
your property line that borders number 3 Harbor Pointe
22
and it's telling you that the trees need to be reduced
23
in height and volume so as not to obstruct the view of
24
other neighbors.
25
Did you do any trimming as a result of

63
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
receiving this letter?

A
3
4
We did extensive trimming.

MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Let's mark the next in line as
number 11.
8
9
10
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
This is a photograph I believe that you've
produced to us?
11
Yes.
12
Is this a photograph showing some of the
13
trimming that you did in response to the letter that --
14
Correct.
15
-- you received?
16
17
And did you do this trimming yourself or did

you hire a company to do the trimming?
18
I did the trimming myself.
19
What kind of equipment do you use to do this?
20
Do you have tall ladders or something or --
21
22
plus.
23
24
25
I have a saw and a pole.
I can go up 30 feet
And what types of trees are these that you were
trimming in February of 2013?

A
These are Mallot flower plants right here in

64
(CROSSLEY)
front.
trim that down.
sure what they are.
the Ficus.
front here, (indicating).
Cottonwood.
are they?
We have a large Mallot in flower the back.

There's some trees back there.
We trimmed all those.
I'm not
We trimmed
We trimmed the Cotton -- these ones right in

I forgot if they're
They're not Cottonwoods.
MS. CUMMINGS:
THE WITNESS:
They're -- what
Carrot.
Carrotwoods, Carrotwoods.
10
trimmed the Carrotwoods.
11
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
12
Did you trim any of the palm trees?
13
Trimmed the -- yes, all the palm trees we
14
trimmed.
15
16
We
We
We constantly trim palm trees there.

After you received this letter dated
February 12th, you --
17
Absolutely.
18
How many palm trees do you have on the left
19
side of your house as you're looking at your house?
20
Again, I'm not exactly sure.
21
I -- let's see.
22
the back; maybe six.
23
out.
24
25
On the left side,
I believe three in the front, three in

I'm not sure.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
All right.
That's easy to find
Let's mark the
next one as number 12.

65
(CROSSLEY)
4
5
6
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Is this a copy of a letter that you received
from the Harbor Pointe-Newport Association --
Yes.
-- on or around April 29th, 2013?
Yes.
10
In this letter, they're asking you to trim the
11
trees to reduce the height and the bulk on the left side
12
of your property.
13
you to do in the first letter, isn't it?
That's the same thing that they asked
14
Correct.
15
But it looks like there's some additional
16
requests in this letter.
17
says, "All Palm trees need to be thinned out
18
substantially.", and, "The right side trees need to be
19
thinned out and lowered to enhance neighbor's views."
20
21
There's a second line that
Were you surprised to receive this letter after

you did the trimming that's shown on Exhibit 11?
22
Yes.
23
Shows on the right-hand there's some
24
handwriting.
25
1 Harbor Pointe May 7th at 9:00".
It says, "Meeting with Nick Ragenovich at

Who wrote that?
66
(CROSSLEY)
Barbara did.
What happened after you received this letter,
did you call Nick Ragenovich or what?
Yes, we did.
And why, were you disputing the contents of the
letter?
Well, in one letter we -- we received a letter
to do some trimming and in it they sent us a picture of
Khademi's property saying we need to trim these trees.
10
Oh, you mean Exhibit number 10, which was the
11
letter dated February 12th, it had a photo attached to
12
it?
13
I believe, yes.
14
And but the photo wasn't your property?
15
No.
16
Oh, I see.
17
So we were confused.
18
What about, did this letter dated April 29th
19
20
have any photos attached to it?

A
I don't know which letter it was that that
21
photo was attached without my notes and such, which I
22
don't have --
23
Okay.
24
-- but they weren't -- as you can see, it says
25
"Trim trees".
They don't say which trees.
They don't
67
(CROSSLEY)
say how far.
substantial amount of trimming, they're still vague, and
you cannot -- when it says "All palm trees need to be
thinned out substantially.", you can only thin out a
palm tree so far and then you start killing it,
so -- and on the right side, to be thinned out and
lowered, the third thing, to enhance neighbor's view, it
is not my responsibility to enhance neighbors' views if
the board is not directed exactly what to do.
10
11
12
It's very vague, and after we did a
Well, is it your understanding this was
directed by the board, this letter?

A
This is from the management company.
13
know who on the board started this.
14
board and it doesn't say what to do.
15
16
17
I don't
I wasn't on the
Other than what's reflected in this letter
then, you don't believe it was clear enough?

A
I don't.
That's why we called Nick, to have
18
him come out, to say specifically what needed to be done
19
so we could be in complete compliance and make everybody
20
happy.
We had no problem with that.
21
Did Nick come out on or --
22
He did.
23
-- about May 7th?
24
He came out nine o'clock, May 7th.
25
Did you meet with him?

68
(CROSSLEY)
Yes, I did.
And what did he tell you?
He showed us what needed to be trimmed.
was on the right side of the property next to
MacArthur Boulevard.
on the other side.
have them right there.
It
We needed to lower the Podocarpus

I can show you the pictures.
You
What about the palm trees?
Wasn't an issue.
10
Even though the letter said "All palm trees
11
12
need to be thinned out substantially."?

A
Either they had been done by then, which they
13
probably had.
14
unclear what they wanted.
15
we -- really, he said nothing about the palm trees when
16
he came out.
17
complied with everything that the management company had
18
asked us to do.
19
This seems to be -- again, it's very

I doubt they even looked and
So when we were done with that, we had
So just to be clear then, as of this date,
20
April 29th, 2013, you were not on the board or the
21
architectural committee?
22
I was not.
23
Do you know who was on the board and the
24
25
A
It was -- I believe it was Connie, Jerry and

69
(CROSSLEY)
Mahmood.
Connie, Jerry and --
Yes.
-- Mahmood?
What's Jerry's last name?
MS. CUMMINGS:
THE WITNESS:
8
9
10
11
Okay.
Jerry Kelly.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Did you attend any board meetings to discuss
the issues about your -A
I'm not sure about that.
12
Danni and Frank.
13
I forgot.
14
board that much.
15
Kelly.
I should be clear about that.
I wasn't on it.
Okay.
It could have been

Again,
I wasn't associated with the
So when Nick came out then, after you
16
received this letter then, he only asked you to trim
17
some trees that were to the right of your property as
18
you're looking at it from the street?
19
As you're looking at my house from the street,
20
to the right of the property, to lower to the height of
21
the association trees on the outside.
22
23
24
25
Okay.
And that's what he asked you to do, but
he didn't ask you to trim out any of the palm trees?

A
I don't remember him saying anything about the
palm trees.
70
(CROSSLEY)
And what did you do after you met with Nick, if
anything, on the right side of your property?
trim any of those trees?
4
5
Under your elbow are the pictures of all the
trimming we did on that side.
6
7
Did you
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
This is dated May 7th.
So let's mark this next photo.

We'll mark this as number 13.
10
11
12
13

BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Is this a photograph that you took on
May 7th --
14
Yes.
15
-- which was the same day that Mr. Ragenovich
16
came out?
17
Same day.
18
And what does this photograph depict?
19
This is a little half-court basketball area
We spent the whole day trimming.
20
that has the Podocarpus and Ficus remnants from
21
trimming.
22
they were and how far down we went.
23
series; just one of the pictures.
There's a series of pictures showing how high
24
Well --
25
You have the others.
This is not the
71
(CROSSLEY)
Where is this basketball court located?
On the right side of the property, behind my
3
4
5
front pole.
Q
Oh, okay.
And you did this trimming then after
you met with Nick then?
Yes --
Okay.
-- at his direction.
And you did this trimming yourself with these
10
poles and the --
11
Yes.
12
-- saw that's depicted in this photo?
13
Yes.
14
What is this big thing on the table over here,
15
(indicating)?
16
That's an archery target.
17
All right.
Then we have --
18
MR. WORTHGE:
You're a good shot.
19
THE WITNESS:
You bet.
20
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
21
Everybody have one?
22
MR. WORTHGE:
We'll mark this as number 14.
You have extras, so I'm just
23
collecting the extras --
24
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
25
MR. WORTHGE:
Oh, really?
Okay.
All right.
-- but you can keep that or I

72
(CROSSLEY)
can.
It's easy for me to start over then.
5
6
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Looking now at Exhibit number 14, this is
another view from your basketball court on the right
side of your property then?
Correct.
10
And this is showing the trees that you were
11
trimming then on that May 7th then?
12
Correct.
13
And are these trees that are along your back
14
property line that front MacArthur Avenue or what?
15
Yes, there's a glass wall behind these trees --
16
Yes.
17
-- on a slope down to MacArthur Boulevard.
18
Okay.
19
20
21
property then adjacent to MacArthur?

A
I'd say it was a side, but it's -- I guess
that's up to --
22
23
trim?
24
25
So these are at the rear of your
Are these the trees that Nick asked you to
These are where he said they needed to be
trimmed.
I can draw that on one of your maps then, if

73
(CROSSLEY)
you want.
3
4
5
6
Well, do you have trees in your front yard up
to the right of your property also?

A
Yes, we have some Carrotwoods in the front;
trimmed those, too.

Q
When Nick asked you to trim these trees, did he
ask you to trim the ones in your front yard and the ones
in your backyard?
9
10
He was more concerned with these right here,
(indicating) --
11
The ones --
12
-- because I think we'd already trimmed the
13
others.
14
everything.
15
there, it's crazy.
16
17
I'm not sure, but they -- we've trimmed

You know, there's been so much trimming
So he specifically came into your backyard and
said, "We --
18
Yes.
19
-- want you to trim these trees adjacent to
20
21
22
23
MacArthur"?
A
This is his major focal point, yes.

MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
Then the next one,
we'll mark this as 15.
24
25

74
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
4

BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
What does this photo that's been marked as
number 15 show?
driveway.
And this photo was taken on May 7th --
Yes.
-- 2013?
10
Hm-hmmn.
11
And this was some of the other trimming that
12
13
14
15
This shows a Ficus and palm fronds in the front
you did after you met with Nick?

A
Well, we did trim them and we trim everything.
We've got the pole out, so I start trimming everything.

Q
By the way, after you did this trimming on
16
May 7th, did you call Nick up and ask him to come look
17
at it?
18
No, because he said that would be fine, "Let's
19
do this", and we did it.
20
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
21
All right.
So the next one is
number 16.
22
23
24
25
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
75
(CROSSLEY)
This is dated May 18th, "More ficus trimming"?
Hm-hmmn.
Were you still doing trimming as of May 18th
then?
We -- if you look at this picture, there's a
Ficus here.
We had three large Ficus and I took them
all out to try to make everybody happy.
You actually removed the entire Ficus trees?
I removed them, yes.
10
How many Ficus trees did you remove?
11
I believe there were three.
12
So you physically removed three entire Ficus
13
trees from your backyard then --
14
Yes.
15
-- in or around May of 2013?
16
It was about a month-long project at least.
17
And you did the work yourself?
18
Yes.
19
How did you get rid of all this debris?
20
21
22
Did
you have to hire a hauling company or something?

A
No.
My property in Costa Mesa has numerous
trash bins and I take it over every day.
23
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
24
mark this as number 17.
25
get one?
All right.
And then let's
Oh, I guess -- did everybody
76
(CROSSLEY)
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah.
MR. NAPOLES:
Yeah.
6
7
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Okay.
This what we've marked now as number 17
then, is this a letter that you received shortly after
May 20th, 2013?
10
Yes.
11
And now, in this letter right here, the board
12
is telling you that -- in the first paragraph, it says,
13
"In the April 29 letter, you were given 10 days to
14
complete the trimming...".
15
trimming has not been sufficiently completed in order to
16
enhance your neighbor's views."
17
"To date the necessary
Were you surprised when you got this letter?
18
Very.
19
And in this letter, it basically says that
20
they're going to have a hearing on June 4th if you don't
21
do some additional trimming by June 4th; do you see
22
that?
23
Yes.
24
So did you call Mr. Ragenovich about this
25
letter after you received it?

77
(CROSSLEY)
Yes.
Wait.
Oh, I was looking at this one here,
You're looking at the wrong --
(indicating).
-- letter.
I have to look at this one, (indicating).
Yeah, I'm asking you about Exhibit number 17.
Yes.
What did you tell Mr. Ragenovich when you
10
received this letter?
11
I have no idea anymore, it's been so long.
12
Were you upset?
13
Well, it's -- it's a little confusing because
14
15
16
it's basically the same letter we got before.

Q
And you had done what you considered to be
substantial trimming then?
17
At his direction, correct.
18
So you disagreed with the content of this
19
letter then?
20
Yes.
21
But you disputed that any further trimming
22
23
24
25
needed to be done?
A
No.
I just don't know what they're after.
They -- again, it's very vague.

Q
So you felt that you had complied with the

78
(CROSSLEY)
April 29th letter and when you received this, it was
unclear to you what additional trimming they wanted you
to do?
Correct.
Did you ask Mr. Ragenovich to come and look at
6
7
8
your property when you received this letter?

A
No.
I believe we had a meeting coming up and
we were going to talk about it there.
At the June 4th meeting?
10
Yes.
11
So in between the time when you got this letter
12
and the June 4th meeting, did you do any additional
13
trimming?
14
I have no idea.
I wouldn't know what to trim.
15
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
All right.
16
next photo as number 18.
Let's mark this
17
18
19
20
21
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Looking at Exhibit 18 now, it looks like this
22
is dated May 27th.
23
uprooted.
24
25
This is showing another Ficus tree
Is that a picture of another Ficus tree that

you uprooted in your property?
79
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
4
Correct.
Remember, I said it was at least a
month-long process.
Q
Okay.
So you were continuing to do this work
even after you --
Yes.
During the period of time when you received
7
8
9
10
11
12
Exhibit 17, you were still doing work?

A
It's a -- it's a very large lot with a lot of
vegetation.
It is constant.
We're out there every
week, cut and trimming everything.

Q
So these are trees basically that were planted
by previous owners?
13
Yes.
14
You didn't plant these trees?
15
I did not plant these trees.
16
Okay.
17
18
19
And they've grown pretty large and so
you've been trimming them since before?

A
Well, I was under the impression this was an
offending vegetation.
20
This Ficus tree?
21
Yes.
22
Why, did Nick point it out to you?
23
No, but if you had looked at the property at
24
the time, these were the largest trees on the lot.
25
Other than palm trees, these were the highest thing or

80
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
palms.
These were the highest trees on my lot.
Did you ever go to Mr. Rezai's property and
look at the view that he was complaining about to see
what it looked like as far as your property?
the view?
You can answer that question.
Yes, I have.
When?
10
When we first moved in, pretty much the first
Have I ever been on his property and looked at
11
six months we were there, we were up having wine at
12
Mr. Rezai's property.
13
When you first moved in --
14
Hm-hmmn.
15
-- in 2011?
16
Whenever, within six months of January then.
17
You said January something when I purchased the property
18
probably.
19
And it was just a social function?
20
Yes.
21
Since that social function, have you been to
22
23
24
25
his property any other time to see the view?

A
Since social functions, no.
I've been not on
his property.
Q
Well, wait.
My question is this:
Since that
81
(CROSSLEY)
social function that you told us about shorty after you
moved in, have you been back to Mr. Rezai's property at
any time to observe the view from his property?
Have I been on his property?
Yes.
No.
7
8
9
Have I looked at the view from -- in his
area, yes.
Q
Oh, okay.
So you haven't -- in other words,
just to try to put it, you haven't knocked on his door
10
and said, "Can I come in and see the view from your
11
backyard" --
12
No --
13
-- for an idea?
14
-- no.
15
But you've gone up around to where his lot is
16
located; you've looked at the view from near his
17
property then?
18
I have looked from the neighbors' houses.
19
have looked from the street.
20
view in the entire neighborhood.
21
22
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
He has probably the nicest
Okay.
It is spectacular.
All right.
Let's mark
this next one number -- I think we're on 19, right?
23
24
25

82
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
All right.
Number 19 is dated May 29th and
this is another Ficus tree that you removed --
Correct.
-- from your property?
6
7
8
How tall were these Ficus trees when you cut

them down?
A
I have no idea; under the ridgeline.

MR. WORTHGE:
You asked if it was another Ficus
11
THE WITNESS:
Another Ficus tree?
12
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah, I think your question
10
13
tree.
was, sir --
14
THE WITNESS:
Oh, that looks like the same one.
15
MR. WORTHGE:
Yes.
16
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, same date I think --
17
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah.
18
THE WITNESS:
-- I see.
19
MR. WORTHGE:
Just a different picture.
20
21
22
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Well, I believe your testimony was that you
actually removed three Ficus trees from your property --
23
Yes.
24
-- during this time period?
25
Yes.
83
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
MR. WORTHGE:
His question was:
Was this
another Ficus tree and it appears to be --
THE WITNESS:
It looks like the same one.
MR. WORTHGE:
-- the same one --
THE WITNESS:
Yeah.
MR. WORTHGE:
-- give or take.
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, we were just taking
pictures of removing them and the size of the stump and
the size of the tree.
10
one.
11
12
Yeah, it looks like the same
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
All right.
We're going to
mark this next exhibit --
13
MR. WORTHGE:
14
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
15
THE WITNESS:
16
17
18
19
20
Okay.
-- as Exhibit number 20.
Hm-hmmn.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Okay.
I'm going to show you what's been marked
21
as Exhibit number 20.
22
is a document that was produced by the association in
23
response to a document request and it's a copy of an
24
executive session which occurred on June 4th, 2013.
25
Did you attend this meeting, sir?
I'll represent to you that this
84
(CROSSLEY)
Yes, I believe.
And can you tell me what happened at that
meeting?
MR. WORTHGE:
It's kind of overbroad.
THE WITNESS:
Yeah.
6
7
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Well, when --
8
9
MR. WORTHGE:
I mean, the meeting or the
executive session, because he may not have been in the
10
executive session, but he may have been at the meeting.
11
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
12
13
attended.
14
Correct.
15
-- take place at?
16
I believe it was up at -- what is that place
17
Okay.
There was a meeting on June 4th that you
Where did the meeting --
called?
18
The church?
19
It's community center at the top of San Joaquin
20
and -- at the very top and so --
21
Okay.
22
-- we have our meetings there.
23
So this meeting that occurred on June 4th, it
24
25
was not held in the community then?

A
No.
85
(CROSSLEY)
So, in other words, when this meeting took
place then, people couldn't point and say, "Well, this
is what trees we still want you to trim", anything like
that?
It was just off the property?

No, this was -- this is the meeting, executive
meeting where we just state our case.
This was -- there
was a question of unreasonable view obstruction, and we
presented our case as to the trimming we have done and
what -- it was unreasonable or not, our vegetation, and
10
this would be -- the board would take that all into
11
consideration.
12
13
When you came to that meeting, did you bring
these photos that --
14
Yes, we did.
15
-- we've marked here today?
16
Yes, we had a large board with these photos on
17
it and the letters that were sent to us, and it's
18
systematic.
19
We have this letter.
20
went to this meeting.
21
We had this letter.
We did this trimming.
We did this trimming, and then we
And let's see.
According to the minutes of
22
that meeting, the board members at that meeting were
23
Danni Sun, Frank Hickingbotham and Mahmood Rezai?
24
Correct.
25
Was anybody else at that meeting other than

86
(CROSSLEY)
those three board members and the property manager?
2
3
myself and the board and Nick.
4
5
In the executive meeting, it was Barbara and
And did they present any photos to you to show
you anything else that they wanted you to do?
No.
They were just listening to your side of the
story?
Yes.
10
And you were basically there to explain that
11
you thought you had done all the trimming that they had
12
asked you to do and you --
13
Correct.
14
-- you didn't know what else they wanted you to
16
Yeah, correct.
17
Did they tell you at that meeting that they
15
18
19
do?
wanted you to do anything more?

A
At the meeting, no.
They said they -- as far
20
as I can recall which, you know, after all these
21
meetings, it's kind of difficult, but they got back to
22
us and said, "This is -- we feel that it is not an
23
unreasonable view obstruction."
24
Well -- okay.
25
This is the question.

87
(CROSSLEY)
Let's -- let's take --
Yes.
Let's take a step back here.
Sure.
First of all, at the meeting, you don't recall
any specific requests being made for additional
trimming, correct?
8
9
10
11
No.
We presented our case and they took it
under consideration.
Q
And did they tell you they were going to get
back in touch with you then?
12
Hm-hmmn, yes.
13
According to these minutes which we've marked
14
as Exhibit number 20, it says, "The ARC consensus was to
15
ask the homeowner of 1 Harbor Pointe to do additional
16
trimming on the right side of his house."
17
Hm-hmmn.
18
Did Mr. Ragenovich or anybody else after this
19
June 4th meeting ask you to do additional trimming on
20
the right side of your house?
21
I can't remember who it was, but we -- I
22
believe it was to cut down the Carrotwoods in front of
23
the wall a little more.
24
On the right side of your house?
25
On the right side of the house.

88
(CROSSLEY)
And did that request come from Nick?
I can't recall.
And do you recall when that request came, did
4
5
it come in writing or just -A
Can't recall.
It's a very tight little
association, very off-the-cuff, because it's just a
homeowners association.
8
9
10
11
But I mean, did -- I'm trying to find out who
that request came from.

A
Did it --
I can't tell you.
I would imagine it was Nick.
We were talking to Nick a lot about this, you know --
12
Yeah.
13
-- within the past month and it's been too
14
long.
15
Well, to your recollection, did Mr. Ragenovich
16
come out to your property after June 4th, 2013, to
17
discuss this additional trimming?
18
Not that I know of.
19
Did you talk to him on the phone?
20
I would imagine.
21
And to the best of your remembrance then, the
22
only additional trimming that they wanted you to do was
23
some more trimming on the right side of your property?
24
Correct.
25
And did you do the additional trimming that

89
(CROSSLEY)
they asked you --
Yes.
-- to do?
Do you have any photos --
No.
-- or anything of that trimming?
No.
Okay.
It was very minor as I can recall.
10
So you felt then after you did that additional
11
trimming, that you had complied with everything that the
12
association wanted you to do?
13
Yes.
14
All right.
The next document -- oh, by the
15
way, I'm trying to mark these in order, but when did
16
you -- when were you elected to the board at
17
Harbor Pointe?
18
19
20
21
22
It was about a year ago at that meeting,
September.
Q
I'm not sure.
It was a homeowner association meeting in
September?
A
I wasn't elected.
I was -- I was on the
23
ballot.
I was the fourth person on the ballot.
24
three were elected.
25
appointed me onto the board.
Danni Sun had a problem.
Only
She
90
(CROSSLEY)
Because she resigned or something?
Yes.
Okay.
She had a health problem.
Oh, okay.
6
7
September of 2013?
A
Yes, something like that.
8
9
10
So Danni Sun was elected in it was
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
I'm not sure.
So this next exhibit
which we're going to mark as number 21, does everybody

have one?
11
MR. NAPOLES:
12
13
14
15
16
17
Yeah.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Okay.
Looking at this, is this a letter that
you wrote, Mr. Crossley?
18
Yes.
19
Now, it's dated August 24, 2013?
20
Hm-hmmn.
21
In the first sentence, you say that it's -- you
22
feel it's your responsibility to be an active
23
participant by serving on the board.
24
25
Were you -A
This is -- I believe this is a letter

91
(CROSSLEY)
pre-election.
Were you running for the board at this time?
Yes.
Were there only two people running for the
5
6
board?
A
That's what I'm looking at.
I don't know.
don't understand why it says that, but there was a
reason at the time, I'm sure.
And in this letter, you're referring to another
10
letter that's entitled "HOMEOWNERS ALERT".
11
mark that as number 22.
I'm going to
12
MR. WORTHGE:
13
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
14
15
16
17
18
19
That's okay.
Everybody have one?
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
So Exhibit 22 is the letter that you were
referring to in Exhibit 21, correct?
20
Correct.
21
Do you know who wrote Exhibit number 22 called
22
the "HOMEOWNERS ALERT"?
23
I'm not sure on this one.
24
The first sentence of the "HOMEOWNERS ALERT"
25
says, "Our homeowners association has been sued twice in

92
(CROSSLEY)
recent weeks,...".
Yes.
Do you know what they're referring to in there?
I believe that would be the lawsuit against
Georgia Hickingbotham and Khademi.
From Mr. Rezai?
Yes, I believe.
So you didn't write the "HOMEOWNERS ALERT"
I'm not sure again.
then, right?
10
I do not believe I wrote this one.
11
This refers to -- I'm talking about Exhibit 22
12
here.
13
board of directors has been unable to openly discuss
14
many of these issues,...".
15
16
It refers to, "On the advice of counsel, our
That leads me to assume that this was written

by a board member.
17
I'm not sure that's true.
18
Then in Exhibit 22, the "HOMEOWNERS ALERT, "We
I don't know.
19
urge you to not only attend the annual meeting on
20
September 3rd, but hold your votes until that meeting.
21
It might well change your mind.", and in your letter --
22
Hm-hmmn.
23
-- you say the same thing, "... I urge you to
24
attend and hold your ballots until we have a chance to
25
discuss these issues and nominate a third person...".

93
(CROSSLEY)
Makes sense.
All right.
I do that a lot.
Were you -It's such a small, small
association and many of the people there are not aware
of anything.
6
7
So you wanted to discuss -- was it your desire
to discuss these issues at that meeting?
Well, I'm just a homeowner.
Well, you were running for the board, right?
10
Yeah, but I was still just a homeowner at the
11
time.
12
13
At the time when you wrote Exhibit 21, you were
not on the board yet?
14
Exhibit 21 -- no, I was not.
15
But you were running for the board --
16
Yes.
17
-- correct?
18
And I guess I'm trying to find out, why did you
19
not want people to send their ballots in until they
20
attended the meeting?
21
22
23
Many people had no idea who I was and/or the
issues at hand.
Q
So you wanted to discuss some of the issues,
24
being one of them the view issue regarding the palm
25
trees; another issue, they're foreclosing on number

94
(CROSSLEY)
25 Harbor Pointe?
25 was a big issue at the time, yes.
And the view issue also, the palm trees?
Oh, yes, yes.
Okay.
Palm trees are a very big issue.
So did you attend that meeting on December 3rd?
Yes.
And can you tell me what was discussed at that
10
meeting?
11
No, I cannot.
12
You don't remember?
13
No, I don't remember clearly.
14
15
16
I've been to so
many meetings, I can't remember that particular one.

Q
Did you bring any photos or anything, any other
material with you at that meeting?
17
No.
18
How many people showed up at that meeting?
19
No idea.
20
21
22
I believe it was a pretty good
turnout, but I can't be sure.

Q
I don't --
So to the best of your recollection then,
Danni Sun was elected to the board at that meeting?
23
Yes.
24
And there was three people elected to the board
25
at that meeting?
95
(CROSSLEY)
Correct, yeah.
And you were the fourth highest vote-getter?
As far as I know, yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
And then somehow after that meeting then,
Danni Sun resigned and then you were appointed onto the
board?
Correct.
10
Do you recall how long it was after this
11
12
meeting that you were appointed to be on the board?

A
13
14
No.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
will be number 23.
All right.
The next document
Does everybody have one?
15
MR. KENDRICK:
16
MR. NAPOLES:
17
18
19
20
21
Hm-hmmn.
Hm-hmmn.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
All right.
This document is entitled "Notice
22
to All Homeowners at Harbor Pointe".
23
Exhibit number 23.
24
25
We've marked it as
Do you recognize this -A
Yes.
96
(CROSSLEY)
-- document?
Do you know who prepared it?
Yes.
You prepared it?
Yes.
On the bottom of this letter, it says, "This is
on the agenda for the meeting tonight, December 3rd...".
8
9
10
11
I did.
So did you write this letter on or around

December 3rd?
A
Yes.
I remember we were distributing it that
day, I believe.
12
And who did you distribute this letter to?
13
It was Barbara and I just walked around and
14
handed them out.
I handed them out.
15
To all the homeowners in Harbor Pointe?
16
Anybody that we hadn't talked to or handed it
17
out previous.
18
again.
19
constantly.
There's -- it's a very strange community
There's a lot of people that are absent
20
Well, there's 20 homes in the community, right?
21
Correct.
22
I guess my question to you is:
Did you go
23
knocking on every 20 doors in Harbor Pointe to deliver
24
this letter?
25
Yeah, everywhere we had not delivered it, yes,

97
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
except for Mahmood Rezai's.

Q
You did not deliver one of these letters to
Mahmood Rezai then?
No.
But to everybody else, you did?
Yes.
And did you deliver them by knocking on the
door and handing it to them or did you put it on their
front porch?
10
Again, if I didn't know them personally and I
11
hadn't handed it to them before -- many people are
12
absent -- we either put it by their gate or their door,
13
whatever we could do.
14
Okay.
15
It's not like you can knock on a door and
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
somebody's going to be home in this community.

Q
Did some of the people answer the doors when
you distributed this?

A
I can't remember if they did.
believe one or two, but I'm not sure.

Q
So you and your wife were distributing this
throughout the community?
23
Yes, she came along with me.
24
Okay.
25
I believe -- I
I was doing it.
Let's go over some of the statements you
made in this letter.

98
(CROSSLEY)
You said that, "You are being sued.
One of the
neighbors is suing our Homeowners Association, four
homeowners and ten others...".
4
5
I'm assuming you're referring to Mr. Rezai's

lawsuit, correct?
Correct.
"He demands that all palms taller than the
ridge lines of our homes be removed."
Is it your understanding that in Mr. Rezai's
10
lawsuit, he's asking all of the people in your community
11
to remove palms that are taller than their homes?
12
He's stating two things.
It's very confusing.
13
He's saying that all palms above the ridgeline should be
14
removed, but he is also saying that he is the one who is
15
going to make that decision it appears, because he's
16
saying that some people don't have to.
17
people don't have to, why do others?
18
Well, is it -- okay.
19
Who makes that decision?
20
Okay.
Now, if some
So your understanding of his lawsuit is
21
that he's going to decide who has to remove their palm
22
trees and who doesn't?
23
24
25
That's what it says in his papers, as far as I
can see.
Q
Well, there's specific individuals that are

99
(CROSSLEY)
named in the lawsuit --
Correct --
-- not --
-- but the community -- it doesn't matter.
If
you're saying that all palms above the ridgeline of the
adjacent dwelling need to be removed, then all palms of
the adjacent dwelling need to be removed, if you're
going to conform to the CC&R's.
Well, at the time when this letter was written
10
on December 3rd -- by the way, the year of this is -- is
11
this 20 -- well, what was this year, 2013 or --
12
Probably.
13
MR. WORTHGE:
Possibly.
14
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, it must be.
15
MR. WORTHGE:
December -- it has to be 2013.
16
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
17
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah, not December 3rd, 2014 yet.
18
THE WITNESS:
2014, not yet.
19
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah.
20
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
21
22
2013.
23
Not December --
So the date of this letter is December 3rd,

I have the minutes for that meeting, by the way.
At that time, your CC&R's did have a provision
24
in them that required each homeowner to trim all trees
25
on their property to the height of the roof on their

100
(CROSSLEY)
property, didn't it?
Trees.
And you believed that that provision in the
Palms are not trees.
They're Monocots.
CC&R's, since it referred to trees, did not include palm
trees?
6
7
Correct, and it appears that that's the
consensus of the whole association also.
Okay.
I shouldn't say the whole; almost the whole
10
11
association.
Q
At the time when you wrote this letter, it says
12
that -- you said in the second paragraph, "The original
13
developer, Fieldstone planted a variety of palms on
14
common areas AND on individual lots."
15
Correct.
16
At the time when you wrote this letter, had you
17
already obtained any of these photos or --
18
No.
19
-- had you obtained any of those documents from
20
the City of Newport Beach?
21
I was --
22
Where did you receive that information?
23
I received the information from original owners
24
in the community.
25
can see from the pictures, that's true.
We had the common area palms.
As you
There are a few
101
(CROSSLEY)
homes that were model homes such as Khademi's where I
couldn't understand why anybody in the world would plant
palm trees in their driveway, but there's four palm
trees in his driveway that were originally planted by
the developer for a model home, and the rest I have no
idea.
start.
8
9
There's homeowners that have been there from the

Those are the people I would ask.
So you were basing this on what other
homeowners were telling you?
10
Personally, no.
11
What about the second sentence where it says,
12
"Many of the palms planted by Fieldstone were already
13
taller than the ridge lines of the homes when planted."
14
15
Who gave you that information?

A
That I was -- that's again hearsay.
It's
16
substantiated by the pictures, I believe, and then you
17
have a problem of slope versus adjacent homes versus
18
heights of palms.
19
If you plant a palm that's 3 feet tall and the slope is
20
10 feet over the adjacent home, now you have a palm tree
21
that's higher than the ridgeline.
22
Okay.
Where do you make that comparison?
Well, my question is with regard to this
23
sentence about the palm trees being taller than the
24
ridgelines of the homes when they were planted by
25
Fieldstone.
102
(CROSSLEY)
Correct.
My question to you is:
statement on at the time when you wrote this letter?
4
5
What did you base that
On homeowners that have been there far longer
than I have; hearsay.
And then in the next sentence, you talk about
Section 10.08 of the CC&R's and you state that
Fieldstone makes it clear that tree and palm plantings
made by the developer are consented to by each homeowner
10
even though they may impair the view.
11
Correct.
That is called out in the CC&R's,
12
that for the trees planted by the developer are immune
13
to the sections you were talking about, about heighth
14
and such to -- it's to create an ambience in a community
15
that they're trying to portray.
16
Now, I wasn't there.
I have no idea.
17
know is hearsay.
18
CC&R's exactly what they wanted to do.
19
Okay.
All I
I am a new owner, but it says in the
But you don't have any evidence that the
20
trees on your property were planted by Fieldstone, do
21
you?
22
Not on my property, no.
23
And you're one of the people that Mr. Rezai
24
25
sued asking you to -A
Correct.
103
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
-- remove the trees on your property to the
height of your ridgetop, correct?
Correct.
Okay.
Not my trees, my palms.
Well, Section 10.08 then that you're arguing in
this letter wouldn't apply to you, would it?
8
9
So Section 10 point --
MR. WORTHGE:
conclusion.
10
THE WITNESS:
Yeah.
11
MR. WORTHGE:
Instruct you not to answer.
12
THE WITNESS:
Okay.
13
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
14
answer?
15
16
17
18
You're instructing him not to
MR. WORTHGE:
Yes.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Okay.
Well, in this letter, you're referring
to tree and palm plantings made by the developer.
19
My question to you then, sir, just to make the
20
record clear is:
21
shows that The Fieldstone Company planted any trees or
22
palms on your property, are you?
You're not aware of any evidence that
23
On my particular property?
24
Yes.
25
No.
104
(CROSSLEY)
Okay.
This is not talking about my property
3
4
5
How about on the --
specifically.
Q
Well, you're one of the people that Mr. Rezai
sued, correct?
Correct.
He only sued certain individuals, right?
Correct.
He sued you, the Hickingbothams and
10
11
Mr. Khademi, right?

A
Yes, and I don't understand why he's suing
12
Hickingbothams.
13
ridgeline.
14
15
property.
16
17
Okay.
They have no trees that are above the
Let's talk about the Hickingbotham
Are you aware of any evidence that shows that

the developer --
18
No.
19
-- planted any trees or palms on the
20
Hickingbotham property?
21
No.
22
All right.
By the way, I didn't ask you this
23
before, but all those photos that you've gone over that
24
you produced to us --
25
Correct.
105
(CROSSLEY)
-- is it your belief that any of those photos
show that any trees or palms were planted by
The Fieldstone Company on the --
Yes.
-- Hickingbotham property?
Not on the Hickingbotham property.
So I think we've already established that the
photos appear to show that there was either trees or
palms or both planted by the developer on the Khademi
10
property then, correct?
11
Correct.
12
So it's your belief then that Section 10.08
13
would refer or would exempt the palms that are located
14
on the Khademi property then?
15
Correct.
16
But not on the Hickingbotham property or on
17
18
your property?
A
Well, again, on Hickingbothams, I see no palms
19
that are truly above his ridgeline.
20
even -- they shouldn't even be in this lawsuit, so --
21
So they're not
Well, the CC&R's have other provisions in them
22
that prohibit trees from unreasonably blocking the view
23
from another lot, don't they?
24
25
Okay.
Well, are we talking about unreasonable
blockage or are we talking about ridgeline?
This is a
106
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
big question.
Q
I don't know.
Well, at the time when this lawsuit was filed
and at the time when your letter was written, there was
two provisions in the CC&R's:
the owner's responsibility to maintain their trees at a
height not exceeding the height of their roof --
one, which referred to
Correct.
-- but there was another section also that
9
10
11
restricted trees that unreasonably block the view of

another homeowner, correct?
A
Correct, and in the CC&R's, it states that if
12
you have a problem with it and what you consider an
13
unreasonable view, you need to take it to the board and
14
the ARC.
15
Hickingbothams.
16
chance to defend it with the board.
17
That was never happening with the
Okay.
They just got sued.
They never had a
Going back to Exhibit number 23 here, it
18
says, "We have two options:
19
to amend and clarify the C.C.&R.'s Section 9.01 to
20
exclude the palms from the height requirement...".
21
"This would require a special ballot and majority of the
22
homeowners vote.
23
for maintaining and trimming the palms.
24
no cost, just your vote."
25
Option One:
We could vote
This would not change the requirement

This option has
Was this your idea then, to amend the

107
(CROSSLEY)
CC&R's --
Yes.
-- to exclude palms from the --
Yes.
Okay.
I'm going to have to just remind you to
make sure that my question is complete --
Right, right.
-- before you give your answer; otherwise --
Yes.
10
-- she's having a hard time getting it down.
11
12
THE REPORTER:
15
16
Yeah, you're still doing it,
so let him --
13
14
Sorry.
THE WITNESS:
I probably will.
I apologize.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Just be patient and let me get my whole
question out --
17
Okay.
18
-- until you give your answer, okay?
19
Sure.
20
And then underlined, you have, "This option has
21
no cost, just your vote.", right?
22
Yes.
23
Then you have "Option Two:", specially assess
24
all homeowners for legal fees associated with this
25
lawsuit against the association.

108
(CROSSLEY)
Did you believe when you wrote this letter,
that the association was going to have to pay the legal
fees for the lawsuit?
Yes.
At this time, when you wrote this letter,
you were a member of the board of directors, weren't
you?
No.
I thought you previously testified that you
10
were appointed to the board shortly after the meeting in
11
September of 2013?
12
That may be true.
I -- maybe I'm wrong.
13
could be wrong.
14
I do not have my timeline here.
15
September 2 -- yes.
16
Yes, I was.
17
Again, I have to have my timeline down.

So I would say
Then this is December 3rd, 2013.
By the way, I'll mark -- the next document that
18
I'm going to mark are the minutes from that meeting of
19
December 3rd and it shows that you were a board
20
member --
21
Yes --
22
-- to the present then.
23
-- that's good, yeah.
24
Okay.
25
Yeah.
Does that --
109
(CROSSLEY)
-- refresh your recollection --
Yes.
-- as to whether --
Yes.
-- you were on the board?
Okay.
Okay.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
THE WITNESS:
9
10
Okay.
I can mark this --
That's okay.
Now, one of these,
it has Danni Sun on there still -BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
11
Yeah, I saw that, that --
12
-- and she's not on there and I just was
13
checking.
14
I think that was a mistake.
15
Yes.
16
Let's mark the next one.
17
I'm not done with
Exhibit --
18
No.
19
-- 23, but I just wanted to mark this so you
20
21
22
can refer to it, if you need to.

A
Hm-hmmn.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
This one, the minutes of the
23
meeting held on December 3rd, we're marking as Exhibit
24
number 24.
25
THE WITNESS:
Hm-hmmn.
Hm-hmmn.
110
(CROSSLEY)
4
5
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Just reiterating then, on Exhibit 24, which is
a copy of the minutes of the meeting held on
December 3rd, it shows that you were a board member at
that time.
Correct.
10
So --
11
Yes.
12
-- to the best of your recollection, were you a
13
board member when you wrote Exhibit 23?
14
Yes.
15
Now, in this letter, you're also referring to
16
money that had been spent out of the reserve account for
17
legal fees associated with the sale of 25 Harbor Pointe;
18
do you see that?
19
Correct.
20
At this time when you wrote this letter, had
21
you reviewed the association's bank account records or
22
something or their budgets or something to determine how
23
much they were spending on legal fees?
24
25
We had talked with neighbors about what's going
on and how much money was being spent and 25 was an

111
(CROSSLEY)
exceptional problem.
buried that property and it was very difficult trying to
figure out what was going on.
We had a homeowner that totally
He wasn't paying his dues, was he?
He hadn't paid his dues in years.
Yeah.
Yeah, and so the previous board, a lot of work,
8
9
10
11
lot of expense, and we did not have a lot of reserves.

Q
So you were concerned as a fairly new board
member about the amount of money that was being spent?

A
Yes, that our -- our reserve percentage that
12
we're supposed to have was getting very low, and so if
13
we had to pay for legal fees -- it could be extremely
14
high for something like this -- we would have to assess
15
the homeowners at that time.
16
we'd have to do.
17
That's what we figured
Did you talk with the property manager or
18
anybody else as to whether or not the lawsuit that was
19
filed by Mr. Rezai was being defended by the insurance
20
company, the association's insurance company?
21
22
23
24
25
No, we didn't think that was going to happen.
We didn't know.
Q
You didn't know whether the insurance company
would defend it or not?

A
We didn't have any idea at that time.
We were
112
(CROSSLEY)
trying to stop this.
population, at least the consensus I get and myself
think this is the most idiotic lawsuit to a point and we
were trying to stop it.
community appreciate the palm trees or the palms that we
have there and we would like to keep them.
7
8
The -- we -- the general
Most of the people in this
But isn't it true that at the time when this
letter was written on December 3rd, 2013, the --
Yes.
10
-- CC&R's did require all the homeowners to
11
maintain the trees at a height not to exceed the height
12
of the roofs?
13
MR. NAPOLES:
Objection.
14
THE WITNESS:
The trees and the foliage, not
15
palms again, and depending on how you take that.
16
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
17
Okay.
18
Yes.
19
20
MR. NAPOLES:
there?
Did you get that objection in
It calls for a legal opinion and conclusion.
21
THE WITNESS:
Ahhh.
22
MR. NAPOLES:
I'm sorry.
23
here.
24
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
25
Okay.
Thank you.
Don't take a breath
Then your next -113
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
Just slap me on the back of the head, would
The next sentence says, "There is also a chance
you.
that this lawsuit could complicate or even cause the
escrow we are currently in with 25 Harbor Pointe to be
in jeopardy."
7
8
9
10
Why did you feel that this lawsuit could

complicate that escrow?
A
This is a real problem.
We have I think at
present four homes for sale in our community out of 20.
11
All right.
12
Okay.
When they go for sale, it has to be
13
revealed that there is an ongoing lawsuit with no sure
14
end to it and possibly a large amount of money at the
15
end that may be responsible out of each and every
16
homeowner.
17
So we don't know, and we have to tell these
18
people that; otherwise, we're going to be sued as a
19
board and an association for not divulging.
20
21
22
So there was a buyer then of 25 Harbor Pointe
that was in escrow at that time?

A
We thought so and it was not it turns out.
The
23
buyer somehow finagled and didn't open the escrow like
24
he said he had and the escrow company said they had, and
25
then when it was just about ready to close, we called

114
(CROSSLEY)
them up and they said, "Oh, we never opened that" --
Oh, okay.
-- so --
Was there a contract signed with the buyer?
There was, yeah, but what good is it?
Okay.
It says when escrow opens and such.
So then the buyer that -- or to your knowledge,
there was never any buyer that ever materialized for
10
25 --
11
Not --
12
-- Harbor Pointe?
13
Not really, no.
14
Well, to your knowledge, was that because there
15
It was all smoke and mirrors.
was a bunch of liens on there, wasn't there?
16
Yes.
17
Is that, to your knowledge, the reason none of
18
them bought it?
19
Yes.
20
All right.
Then in the next sentence you say,
21
"If this homeowner were to win, we would have to pay our
22
legal fees, his legal fees, $1,000 to $1200 per palm for
23
removal of the "offending" palms...".
24
25
So at the time when you wrote this then, you

were assuming that the association's insurance company
115
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
4
would not pay for the cost of doing this?

A
We had no idea if they would or not; in fact,
we figured they probably would not.

Q
And the next sentence, "Homeowners would be
individually responsible for removal costs of their
properties."
Was it your understanding that if Mr. Rezai won
the lawsuit, that everybody in the community would have
to cut their palm trees if they exceeded the height of a
10
roof?
11
Correct.
12
So the purpose then for you writing this letter
13
and distributing to the homeowners then was to do what?
14
What was your goal here?
15
As a board member, I have a responsibility to
16
supply information to the homeowners that they may not
17
be aware of.
18
them and help the association.
19
there that may be very expensive -- and the numbers at
20
that time went from very little if we changed the
21
amendment to a very extreme expense for the association
22
if not only did we have to remove all the palms, but
23
have to pay pain and suffering and legal fees and all
24
that.
25
That's why I'm elected.
I'm there to help
If there's a situation
So we had -- it was all in the dark.
We did
116
(CROSSLEY)
not know what was going to happen, but they have to know
that.
Well, you were trying to convince the
homeowners that --
Was not trying to convince anybody.
Well, you said that they had two options:
either option one --
Yeah.
-- that wouldn't cost them any money, just
10
their vote --
11
If I get --
12
-- or option number two, which would be
13
14
15
16
catastrophic financial consequences, right?

A
Not catastrophic, expensive.
If I give
somebody two options, that's their options.

Q
Okay.
And their options were either to amend
17
the CC&R's to exclude palm trees from the height
18
requirement or possibly suffer option number two which
19
might cost you a whole lot of money?
20
Correct.
21
And those are the two options that you gave
22
them?
23
24
25
That seemed to be the only two options
available.
Q
Is there anything else that I'm missing?
Well, I guess you could always trim the palm

117
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
4
trees, I guess.
A
That would be --
No, we trimmed -- we constantly trim palm
trees.
Q
In one of these sentences, you talk about the
cost of removing a palm tree as being a thousand to
$1200; do you see that?
Yes.
Have you ever gotten an estimate for --
Yes.
10
-- removing palm trees?
11
Who did you get the estimate from?
12
Treeco.
13
Is that the association's landscaper?
14
Correct.
15
And they told you it would be at about a
16
17
thousand to 1200 per tree to remove them?

A
We had them bid our tree in our backyard and it
18
was, I think, about a thousand dollars and that's
19
without stump removal.
20
They removed a palm tree in your backyard?
21
No, I just wanted a quote removal of a palm
22
tree.
23
24
25
Oh, you got them to give you an estimate for a
removal of palm trees?

A
It was a verbal estimate, yes.

118
(CROSSLEY)
And they said --
They -- they trim our trees, and I said, "Well,
what would it cost to remove that?", and they gave us an
idea and we also called them and asked them, you know,
"What would it cost?", and they said somewhere, you
know, in that range to remove.
7
8
9
Did you call any other landscaping companies to
see how much they would charge?

A
No, but I've been to quite a few checking on
10
palm trees, but not to remove, 'cause that is not an
11
issue yet.
12
Okay.
13
No.
14
-- the only estimate you've gotten to remove a
So the only --
15
palm tree is from Treeco and that estimate was a
16
thousand to $1200?
17
Yes --
18
Okay.
19
-- and that's not to remove the stump.
20
That's
just to remove the tree --
21
All right.
22
-- and not to replant either.
23
Yes.
24
So it's -- it's far in excess of that if we
25
have to replant.
119
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
And how many palm trees do you have on your
property, to your knowledge?
40 plus in the community, community palms.
No, I'm talking about in --
My home?
-- on your lot.
Oh, on my home?
8
9
Nine maybe.
I don't know,
give or take a couple.

Q
Now, the figure you just gave me before that,
10
you said there was around 40 palm trees in the
11
community?
12
Yes.
13
You're referring to on the common area then?
14
Just the ones that are probably above the
15
ridgeline, it would have to go, I believe.
16
sure.
17
But my question to you is that:
I'm not
Are those,
18
that 40 estimate number that you're giving, is that on
19
the common area or is that in the whole community?
20
I would have to go check again, and if you need
21
a number, I can be more than happy to get it for you, an
22
exact number of community and homes and above ridgeline,
23
whatever you'd like.
24
25
Okay.
I do not know it now.
I guess I was just trying to ask you
what you were referring to when you said -120

(CROSSLEY)
Yeah.
-- "40".
3
4
Were you referring to the palm trees that are

located on the common area or the whole community?
When we have our palm trees trimmed, I believe
we walked around and there were 40 palm trees that
needed to be trimmed in the community, something like
that.
10
So I'm not sure what you mean exactly.

So you walked around the community and you
tried --
11
Yeah.
12
-- to see how many palm trees there were that
13
were exceeding the height of the roofs then?
14
15
the number is.
16
17
18
Oh, we've done that, too, but I'm not sure what
But do you believe that number is approximately
I don't know.
40?
That was again the ones that
19
needed to be trimmed during the last trimming, I
20
believe.
21
Okay.
22
So I can get you all the numbers.
23
24
25
If you tell
me what you want, I'll get the numbers for you.

Q
Well, you're not required at this deposition to
supply information that you get in the future.
I'm
121
(CROSSLEY)
just asking --
Yeah.
-- what you're aware of now, okay?
Yeah.
Right now, the number 40 sticks out in your
mind and that's just your best recollection of some
count that you made at one time then?
8
9
10
11
Yeah, but I can't tell you what that count is
exactly for.
Q
Okay.
Well, assuming it was 40 and they cost
$1,000 each to remove, that would cost $40,000, right?
12
Hm-hmmn, yes.
13
And is your homeowners association able to
14
15
afford $40,000 to remove palm trees?

A
I don't know if $40,000 -- first, I don't think
16
so, no, and that's just to remove, not to replant, not
17
to dig out the roots.
18
much higher than that.
19
20
So this is -- it would be more,
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Let's go off the record for a
second.
21
22
(Lunch recess from 12:18 p.m. to 1:32 p.m.)
23
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
24
25
on the record?
Okay.
Are we ready to go back
Is everybody ready?
MR. KENDRICK:
Yeah.
122
(CROSSLEY)
MR. NAPOLES:
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
When we broke, we were just about to talk about
Exhibit number 24.
6
7
Okay.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
4
5
Yeah.
Do you have what was marked as Exhibit number

24?
Yes, right here.
Okay.
That's the minutes of the board of
10
directors meeting on December 3rd, 2013, and these
11
minutes show that you were a board member at that date,
12
correct?
13
Correct.
14
Now, it also shows how many homeowners were
15
present then.
16
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, about 11
17
homeowners present at the meeting?
It looks like there was one, two, three,
18
Correct, yes.
19
Oh, that's overlapping, though, some of you
20
Well, that's what's shown, yes.
like you're number one, so --
21
Hm-hmmn.
22
Maybe they're referring to your wife there -- I
23
don't know -- because they don't have Mr. Rezai's --
24
Mr. Rezai is --
25
You're 21, aren't you?

123
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
4
MR. REZAI:
Yes.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Okay.
They don't have him listed, so I guess
they meant the board members plus these addresses.
MR. WORTHGE:
Do you know?
THE WITNESS:
No, I don't know.
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
THE WITNESS:
I don't know why they did that.
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
To the best of your recollection, do you
remember how many were at that meeting?

A
A few, yeah.
I can't tell you who they were or
how many exactly.

Q
And you kind of went around the neighborhood
and asked everybody to come to the meeting, right?

A
Went around the neighborhood and distributed
17
those letters to where I could or dropped them off where
18
no one answered.
19
So if they didn't answer the door, did you
20
leave it on the doorstep or in their mailbox or
21
something or what?
22
The mailboxes are the big, tall mailboxes --
23
Oh.
24
-- the community stuff, so you couldn't do
25
that.
124
(CROSSLEY)
Oh, so you just left it on their doorstep?
There's a -- there's a meeting posted on the
mailboxes, so we have to do that in advance, and some
places have gates, so you have to put it outside the
gates sort of sale.
On Page 2 of these minutes here, it shows that
you were nominated to serve as the president; do you see
that?
Yes.
10
And so have you been acting as the president of
11
the Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association since
12
December 3rd, 2013?
13
Yes.
14
Are you still in this position today?
15
Yes.
16
In the next paragraph, it says, "Michael
17
Crossley made a motion to obtain approval from the
18
membership to amend the CC&R's, Article IX, Sections
19
9.01 and 9.02 to exclude palms from the building ridge
20
line height limitation."
21
Is there a question or --
22
No, I haven't asked a question yet.
23
Ahhh.
24
So is the reason why you wanted to exclude the
25
palms from the ridge height limitation in the CC&R's is

125
(CROSSLEY)
because of the lawsuit that was filed by Mr. Rezai?
Yes.
But you were a defendant in that lawsuit?
Yes.
Did you know that you were a defendant at the
time when this --
Yes.
-- was done?
So you knew that he was suing you?
10
Yes.
11
Two paragraphs down here, it says, "CMC
12
representative Nick Ragenovich recommended that because
13
of the potential conflicts regarding palm trees and view
14
issues, an Architectural Review Committee be formed from
15
the association membership to decide on future matters.
16
Board took no action."
17
To your knowledge, has there ever been an
18
architectural review committee that's separate from the
19
board?
20
I think somebody said they tried it once.
21
don't know if they did it or not.
22
with 20 homes to get another three people that wish to
23
participate.
24
25
It's very difficult
So all the time while you've been on the board
then at least, then the board serves as the

126
(CROSSLEY)
architectural review committee?
Correct.
By the way, since you've been on the board of
this association, has anybody else, other than
Mr. Rezai, complained about a view obstruction?
No.
In the next paragraph it says, "Michael
Crossley made a motion to censure board of director
member Mahmood Rezai for initiating litigation against
10
the HOA regarding views and palm tree removals.
11
Morris seconded the motion."
12
Connie
We're going to go over that censure in a
13
minute, but why did you want to censure Mr. Rezai for
14
filing a lawsuit?
15
I'm under the impression that's the
16
first -- again, I have to read the CC&R's, but I believe
17
that's the first step to trying to get a board member
18
removed from the board for improper action, which I
19
believe Mahmood Rezai is doing.
20
21
22
You don't believe that a board member has the
right to sue the association?

A
Not if he's elected to a board for the
23
fiduciary relationship to benefit the homeowners when
24
all the homeowners seem to have a completely different
25
opinion as to this lawsuit; therefore, we got the

127
(CROSSLEY)
amendment passed on the palm trees.
Mahmood Rezai is suing us as an individual and
as a board member.
believe that's a position for a board member to sue the
association.
He's on the board, and I don't
All right.
They're supposed to help us.
Okay.
And as the board, are you supposed to
help homeowners, so --
10
Absolutely.
11
And you believe that the directors have a
12
fiduciary duty to help homeowners?
13
Yes.
14
And to enforce the CC&R's?
15
Yes.
16
Well, at the time when this meeting took place,
17
the CC&R's, they did require everybody to maintain the
18
trees on their lot no higher than the ridgeline of their
19
house; is that correct?
20
21
MR. NAPOLES:
opinion --
22
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah.
23
MR. NAPOLES:
-- and conclusion.
24
MR. WORTHGE:
Join.
25
To the extent you can respond to the question

128
(CROSSLEY)
or do you --
THE WITNESS:
to.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Well, if I can respond, I'd like
Yes, go ahead.
At the time of this, Mahmood Rezai did what he
was supposed to originally; he went to the board for
unreasonable view obstruction.
none; therefore, that issue is dead and it's binding,
10
and that was not us.
11
board.
12
Okay.
The board said there was
That was another -- a previous
Then this, he started the lawsuit under
13
unreasonable view obstruction and somehow it meandered
14
into palm tree height.
15
saying the palm trees are in excess of ridge line height
16
and, therefore, they should be removed.
17
He has never come to the board
That has to go to the board first before he's
18
able to go to legal action.
19
He has bypassed a huge step in this.
20
It says so in the CC&R's.
Well, you received a letter from Mr. Rezai
21
before the lawsuit was filed offering -- I mean,
22
explaining that section of the CC&R's and --
23
24
25
It wasn't explained, that section of the
CC&R's, no.
Q
You never got a letter regarding that section

129
(CROSSLEY)
of the CC&R's?
Not a full explanation, no.
Okay.
Well, you were aware of what that
section said because you're quoting that section in
these minutes right here, Section --
Which section are we talking about?
9.012 and 9.02.
You're talking in these
minutes right here about amending those sections.
Well, it gets very convoluted and a lot of
10
things.
11
ridge line heights, not palm trees, and then you're
12
talking about palm trees with the developer.
13
very convoluted, but he needed -- he went to the board.
14
The board said, "No, you do not have an unrealistic view
15
obstruction", and that's where it should have died.
16
The section is talking about vegetation and
He continued with this.
It gets
Even the mediation, it
17
doesn't say -- the mediation, if the board does
18
something completely wrong, you can take it to
19
mediation.
20
do.
21
supposed to do.
22
23
24
25
You can do sort of everything you need to
The board did nothing wrong.
They did what they're
Well, I think that we're all here today because
there's a difference of opinion about that now.

A
One person.
a decision.
We had a separate board that made
We have the present board made a decision.

130
(CROSSLEY)
Most of the homeowners agree with that particular
decision.
We have an irritated homeowner that doesn't
like the decision the board made and he's bypassed the
board, the CC&R's for his benefit and he's a board
member.
He should know better.
Why --
That's why we censured him.
What part of the CC&R's has he bypassed?
10
The fiduciary relationship to the homeowners
11
association.
12
trouble and cost.
He's causing a great deal of stress and
13
Okay.
14
This should not be a board member.
15
But again, just getting back to my previous
16
question, that you believe and I believe in your censure
17
letter you stated that you believe that the board --
18
Well, here, let's attach --
19
Okay.
20
-- that as an exhibit, and we can go over what
21
Sure.
he said.
22
We'll mark it as Exhibit 20 --
23
5?
24
I thought we had a --
25
This is 24.
131
(CROSSLEY)
Yeah, this is 24.
Yeah.
3
4
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
I just wanted to verify.
I guess we're on 25.
Mark it
as 25.
which is attached hereto.) as 25.
8
9
10
MR. NAPOLES:
Thank you, sir.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Okay.
I'm showing you what's been marked as
11
Exhibit number 25.
12
it's dated December 3rd, 2013.
13
It's the censure of Mr. Rezai and
Who prepared this censure?
14
Connie Morris and myself.
15
Okay.
16
Myself mainly.
17
Down towards the bottom of this letter, one of
18
the statements you make is, "Directors must act in the
19
best interests of the association even if at the expense
20
of their own interests."
21
Correct.
22
Do you agree with that statement?
23
Yes, I do.
24
And do you also agree that at the time when you
25
were censuring Mr. Rezai the board had failed to enforce

132
(CROSSLEY)
the CC&R's against you and other homeowners who had
trees that exceeded their ridgeline?
No, I don't agree.
Well, what don't you agree about that
5
6
statement?
A
I don't agree that -- the CC&R's say
vegetation.
This is an issue.
ridgeline.
They're not specifically saying palm trees.

There were no trees exceeding the
This again, even -- even if there is
10
something, then you take it to the board and the board
11
makes a decision, which they did.
12
do a great deal of trimming; no problem.
In my case, I had to
13
Okay.
14
Yep.
15
-- 9.01.
16
Yep.
17
In Section 9.01 -- and I'm referring to the
18
Let's refer to the Section --
original CC&R's as they were originally recorded --
19
Hm-hmmn.
20
-- okay?
21
It stated when they were originally recorded,
22
in Section 9.01 -- and I'm not going to read the whole
23
paragraph, but part of that paragraph refers to --
24
25
Part of it doesn't count.
You have to read the
whole paragraph.
133
(CROSSLEY)
Well, I'm referring to the part of the
paragraph that talks about -- first of all, this
paragraph has to do with maintenance obligations of
owners, okay?
And in part of this paragraph, at that time, it
said that one of the maintenance obligations of the
owners was the pruning of all trees located on the lot
of such owner so that such trees do not exceed the
height of the building ridgeline of the dwelling unit
10
located on such owner's lot.
11
I'm sorry.
12
Yes.
13
Palms are not trees.
14
So if palm trees are not trees, then why did
Does that say "trees"?
15
you feel it necessary to amend that section of the
16
CC&R's?
17
To clarify so this would never happen again,
18
because we have somebody that has wandered around with
19
the CC&R's and causing a great deal of problems --
20
Why --
21
-- and not abiding by the CC&R's.
22
A palm tree can block a view just as easily as
23
another tree, can't it?
24
Absolutely.
25
So why do you think that palm trees should be

134
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
exempted from Section 9.01 of the CC&R's?

A
Because the suit that was brought is stating
that palm trees exceeding the ridgeline have to be
removed.
developer, so that eliminates that, and then you've also
got some -- by buying into this, you've signed the
CC&R's and saying you agree to them, and these trees
were well-established when he bought his home.
should know better.
Okay.
A great deal of those are by the
He
If you didn't like the trees when
10
you moved in the complex, don't buy in the complex.
11
There's four houses for sale now.
12
you don't like that one.
13
14
15
Buy another house if
Well, you'd agree with me the statement that
trees grow over time, don't they?

A
Trees do grow over time and occasionally you
16
have to remove them, but if you have a problem, you go
17
to the board and say, "I've got a problem with this.
18
need your information from the board.
19
about this?"
20
says in the CC&R's.
21
What can we do
You can't just jump into a lawsuit.
board enough times in order to resolve his view
23
complaints?
25
It
And you don't think that Mr. Rezai went to the
22
24
Absolutely not.
another thing.
He went from one thing to
This has never been brought in front of

135
(CROSSLEY)
the board, the height of the palm trees.
that's been brought before the board.
Okay.
Show me where
So you think he should have -- when you
say "show me", you mean you want me to go show you the
letters that were written by me?
6
7
8
9
I've never seen anything saying, "I want the
palm trees above ridgelines removed", ever.

Q
So going back to your statement about
"Directors must act in the best interests of the
10
association even if at the expense of their own
11
interests." --
12
Absolutely.
13
-- by amending Section 9.01 of the CC&R's,
14
you're benefiting yourself, because you had trees that
15
exceeded the height of your house, right, and that was a
16
direct benefit to you.
17
defendant in the lawsuit, so that's going to benefit you
18
by, you know, getting you out of the lawsuit also.
19
You were also named as a
So how do you feel that that's exercising your
20
fiduciary duty to amend a provision of the CC&R's that
21
was intended to protect somebody like Mr. Rezai and
22
other people in the community that do have views that
23
they want protected, and in the meantime you're voting
24
to do something that benefits yourself?
25
a breach of fiduciary duty?
Why is that not
136
(CROSSLEY)
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
THE WITNESS:
Well --
MR. WORTHGE:
-- and ambiguous --
Calm down.
THE WITNESS:
Absolutely.
MR. WORTHGE:
-- unintelligible --
THE WITNESS:
Yeah.
MR. WORTHGE:
-- and now if we can have the
I object.
It's vague --
reporter read it back.
10
It's probably argumentative as well.
11
(Record read).
12
MR. WORTHGE:
If you can understand his
14
THE WITNESS:
Can I answer it with that?
15
MR. WORTHGE:
Well --
16
THE WITNESS:
Something --
17
MR. WORTHGE:
-- if you understand his
13
18
question.
question, then you can answer it.
19
THE WITNESS:
Okay.
20
MR. WORTHGE:
I just want to make sure you
21
22
23
understood the question.

THE WITNESS:
I believe I understand where the
intent is --
24
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
25
THE WITNESS:
-- if not all the words.
Well --
137
(CROSSLEY)
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
You have to understand the
exact question he asked, not where he's going and you
want to just --
THE WITNESS:
Then I don't understand.
MR. WORTHGE:
Okay.
6
7
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
I think I previously asked you whether or not
you thought a board of director had a duty to enforce
the CC&R's, correct?
10
Correct.
11
And you said yes, you think they do.
12
Yes.
13
And I think we've established that at the time
14
when this censure was written and the time when this
15
board meeting occurred on December 3rd, 2013, the CC&R's
16
did have a provision in them in Section 9.01 which
17
basically prohibited owners from maintaining trees on
18
their property that exceeded the roofline of their
19
house, correct?
20
Correct.
21
So why do you feel that it's not a breach of
22
fiduciary duty for the board not to enforce that
23
provision of the CC&R's that was in effect at that time?
24
25
There's different directions I can go on to it.
The first thing, if there was a problem with a tree

138
(CROSSLEY)
height that exceeds a roofline and that is an issue, it
needs to come to the board and someone who is having an
issue with it says, "I need these trees removed because
they're above the ridgeline", or not or whatever and the
board needs to make a decision.
This was never done.
This was unreasonable view obstruction when
this started and it meandered into a ridgeline height
limitation, and that was never presented to the board.
And if it had been presented to the board, do
10
you think the board would have done anything differently
11
than what it did?
12
Absolutely.
13
MR. WORTHGE:
Objection, calls for speculation.
14
THE WITNESS:
Oh, okay.
15
speculation.
16
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
17
That is, yeah,
Well, first of all, the fact that you're
18
assuming that it was never requested from the board, I
19
think what you're saying is you never saw a letter from
20
Mr. Rezai or from maybe my office?
21
I have never heard from anybody presenting to
22
the board that, "I want to meet with the board to
23
discuss trees above the roofline and I would like them
24
removed."
25
had to make a decision on to remove anything above the
This has never been an issue that the board
139
(CROSSLEY)
ridgeline.
There are circumstances where people are not
happy with their view and the board usually takes care
of them or the homeowners do, and in our association
with 20 people, you can walk over to the next guy and
say, "Hey, can you do this?", and either they do or they
don't.
It's very, very low-key up till now.
8
9
10
This is an excessive move on Mr. Rezai's part,

I believe.
Q
Well, if you -- and you lived in some other
11
homeowners associations or at least you own property in
12
those other associations.
13
If you had a situation where your property
14
value was being diminished in another property that you
15
owned that had, you know, some effect and somebody
16
else's violating the CC&R's and that was affecting your
17
property value, would you expect the board to enforce
18
the CC&R's and protect your property value?
19
MR. WORTHGE:
Objection, argumentative,
20
hypothetical question.
21
type of questions.
22
answer.
23
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
24
25
here.
All right.
He's not here to answer those
I'm going to instruct him not to
Let's go over -- let's move forward
Let's mark this.
Wait.
Make sure I'm done with
140
(CROSSLEY)
these minutes here.
Let's go back to Exhibit number 20 --
5.
4 --
4?
-- the minutes on December 3rd.
Hm-hmmn.
Let's go to Page 3 of those minutes.
Oh, yeah.
At the top, it says, "Michael Crossley made a
10
motion to approve the architectural variance to exclude
11
palms from the ridgeline height limitation in Section
12
9.01 and 9.02 of CC&R's requested by attorney
13
Steven Napoles on behalf of Georgia Hickingbotham, and
14
requested by Hans Khademi.
15
motion.
16
Connie Morris seconded the
Motion passed 2 to 1."

First of all, are these minutes accurate as to
17
the motion that was made at this meeting on December 3rd
18
as far as this architectural variance is concerned?
19
I would think they would be, yes.
It's very
20
difficult with Nick.
21
what happened.
22
in the minutes, and so any time that we have to get
23
something in the minutes, we have to make a motion so he
24
will put something in, and I'm not sure what he --
25
exactly if it's accurate or not sometimes.
Sometimes he doesn't write exactly
He's very, very sparse on what he puts
141
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
Well, in this motion that was made, it's saying
that you were the one that made the motion.
I guess my question to you is:
In the motion
that you made at this meeting, did that include a
request to grant you, Michael Crossley, a variance for
your palm trees?
No, it did not.
And was the attorney Steven Napoles, was he
present at this meeting?
10
I believe he was.
11
And he was there representing Georgia
12
13
Hickingbotham and Mr. Khademi?

A
I would think so.
He'd been at at least one
14
other meeting where he was representing Georgia
15
Hickingbotham.
16
was representing Khademi or not.
17
18
Okay.
I don't know at that particular time if
But he was requesting a variance for
Georgia Hickingbotham at least at that meeting for --
19
Yes.
20
-- palm trees that exceeded --
21
Yes.
22
-- the height of her house?
23
Hm-hmmn.
24
By the way, you said earlier before we broke
25
for lunch, that Georgia Hickingbotham doesn't have any

142
(CROSSLEY)
trees that exceed the height of her house.
2
3
So why did she need a variance for trees that

they don't exceed the height of her house?
MR. NAPOLES:
assumes facts not in evidence.
MR. WORTHGE:
Objection, calls for speculation,
If you know.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Do you understand the question?
I understand it, but I feel like I should say
10
the reason we have these variances and we even bother
11
with these things was to stop this foolish lawsuit.
12
Most of the people think this is crazy and
13
I'-m -- I'm not just speaking for myself.
14
for I would say a majority of the other homeowners, and
15
this was just a way to stop any monetary expense that we
16
might incur as a homeowners association and get this
17
back in-house where it should be.
18
19
20
I'm speaking
This should go to the CC&R's, to the board, and

be finalized there without bringing in outside counsel.
Q
You were aware of the fact that Mr. Rezai sent
21
everybody a letter, including yourself, before he filed
22
the lawsuit and offered to go to mediation about this
23
before he sued anybody, weren't you?
24
Yes, I am.
25
And neither the association or you personally

143
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
agreed to go to mediation before this, right?

A
I did not agree because I can't understand.
was brought up before the board.
final.
It
The board decision is
It is a binding decision.
We have one disgruntled homeowner that didn't
accept their decision and it says -- and especially
where it says that a board member or a board director
should be focused more on the association than himself.
Sometimes he has to suffer the consequences in that
10
sense, but he has to be for the association, and this is
11
why we censured him.
12
understand.
13
This is why we're just -- we don't
You don't think that a board member acting as a
14
homeowner, not as a board member, has the right to
15
protect his own property value?
16
Absolutely he does.
17
All right.
18
And do you think he has a right to
ask the board to enforce the CC&R's as a homeowner?
19
Yes, he does.
20
Okay.
21
He did not.
22
So at this particular meeting, was any motion
23
made to grant a variance to you?
24
No.
25
Was there another meeting where a request to

144
(CROSSLEY)
grant a variance to you was -- where a motion was made
to do that by the board?
A board meeting, no.
Who decided to grant you a variance?
Connie.
Was that at a regular board meeting?
No, it was not.
Was there ever any notice to any homeowners
9
10
11
that that meeting was going to take place or the subject

matter of that meeting?
A
I think it was an architectural meeting,
12
architectural board meeting or an architectural meeting
13
I guess you'd call it.
14
At the meeting that we granted the Khademi's
15
and Hickingbotham's variance, the statement was also
16
made that, "Anybody that wishes a variance, please
17
contact us."
18
At this December 3rd meeting?
19
Yes.
20
All right.
21
I contacted Connie as a homeowner.
22
And Connie was acting as the architectural
23
24
25
So you contacted --
committee herself?
A
She's the only last remaining person on the
board that can make a decision.

145
(CROSSLEY)
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
All right.
the next one as number -- let's see.
is the censure.
Let's mark
We have 25.
So this is going to be 26, I believe.
MR. KENDRICK:
MR. NAPOLES:
10
11
12
That
Thank you.
Thank you.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
This is a document entitled "REQUEST FOR
VARIANCE"; do you see that?
13
Yes, I do.
14
Do you know who prepared this?
15
Yeah, it's been so long I'd like to say I did,
16
but I can't even remember.
17
18
MR. WORTHGE:
But we don't want you to
speculate.
19
THE WITNESS:
No, I can't speculate.
20
MR. WORTHGE:
If there's some information on
21
the footer or --
22
THE WITNESS:
23
right, so I don't know.
24
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
25
Yeah, something doesn't look
Well -146
(CROSSLEY)
This may --
So you may have prepared it, but you can't
3
4
5
recall?
A
It may be Steven Napoleon, (sic).
I -- I don't
know; I don't know.
Okay.
Can't -- I can't guess.
Was one of these filled out by Georgia
9
10
Hickingbotham and by Hans Khademi and given to the

board?
11
I believe so, yes.
12
And was this presented at that meeting on
13
14
December 3rd, a document that's similar to this?

A
There was something presented.
I can't
15
remember what it looked like.
16
look right here, but that's -- it's been a long time.
17
That -- something doesn't
And again, then the purpose for the granting of
18
the variances was to stop Mr. Rezai's lawsuit which you
19
felt was frivolous then?
20
Correct.
21
Have you ever seen any written findings of the
22
architectural committee that established that the view
23
from Mr. Rezai's property is not being unreasonably
24
blocked?
25
That would be the previous board of Danni Sun

147
(CROSSLEY)
and Frank Hickingbotham?
Yes.
I don't think so.
Were you told by Danni Sun or
I -- I can't recall.
Frank Hickingbotham that they had decided that?
As far as I know, I -- no, I was not told by
them.
Who told you that?
Well, it never went anywhere else, so I would
10
surmise if Nick did not tell me or Frank did not tell
11
me, that there was no other action at that point.
12
had complied with everything they asked at that point;
13
therefore, you would imagine, if I can speculate, that
14
the board had done their job and they'd made a decision.
15
They never came to say we needed to do anything else.
16
Did you ever receive any kind of a letter
17
stating that your trimmings that you had done were
18
sufficient?
19
We
No, because no one ever stated the
20
trimmings -- that exactly what we had to do or where it
21
had to be.
22
association.
23
It's -- again, this is a homeowners

It's very, very lightly controlled.
All right.
But you're not aware of any written
24
findings by the previous board or the previous
25
148
(CROSSLEY)
There's something that states the different
homes, what they needed to do or they may have asked for
a minor amount in the future, but there's nothing that
says, "You are absolutely 100 percent in the clear."
No, it does not say that.
I think you testified earlier that the
architectural committee is basically the board of
directors, correct?
Correct.
10
And does the architectural committee meet at
11
separate meetings from the board of director meetings?
12
They can.
13
And how often does the architectural committee
14
meet when they're not acting as the board at the board
15
meeting?
16
Any time they feel it's necessary.
17
So, for example, if somebody wants to change
18
the landscaping in their front yard and they submit a
19
plan, then the board might meet as an architectural
20
committee to review those even though it's not at a
21
regular board meeting?
22
Absolutely.
23
How often has that happened since you've been
24
25
on the board?
A
Somebody submitting a plan, zero.

149
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
So has the architectural committee ever met
since you've been on the board?
Yes.
When?
They met for the variances, two of the three,
When did they meet?
Rezai recusing himself or the -- let me think.
Mr. Rezai submitted a proposal for his palm trees, but
it was not up to a degree that you could propose it to
anything, so there was no board meeting for that.
10
I'm just trying to think.
Oh, we had another
11
homeowner that was supposed to meet, but decided to cut
12
down all his palm trees to get himself out of this
13
lawsuit and that's it.
14
Are you saying that there was an architectural
15
committee meeting about that or what?
16
saying?
17
What are you
No, I'm just saying that at that particular
18
point, we had Connie and myself in -- in that location.
19
I guess you could -- it wasn't any formal meeting, no,
20
you know.
21
So basically, other than the meetings to
22
consider the variances for the palm tree exemption,
23
since you've been on the board, there has not been any
24
other architectural committee meetings?
25
No formal meetings or of request.
You asked if
150
(CROSSLEY)
anybody had submitted plans and then into the
architectural committee, no.
3
4
You mentioned that Mr. Rezai submitted a
request to remove some palm trees on his --
Correct.
-- property, correct?
Correct.
And the board did not approve that, correct?
No, because it didn't -- didn't state enough to
10
11
12
make a decision.
Q
It was very, very simple.
Well, number 3 Harbor Pointe Drive, they did
remove some palm trees --
13
Yes, they did.
14
-- and then after they removed them, I think
15
the board sent him a letter and told him that he was
16
going to be fined or something like that, didn't they?
17
He may still be assessed.
18
And --
19
He removed palm trees without board approval or
20
architectural approval at the specific request not to
21
and basically told us to take a hike.
22
23
24
25
Well, at the time when he did that, the CC&R's
prohibited the trees that he removed, didn't they?

A
Absolutely not.
They were under the roofline
by many, many feet.

151
(CROSSLEY)
The trees that number 3 removed?
Yes.
Under the roof height?
Some were over and some were under, and he just
took them out and telling us to go away.
Oh, okay.
In fact, we have a police report on that.
Why was there a police report?
Because he was doing things he shouldn't do and
10
11
12
13
we were trying to stop him from causing problems.

Q
You called the police on him because he was
removing trees on his own property?

A
Absolutely.
It says in the CC&R's, you've got
14
to have -- submit a proposal.
15
community palms that benefit the whole community.
16
homeowners around him are very disappointed with the way
17
that home looks now.
These are -- these are

The
It looks terrible.
18
Did he replace them with any other trees?
19
About a 3-foot 5-gallon palm tree and it looks
20
so stupid and it's dead.
21
homeowner there.
22
23
He is not a
He is just trying to flip that house.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
All right.
Let's mark the
next in line number 27.
24
25
He doesn't care.
THE WITNESS:
Is this an okay speed?
I'm
trying.
152
(CROSSLEY)
MR. WORTHGE:
6
7
Off the record.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Okay.
I'm going to show you now what we marked
as Exhibit number 27.
landscaping variance; looks like it was recorded with
10
the Orange County Recorder's office on December 11th,
11
2013, and I'm going to ask you if you know who prepared
12
that document.
13
pretty much.
It's an agreement for a
I believe this would be Steve Napoles

We have here the --
14
MS. CUMMINGS:
15
THE WITNESS:
(Indicating).
I know.
This is ours, so we took
16
off the variances that was prepared, I believe, by
17
Steven Napoleon, (sic), and just changed the names and
18
such.
19
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
20
So you mean you had a Word document or
21
something that was prepared by Mr. Napoles and you
22
modified it?
23
24
25
I believe so; didn't have a Word document.
just got on the computer and did this.

Q
You got on the computer and typed the whole

153
We
(CROSSLEY)
thing out yourself?
I believe so, yes.
Did any other attorney participate in the
4
5
drafting of this document?

A
No.
Steve Napoleon, (sic), is right on --
MR. NAPOLES:
I'd make the statement for the
THE WITNESS:
Please.
MR. NAPOLES:
I feel compelled to say something
10
record.
here as I sit back here.
11
THE WITNESS:
If I'm wrong, please tell me.
12
MR. NAPOLES:
At no point in time have I ever
13
represented the Crossleys in this matter.
I believe --
14
THE WITNESS:
No.
15
MR. NAPOLES:
-- I -- reference is to the fact
16
that he may have obtained a copy of the variances that
17
were prepared on behalf of my clients from the county
18
recorder and changed the names to protect the innocent.
19
THE WITNESS:
Correct.
20
MR. NAPOLES:
So it's correct, you've never
21
retained me?
22
THE WITNESS:
I -- no, I never retained you.
23
MR. NAPOLES:
I just want to make it clear that
24
25
there's no -THE WITNESS:
Yes.
154
(CROSSLEY)
MR. NAPOLES:
-- attorney-client relationship.
THE WITNESS:
No, I -- we didn't talk to him
about it.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
5
6
We just --
Did Mr. Napoles ever send you a Word document
like this variance so you could modify it?
No.
So to the best of your knowledge then, you took
9
10
a document that he had prepared for the Hickingbothams

and then you modified it for your own purposes?
11
Correct.
12
All right.
And this document then was approved
13
by Connie Morris then at an architectural committee
14
meeting?
15
Correct.
16
Not at a board meeting?
17
Correct.
18
And she signed it on behalf of the Harbor
19
Pointe-Newport Owners Association on December 10th,
20
2013.
21
And again, there's never been any kind of a
22
board resolution; there was never a motion made by the
23
board to approve this and/or never a board resolution
24
then to approve this?
25
To approve this?
155
(CROSSLEY)
The variance to you.
No, not to me.
It was approved solely by the architectural
committee, which at that time consisted solely of
Connie Morris then?
When it came to mine, yes.
Pardon me?
Yes, yes.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
10
we'll mark as number 28.
11
12
14
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Yeah, yeah.
That's something that we
probably ought to staple on this then.
16
MR. KENDRICK:
17
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
28?
Thank you.
Would you mark that other one
I don't know if I wrote that on there.
19
MR. WORTHGE:
Yeah, they're marked.
20
MR. NAPOLES:
Thank you.
21
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
22
You want
to grab me those staplers I think.

MR. KENDRICK:
18
Now, the next one
By the way, this is not stapled on.
13
15
All right.
Oh, wait a minute.
That's
mine.
23
MR. WORTHGE:
I'll read it over his shoulder.
24
MR. NAPOLES:
Everyone have one?
25
to make sure.
I just want
I didn't -156
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Yeah, does everybody have a
copy of 28, number 28?
THE WITNESS:
7
8
9
Yes.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
I'm going to show you what I've marked as
number 28 and ask you if you recognize that.
10
Yes.
11
And who prepared this?
12
I did.
13
And did you have any attorney assisting you to
14
do this?
15
No.
16
The purpose of this was to send out a ballot
17
for people to approve to amend the CC&R's, correct?
18
Correct.
19
And so you drafted this yourself?
20
I believe, if I recall, we had amendment to
21
change the board from three to five people and we used
22
that as a template to construct this, those that
23
collided.
24
Oh, there was a previous --
25
I'm trying to think.

157
(CROSSLEY)
-- amendment to some of your documents?
Right, we were going -- we were going to change
3
4
5
the number of the board at one point in time, so -Q
And so there was -- this ballot that's on page
two of Exhibit 28, did you draft the ballot also?
Draft the ballot, yes.
And are you saying that you had sort of used
the language from another ballot --
Correct.
10
-- that was drawn for the association for
11
another purpose?
12
Correct.
13
And who drew that ballot up?
14
I can't remember the attorney's name; one we'd
15
hired in the last year previous to it.
16
Mr. Rezai would know.
17
believe that solicited him.
It was --
They -- they're the ones I
18
Barry Ross?
19
Yeah, it could be.
20
But with respect to Exhibit 28, this proposed
21
amendment to the CC&R's to exclude palms from the
22
ridgeline height, you were the only person that was
23
involved in preparing this document?
24
I discussed it with Connie Morris.
25
But there wasn't any attorney representing -158

(CROSSLEY)
No.
-- the association --
No.
-- that was involved in it?
No.
6
7
We've had enough attorney bills.
We're
trying to keep our costs down the best we can.

Q
Now, in paragraph three of Exhibit 28, it says,
"The purpose of this amendment is to assert the original
builder's intentions as stated in the Section 10.08 of
10
the CC&R's;", and then you quote a portion of the CC&R's
11
in Section 10.08, correct?
12
Correct.
13
And I assume that you -- the meaning that you
14
are attributing to that section is that any trees or
15
palm trees that were originally installed by the
16
developer were exempt from the ridge height requirement;
17
is that --
18
Correct.
19
-- what you're insinuating?
20
Correct.
21
But the amendment that you drafted was much
22
different than that.
23
excluded all palm trees and trees from the height
24
requirement, not just the ones that the developer --
25
The amendment that you drafted
Correct.
159
(CROSSLEY)
-- planted.
So your amendment that you asked everybody to
pass went far beyond what the exemption in the CC&R's
allowed, didn't it?
5
6

BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Let me reask the question then --
Thank you.
-- just so we get it clear.
10
Sure.
11
You're telling -- this document, number 28, was
12
mailed to all the homeowners at Harbor Pointe, correct?
13
Correct.
14
On or around December 18th, 2013?
15
Yes.
16
And you're telling the homeowners in paragraph
17
three, that the purpose of the amendment is to assert
18
the original builder's intentions as stated in
19
Section 10.08 of the CC&R's; that's what you were
20
telling everybody, correct?
21
Partially.
22
But the Section 10.08 of the CC&R's is the
23
section that talks about improvements that were
24
installed by the developer, correct?
25
Correct.
160
(CROSSLEY)
But your amendment that you drafted that you
asked everybody to approve exempts all palm trees or
all -- excuse me -- exempts all palm trees --
Yes.
-- from the height requirement in Section 9.01
and 9.02 whether or not they were installed by the
developer; isn't that true?
8
9
Well, first they're palms, not palm trees.
Second, we have a community that has established a
10
certain aesthetic style to it and that is what most of
11
the owners consider part of our community, and again,
12
this is just a proposal to vote.
13
votes one way or another.
14
to each and every homeowner.
15
trees, they vote yes.
16
they choose to abstain, they abstain which is the same
17
as a no vote, and it passed.
18
the palms, according to this, the way they are.
19
20
All right.
We did not solicit
This is an individual thing

If they like the palm
If they don't, they don't.
If
Everybody chooses to keep
But when you said that you're not
soliciting the vote, you wrote this --
21
Correct.
22
-- presumably as a board member, I presume?
23
I wrote this as being a member of the board to
24
propose to the association, "What do you guys want to do
25
with this?" -161

(CROSSLEY)
Okay.
-- and by their response, if they said, "No, we
don't want the palms", then the palms go.
keep the palms and that was the vote.
know what I would vote.
All right.
They chose to
I didn't -- I
Everybody has a vote.
So you wanted to put it out to a
vote to see how the homeowners felt about the height
limitation --
Correct.
10
-- for trees, whether or not that should apply
11
to palm trees?
12
For palms.
13
Okay.
14
It is difficult for an association to change
15
part of their CC&R's and there's -- it's for a good
16
reason.
17
and to do this I think is -- it says -- it says it
18
up-front, that this is what this association wants, and
19
that is strictly as a board member, not a homeowner.
20
know what I want, but the board -- that's what we have
21
to do.
22
23
It takes a great proportion of that association
And so this -- so you prepared the ballot and
the cover letter I'll call it --
24
Okay.
25
-- with the ballot, and would --
Yes.
162
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
4
Well, it was sent out then by CMC, I believe,
But did the cover letter on Exhibit 28, did
yes.
that accompany the ballot that was mailed out?
I believe so.
And so you provided this document to
CMC Management and asked them to mail it to all the
homeowners?
Yes, it has to be formally done.
We
10
tried -- we realized that everything we do is under a
11
microscope and again, we're not attorneys.
12
homeowners.
13
what we have to do everything right.
14
We're just
We're trying to do the best we can with
Did you realize when you were drafting this
15
amendment and getting the homeowners to vote for it,
16
that it would apply to all palm trees -- palms in the
17
community --
18
Thank you.
19
-- whether or not they were planted by the
20
developer or not?
21
Yes.
22
So would you agree with me that that went far
23
24
25
beyond the exemption in 10.08 of the -A
No, I would not, because the developer has a
development that he does the community property for.

163
(CROSSLEY)
Each homeowner when they come in have to submit a
landscape plan to somebody and I would imagine it was
the board at the time or the developer and it has to be
approved, and if it was approved back then when they
first put these palms in, then that was the concept they
were trying to develop here.
So in your mind then it doesn't matter whether
it was planted by the developer or not; if it's a palm,
then it can go as high as it wants?
10
As a palm gets higher, it becomes less of an
11
issue.
12
10 inches wide, 12 inches wide.
13
does is add to the ambience of the establishment.
14
15
16
A low palm may block your view.
A high palm is
It's nothing.
All it
Well, these palm trees, they grow pretty
slowly, don't they?

A
Yeah.
17
MR. WORTHGE:
Objection.
18
THE WITNESS:
Well, you know, I don't know.
19
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
20
Well --
21
Depends on how you feed them and --
22
Well, let's just take, for example --
23
MR. WORTHGE:
What do mean by "slowly"?
24
THE WITNESS:
Yeah.
25
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
164
(CROSSLEY)
Well, there's -- to my knowledge, there's only
two types of palms:
they're called Washington palms.
4
5
There's Queen palms and I believe
Washingtonians and then there's Australian
Queen palms there, too, I think.
Oh, there's three different kinds there?
Well, there's different ones all over there,
yeah.
The Queen palms which are mostly the subject of
10
the lawsuit then, do you know how fast those grow,
11
Queen palms?
12
No, they -- again, they vary, but I don't think
13
those are the real problem with this.
14
don't know.
I'm not sure.
15
MR. WORTHGE:
He's saying that they are, so --
16
THE WITNESS:
Yeah, if they are, they are, but
17
there's both kinds and they're both a problem, I guess.
18
I guess that's what I'm understanding, 'cause --
19
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
20
21
Well, the Queen palms that we saw in those
photos that were taken in 1986, those Queen palms are --
22
Those are Washingtonians and Queen palms.
23
In the photos that we saw in 1986, there were
24
25
two different kinds of palm trees?

A
I can't tell, but the ones that are still there

165
(CROSSLEY)
that the developer planted, yeah, they're both kinds,
yeah, yes.
Well, regardless of what --
Yes.
-- type they are, those palms are still there
now, right?
Correct, most.
20 --
30 years, let's say.
10
Almost 30 years --
11
Yeah.
12
-- after the developer planted them, correct?
13
Correct.
14
So I guess my just general question is:
Do you
15
believe that those palms that were planted almost 30
16
years ago, they should exist in perpetuity then and
17
that's --
18
Yes.
19
-- they should never be taken down?
20
Unless they become a hazard.
21
As far as these ballots are concerned, did you
22
go around to any of the homeowners in Harbor
23
Pointe-Newport and ask them to sign them and give them
24
to you to bring to the meeting?
25
No.
166
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
Did you discuss with any of the homeowners how
they were going to vote on this issue?

A
No, not that I -- a vote is a personal thing.
I don't care how someone votes.
wish.
this and that's just discussion person to person.
not a board member type thing.
8
9
10
They vote what they
I discussed with people in the association about

It's
You never discussed with any homeowners in
Harbor Pointe how they were going to vote on this or did

you courage them to vote "yes"?
11
No, that's up to them.
12
Did you go around in the community and knock on
13
any doors or talk to any of your neighbors about voting
14
for this CC&R amendment?
15
I believe we went around to find out if some
16
people were going to vote, because we wanted to make
17
sure that everybody turned out.
18
few owners in our association that are close to a
19
recluse in a sense.
20
the association.
21
left alone.
22
23
24
25
There are a few -- a
They do not associate normally with
They just live there and want to be
And did you go talk to those people or call
them or anything?
A
I think we tried.
I don't know if I got ahold
of anybody.
167
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
Do you recall speaking to anybody about the
ballot and whether or not they had turned it in or not?

A
I spoke to Nick.
We were constant with Nick to
see if we had enough ballots to make a meeting, 'cause
there's an extension period that is applicable if we
don't have enough ballots.
So you have to give -- again, we live in a
community where people are in Paris, they're in Wyoming,
they're all over the country and we've got to give them
10
time to return their ballots or participate.
11
So when Nick said they had enough
12
ballots -- ballots, we scheduled that meeting and we
13
opened the ballots or the votes.
14
15
So you didn't personally solicit any of the
ballots?
16
Don't need to; it -- it speaks for itself.
17
Well, I'm just asking the question:
Did you go
18
to anybody's house and say, "Hey, have you voted yet?
19
If you haven't voted, will you sign the ballot, please,
20
and give it to me"?
21
No.
22
So as far as you know, all of the ballots that
23
were counted for the CC&R amendment, were they all
24
mailed to CMC?
25
CMC except for number 25, which was

168
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
4
5
inconsequential because we never even used it.

Q
Okay.
25 is the house that the association
owned at that time?

A
Kind of.
I don't know what we do with it
exactly, but yeah.
All right.
A nebulous unit.
Does the association still own number 25 today?
I don't know.
10
11
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
I wish I knew.
Let's mark this next exhibit
as number 29.
12
13
14
15
16
17
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Mr. Crossley, this is one of the documents that
your counsel produced in discovery --
18
Hm-hmmn.
19
-- and it appears to be an e-mail from the
20
property manager to you dated January 8th, 2014.
21
Hm-hmmn.
22
It's about the ballots and he's telling you in
23
this e-mail that they have 14 and, "We don't have
24
ballots from...", and then he gives you a list of
25
homeowners that didn't prepare ballots.

169
(CROSSLEY)
Correct.
Do you see that?
Correct.
Is this an e-mail that you did receive on or
5
6
about January 8th from Nick?

A
I would imagine.
Like I said, we were in
constant contact to find out if we had enough votes to
make a meeting.
After you received this e-mail, did you contact
10
any of the homeowners that owned these particular
11
addresses to find out where their ballots were?
12
I need a chart of the homes.
13
Let's see.
14
There you go.
15
here.
16
17
18
That's an exhibit here somewhere.

Okay.
Let's see what we have
The first one on there is 8, which I believe is
Khademi.
A
Yes, yes.
Most of the homeowners were holding
19
onto their vote till the day of the meeting and bringing
20
it in, I believe --
21
Well --
22
-- or sending it in; I don't know at this time,
23
but -- okay.
You have 8.
24
Well, 8 is Khademi.
25
Uh-huh.
170
(CROSSLEY)
Well, okay.
Yeah.
Let's take it one at a time.
Yeah.
8 is Khademi.
Hm-hmmn.
Did you speak to Mr. Khademi about whether he
8
9
Let's go --
was going to turn his ballot in?

A
I speak to him on a daily basis, so I'm sure
10
that was a topic of conversation, "Are you bringing it
11
in or sending it in?", or whatever.
12
he said.
I have no idea what
13
You have no idea what he said?
14
No, no.
15
Okay.
16
Hansen is a good guy.
17
So did you encourage him to mail it in or
18
19
20
something or what?
A
Well, he said he was going to take care of it,
so whatever he does.
21
Okay.
22
That would be Bill Adams' second home, but I
Number 11, who's that?
23
don't know.
24
of purchase on number 11 by Bill Adams.
25
Did Bill own that?
You might have the date

I don't know.
I know that according to the e-mail -171

(CROSSLEY)
Yeah.
-- correspondence he owns two units, I believe,
3
4
right?
A
Yeah, I believe he owned it at that time.
tried to get ahold of Bill Adams at a point in time.
He's very difficult to get ahold of.
him since then about this, so don't know.
8
9
10
We
We have talked to
So you never actually talked to him on the
phone or anything then?

A
We may have.
He was not happy with -- I
11
remember he was not happy with some of the verbiage in
12
the ballot and consequently, he eventually abstained.
13
So I don't know where that went one way or the other.
14
Okay.
15
17, that's Bill Adams also.
16
Who's number 20?
17
20, that would be Stanley Gribble.
18
Did you ever talk to him?
19
I believe we went up and spoke with Stan to
Let's see.
Who's number 17?
20
make sure he was going to vote, that he didn't just
21
throw it in the trash.
22
Well, what did he tell you?
23
I believe he said he was going to vote.
24
Did he hand you his ballot or did he hand --
25
Didn't hand me the ballot, no.

172
(CROSSLEY)
2
3
Didn't hand it to you?

Did he tell you he was going to hand it in to
the property manager?
Don't remember.
Stanley is a very difficult
guy.
is not a very soft fluffy guy.
you out as talk with you if he didn't like you.
I like Stanley.
He's very straightforward, but he

He'd just as soon punch
Okay.
No.
10
-- or anybody else that you know?
11
No.
12
What about 25?
13
But he never handed you the ballot --
That's the one that the
association owns?
14
25 is the association home.
15
Is there a view from 25 Harbor Pointe --
16
Oh, yeah.
17
-- that looks over --
18
Yeah.
19
-- your trees?
20
Yes.
It's a beautiful view; in fact, we almost
21
bought that house.
22
were shown that house eight months previous where we
23
were shown the house we bought.
Well, we didn't almost buy it.
24
Oh, it was for sale previously?
25
It's been for sale for a long time.
We
The man
173
(CROSSLEY)
has not made a payment on that in five years or
something.
I don't know.
Yeah, okay.
29, very difficult person to get ahold of.
Who's the owner of that?
Cho, I believe.
And what about 29 Harbor Pointe?
What's her first name?
MS. CUMMINGS:
9
10
11
Missy.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Did you ever talk to the owner of 29
about --
12
I never talked to the owner of 29.
13
Never talked to her?
14
I never talked to her.
We talked to her in a
15
meeting one time about landscaping where there was an
16
approval by the board to give her some money for her
17
landscaping.
18
19
20
Why would the board give her money for her
landscaping?
A
She said that it was landscaping or the
21
community association trees on the outside of the wall,
22
the roots had impregnated her drainage lines and,
23
therefore, she wanted money from the board, and I
24
believe Mr. Rezai approved of that.
25
By himself or with the board's -174

(CROSSLEY)
I think so.
I don't know how it was.
I was
not on the board, but that was what I was led to
believe.
4
5
6
Do you know whether or not the owner of number
29 ever made a view obstruction complaint?

A
I believe on the downhill side of number 2
would be the house -- that would be Marshall, Marshall's
house -- there was a tree that had grown up.
is somewhat elderly.
He has a stage four cancer.
10
not in good health.
11
strong point right now.
12
13
14
Marshall
He is
So landscaping is not his real
I trim his palm trees.
There was a tree that I
believe that 29 was not happy with; he took it out.

Q
Okay.
So just to reiterate then, the owner of
15
29 complained about some trees on Marshall Freedman's
16
lot --
17
Correct.
18
-- that were blocking her view?
19
As far as I know, it was 29, yes.
20
And then in order to help Mr. Freedman out
21
then, you went over to Mr. Freedman's property and you
22
helped him trim his palm tree?
23
No, I just do that on a regular basis for him.
24
This was previous to that.
25
well at the time, and there was a large tree in the
I did not know Marshall very
175
(CROSSLEY)
front of his property against the wall that was doing
some damage to the wall, so he just took it out.
You took it out or he did?
He took it out.
Oh, okay.
He hired a company to come in and take it out.
But I think you said previously that you went
8
9
10
on his property and you helped him trim some trees.

A
No, I did not say that.
I said I trim his
trees, his palms occasionally for him just as a favor.
11
Oh, I see.
12
I trim my trees and I trim Connie's trees, if I
13
wish.
14
saggy or they're getting too full, I trim them.
Okay.
I just go around; if the trees look a little
15
You personally yourself?
16
I personally --
17
Okay.
18
-- and dispose of it personally.
19
To trim a palm -- I have a palm tree in my yard
20
and I know to trim it, it is not that easy.
21
No, it is not that easy.
22
You have to get on a ladder --
23
No.
24
-- pretty high?
25
No.
176
(CROSSLEY)
high?
Where is it?
There was a picture of a pole you had.
Yes.
How do you trim it, because they can be 30 feet
Here it is, somewhere.
These poles, I have four of them.
go four poles high --
Oh, I see.
-- and yet, it is still not any slicker.
9
10
11
I can
You -It's
no big deal.
Q
So you stack the poles on top of each other and
then you --
12
Correct.
13
What's at the end of the pole then, a saw?
14
A tree saw.
15
So you use those poles to trim the fronds off
16
then?
17
Yes.
18
So you never spoke to the owner of 29 about her
19
ballot or how she was going to vote on the CC&R
20
amendment?
21
Not that I can recall, no.
22
Did you speak with her daughter?
23
Her daughter may have been around.
24
tried.
25
I could be wrong.
I know we
I don't remember speaking with her offhand, but

I mean, I get confused, 'cause a lot
177
(CROSSLEY)
of times people will come to meetings and since you
don't see them, you're not quite sure who's where
sometimes.
Yeah, or what address they correspond with?
Yeah, "Who's this?"
6
7
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
All right.
Let me see where
we're at here.
I'll mark this one as number 30.
10
11
12
13
14
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
This is another e-mail that was produced by
your attorney in discovery.
15
Let's see what we have here.
16
Are these e-mails that you were copied on, sir?
17
I don't remember these offhand; possibly,
18
'cause --
19
Well, because the one from Marshall Freedman --
20
Correct.
21
-- in the middle, it shows that you were copied
22
on it.
23
Probably.
24
So that's probably where this came from?
25
I don't know.
Yeah, as you can see, there's an

178
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
awful lot of names on here.

Q
After some discovery was provided, did you go
through your computer and search for e-mails regarding
the tree view issues?
We have -- we had a problem while we were in
the midst of all this preparing documents.
My computer
went, like the IRS.
the middle of trying to write all this stuff.
go out and buy a new computer, so --
It went down, and we were right in

We had to
10
Okay.
11
-- we couldn't get a lot of material off the
12
13
14
old one.
Q
So I don't know what was on there.

Well, according to this, it looks like you use
Gmail, right?
15
Yeah, it might be there.
16
So Gmails on-line, so your e-mails were safe,
17
18
right?
A
I don't know.
19
MS. CUMMINGS:
No, the Gmail is --
20
THE WITNESS:
21
MS. CUMMINGS -- independent of the computer.
22
THE WITNESS:
Are they still good?
Yeah, should be, should be, but
23
I -- this new Apple computer is a nightmare.
24
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
25
Oh, okay.
By the way, Marshall Freedman -179
(CROSSLEY)
Uh-huh.
-- you said that -- well, he's your neighbor;
he lives across the street from you --
Yes.
-- right?
Yes.
And you said you help him out with his palm
trees sometimes?
Sometimes.
10
Did Marshall Freedman have any involvement in
11
the drafting of any of the variances, the CC&R amendment
12
or any other documents?
13
I don't think so.
14
The rest of this document, I believe it was
15
portions of other e-mails I guess that were sent to or
16
from Bill Adams --
17
Hm-hmmn.
18
-- and in the bottom of this page right here, I
19
guess he's talking about --
20
Oh, yeah.
21
Okay.
Hm-hmmn, yes.
He says in paragraph two on the bottom
22
part of this, it shows that on January 14th, Bill Adams
23
wrote and then in paragraph two, he says, "With respect
24
to the proposed amendment of the CC&R's, we have
25
abstained recognizing that an abstention has the same

180
(CROSSLEY)
effect as a no vote.
the proposed amendment goes too far.
blanket exemption for palm trees, an owner would be able
to plant palm trees that block a neighbor's view.
amendment could also be construed to exempt palm trees
from pruning, not just with respect to height, but
generally.
exempt from the pruning requirement."
9
10
11
We have done so because we believe

By creating a
The
We do not believe that palm trees should be
Did you agree with any of his problems with the

amendment as it was drafted?
A
Bill Adams is an attorney, first off.
Yeah, we
12
agreed that it was kind of back and forth with Bill as
13
far as I know, that -- that the pruning thing was a big
14
problem.
15
pruned and that was not the concept, and we at one point
16
in time were -- if -- had this not passed, we were
17
planning on changing that and talking when -- say,
18
"Bill, we'll change it to what you're happy with",
19
'cause two votes is huge in a community of now 19 homes.
20
So I know we talked to him about that --
He thought the trees wouldn't have to be
21
All right.
22
-- but it passed, so we didn't have to fulfill
23
that part, and in some respects, I think he's a hundred
24
percent correct on that, you know, if that's an issue,
25
but pruning has never been an issue.
We're in a
181
(CROSSLEY)
constant state of pruning.
The problem with this lawsuit now is now we
have trees that we're planning on pruning in a month,
but we don't know if we're going to have to remove them
or not.
prune trees that we may have to remove?
7
8
So now, do we put out thousands of dollars to
When you say "we", are you talking about you
and your wife or are you talking about the --
Homeowners.
10
-- homeowners association?
11
Homeowners association.
12
I just trim my
trees --
13
Okay.
14
-- but the community trees, they're so tall, I
15
think we'd have to hire -- Treeco comes in once a year
16
and prunes them all, but now, do we waste homeowners'
17
money trimming trees that may have to be removed?
18
19
What time of the year does Treeco usually trim
the palm trees?
20
I believe in September or October --
21
That's what --
22
-- I think.
23
-- they normally do?
24
Yeah.
25
So we're -- we're being held kind of
hostage by this lawsuit.
We don't know what to spend.

182
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3
Well, how much does it cost for Treeco to come
in and trim the association's palm trees?

A
Depending on the tree, it would probably be
somewhere between 50 and $150 per tree.
I know they were going to trim our backyard tree for
$75, but they forgot.
"Could you come out and trim our tree?", and they said,
"Sure.
I don't know.
So we called them up and said,
That'll be $700 for one tree."
To trim one palm tree?
10
Trim one palm tree, because they have to come
11
12
13
out on a special deal.

Q
Do you know how many palm trees are on
association common area?
14
We're back to that 40 number somewhere.
15
You believe it's around 40?
16
Somewhere in there.
17
And you believe that Treeco usually charges 50
18
19
I don't know.
to $75 to trim one palm tree?

A
50 to 150 probably.
I don't know.
20
some very, very high palms.
21
what -- they give us a blanket price.
22
We have
I do not know
So the association is not sure whether or not
23
you want to spend the money in September then to trim
24
the palm trees?
25
This is an issue we have to deal with.
We have
183
(CROSSLEY)
to trim some trees, I think, 'cause they're looking a
little mangy, but I don't want to waste money until
this -- hopefully this'll come to an end relatively
soon, but there's no sense in throwing good money after
bad either.
6
7
Well, this case is set for trial, I believe, in
February, is it?
MR. NAPOLES:
Yeah.
THE WITNESS:
Yeah.
10
11
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
12
13
Is that right?
MR. KENDRICK:
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
14
Yeah, February.
15
February.
16
So this --
17
18
19
20
February --
MR. KENDRICK:
-- the 29th or 30th.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
When was the last time that you trimmed the
trees on your property?
21
I just trimmed them last week.
22
Which trees did you trim last week?
23
I trimmed some backyard palm trees and a couple
24
25
of fronds in the front.

Q
Did you do that because of this lawsuit or -184

(CROSSLEY)
I constantly do it.
It's no more -- or no less
than once every two months I go around and start
trimming palm fronds.
On your own property?
On my own property.
I trim the stuff that
falls off the community palm trees so it doesn't fall
all over the concrete, the seed pods.
make it look good.
I just try to
You trim the association palm trees?
10
The palm -- the seed pods on those trees are
11
huge and when the seed pods fall, they just spread all
12
over the asphalt, which we've just redone, and the cars
13
run over it and it's a real mess.
14
take those out.
15
16
17
Okay.
Oh, yeah.
save money.
19
their own.
21
You mean as opposed to having the Treeco
do it you mean?
18
20
So I trim those and
Why pay for it?
Our landscape company does not do that on
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
next exhibit.
So I'm trying to
All right.
Let's go on to the
We'll just call this 31.
22
Everybody got one?
23
24
25

185
(CROSSLEY)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Let's see.
This is another e-mail; looks like
it was from Nick to all the board members it appears on
January 16th --
Uh-huh.
-- 2014.
ballots.
8
9
10
It says, "HP Board - We have 19
All homeowners have voted (except 25 HP)".

So what he's basically saying is that every
homeowner has returned a ballot (except for 25)", which

is the house that is owned by the association?
11
Correct.
12
And do you know if all those ballots were
13
mailed to CMC?
14
No.
15
"No", you don't know or "no", they weren't all
16
mailed?
17
18
No, I don't know how they got there.
That's
not my concern.
19
Did you deliver any of the ballots to CMC?
20
We might have delivered ours.
21
remember.
22
Your personal ballot?
23
Personal.
24
Did you deliver any other person's ballot to
25
I don't
CMC?
186
(CROSSLEY)
No idea anymore.
You don't have a --
Do not recall.
You don't recall whether or not you took
somebody else's ballot and personally delivered it to
CMC?
I don't know what difference it makes.
I'm not suggesting that it makes a difference.
I'm just asking whether or not --
10
No.
11
-- you personally delivered --
12
I'd say no.
13
14
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
The next exhibit will
be 32.
15
16
17
18
19
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
Is this a copy of the notice of special meeting
20
of the board that was posted in the common area for the
21
meeting that was selected to count the ballots?
22
Correct, put on both mailboxes.
23
And who prepared that document?
24
Did it at my house.
25
You, I guess, prepared it?

187
(CROSSLEY)
Yeah.
And do you know the date when it was posted?
Posted that day, I believe or -- no, it has to
be posted three days ahead of time, I believe.
whatever, somewhere around the 20th.
exact it is, but we had -- again, we're trying to be --
four days?
be -- whatever it was, it was exactly within the time
frame necessary for a proper board meeting.
10
11
Is it four days?
All right.
So
I forgot what the
Yeah, we're trying to
You don't have the exact
recollection, though, of what day it was?
12
No, I do not.
13
Other than this notice that was posted on the
14
mailboxes, did you or CMC send out any other kind of
15
notice to the homeowners that this meeting was going to
16
occur?
17
With the ballots.
No, not about this meeting,
18
'cause we were waiting for the votes to come in; have no
19
idea what, if anything, else went out.
20
21
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
All right.
The next one's
going to be number 33.
22
23
24
25
MR. WORTHGE:
We've been going for a little

188
(CROSSLEY)
while here.
Can we take just a little break?
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
THE WITNESS:
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
THE WITNESS:
MR. KENDRICK:
Must be good exhibits.

We've all seen that happen, so
(Recess from 2:50 to 3:06 p.m.).
10
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. NAPOLES:
13
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
14
THE WITNESS:
16
Are you guys ready to go back
on the record?
12
15
I think I've only got five
it's not really that funny.
11
All right.
more exhibits, so we'll be done in a couple hours.
Sure.
Yes.
Let's go back on the record.
All right.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
We're looking at Exhibit number 33 which is a
17
copy of the minutes for the meeting that took place an
18
January 13, 2014; do you see that?
19
Yes.
20
Do you know who prepared those minutes?
21
I would imagine CMC.
22
Is this the document that you're referring to
23
where they said that Danni Sun was present as a board
24
member?
25
Yes, I believe so.

189
(CROSSLEY)
And you believe that's an error?
Yeah.
So that's just a typographical error then?
Yes.
It should have said Connie Morris, right?
Connie Morris, yes.
And this was the meeting that took place to
open up the ballots?
Correct.
10
Were the ballots opened up at this meeting in
11
front of the homeowners that went there?
12
Yes.
13
And according to the minutes, on page two, it
14
said the election results were that 15 votes were cast
15
to approve the amendment, three votes were cast to
16
disapprove it, and two votes to abstain and not vote.
17
Correct.
18
And to your understanding then, you needed 14
19
votes in favor of the amendment to get it approved and
20
you got 15?
21
22
the 67 percent or whatever, but 14 votes, correct.
23
24
here.
25
I believe it was 13 point something if you take
Now, one of these votes -- well, let's see
On page one, it talks about the vote for

190
(CROSSLEY)
25 Harbor Pointe.
Correct.
It says, "... a motion was made by
Connie Morris to vote to approve and consent to the
amendment on behalf of the Owners Association.
Crossley seconded the motion.
Mahmood Rezai recused himself from the voting."
8
9
10
11
Michael
Motion carried 2 zero.
So then at this meeting then, is that when you

and Connie Morris decided how to cast the vote for the
25 Harbor Pointe?
A
If the vote needed to be cast, we decided to
12
vote one way for the association, but it was not
13
necessary, so -- all we needed was 14 instead of 15.
14
that is an issue, it seemed to be an issue in later
15
letters about the validity of that particular vote and
16
so we just said -- we discussed it that night, I
17
believe, too.
18
19
Well, that vote is included within the 15 that
voted to approve the amendment?
20
Correct.
21
I think you testified before that 25 Harbor
22
23
24
25
If
Pointe has a view overlooking the ocean?

A
They all have views to a point.
better than others.

Q
Some are
It has a very nice view.
Why would you vote as a board member to approve

191
(CROSSLEY)
an amendment to the CC&R's that exempts palm trees from
the height limit when you're voting on an asset that
belongs to the association which has a view of the
ocean?
5
6
The view of the ocean is not blocked by any of
the palm trees.
It has a spectacular view.
From 25 Harbor Pointe?
From all of the homes up on that street, it is
a beautiful view.
We have a worse view at 1 Harbor
10
Pointe and the city has just made it worse by planting a
11
bunch of oak trees.
12
view, but they said, "Hey, tough."
13
14
property?
15
They're just going to take away our
Do you have a view of the ocean from your
Yes.
We have Catalina view.
On a clear day,
16
we have a San Clemente view and it's nowhere near as
17
good as Mahmood's view --
18
Okay.
19
-- and the trees just add -- the palms --
20
excuse me -- the palms add to the beauty of the whole
21
thing.
It's spectacular sometimes.
22
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
23
the next document as 34.
All right.
I'm going to mark
24
25

192
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
3

BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q
All right.
This is a copy of two ballots that
were turned in.
counsel produced in discovery and it's the -- it appears
to be the ballots from Stan Gribble and from the Harbor
Pointe-Newport Owners Association.
8
9
I guess this is a copy that your
Do you know what this "134" refers to at the

bottom left-hand corner of Stan Gribble's ballot
10
envelope?
11
No, I do not.
12
Do you know why the ballot envelope for
13
Stan Gribble does not have any postage on it or any
14
postal marks on it?
15
No, I do not.
16
Did Stan Gribble attend the meeting on
17
January 23rd?
18
No, he did not.
19
Do you know how Stan Gribble's ballot got to
20
that meeting?
21
Not at the moment; no, I do not.
22
Do you know how that ballot got to CMC?
23
No, I do not.
24
You didn't deliver it yourself?
25
I have no -- I don't recall delivering it, no.

193
(CROSSLEY)
I was down at CMC numerous times, but I don't remember
taking Stan's ballot down.
3
4
a ballot and give it to you?
5
6
Do you remember asking Stan Gribble to fill out
I remember going up and talking to him about
the vote and that's all I remember.
Did he tell you which way he was going to vote?
No.
Did he tell you that he was going to mail it in
10
or did he ask you to take it there or what?
11
You don't know Stan.
12
answer from Stan.
13
difficult.
"No" is a pretty good
Anything more than that is very
14
He's very short about --
15
He's very short.
16
17
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Let's go on to
number 30 -- I think we're on --
18
MR. WORTHGE:
19
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
20
All right.
5.
This is 34, so this will be
35.
21
Does everybody have one?
22
MR. KENDRICK:
23
24
25
Hm-hmmn.
194
(CROSSLEY)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
This appears to be a copy of the amendment to
the CC&R's that was recorded on January 27th, 2014.
guess I'm going to ask you then, do you know who
prepared this document?
I did.
You prepared it?
It's -- boy, it's starting to all look the same
on these things.
10
What --
11
I believe this is the take-off of the
12
amendment, the other amendment.
13
inserted -- inserted the 9.02 and then the 9.01, but it
14
is -- I'll accept that.
15
it.
16
Then we
I'll -- I do it.
Well, I'm not sure what you mean.
I've done
There was
17
another amendment to another governing document you mean
18
that was prepared by an attorney?
19
20
I think I'm getting confused with the variances
right now.
The day is long.
21
Yeah, this is the --
22
I'm getting confused.
23
This is the actual --
24
Actual -- this is the amendment, yes.
25
-- amendment to the CC&R's?

195
(CROSSLEY)
Correct.
Your meeting was on the 23rd to count --
Hm-hmmn.
-- the ballots?
Right.
This was recorded on the 27th, four days later,
and my question was to you -- I just want to make sure
you understood the question -- is:
amendment, Exhibit number 35?
10
Unknown.
11
Pardon me?
12
I do not know right now.
Who prepared this
I can't remember if I
13
did this or not or if it's -- if I used another one as a
14
template.
15
head, no, I did not, but I would -- it's been too long
16
to say.
17
18
19
20
21
22
So to say that I did it completely off my
Well, I guess I'm trying to find out:
Did
anybody else prepare it like -A
No, no nobody else prepared it that I know of
unless it was a template.

Q
It wasn't prepared by an attorney for the
association?
23
No.
24
And it wasn't prepared by Marshall Freedman?
25
No.
196
(CROSSLEY)
It wasn't prepared by Mr. Napoles?
No, not that I know of.
So to the best --
No.
-- of your knowledge, you prepared it, but
it might have been --
Oh, boy.
-- based on a template by --
On a previous.
10
-- another document --
11
Yeah.
12
-- that was prepared for another amendment to
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
one of your governing documents; is that -A
Boy, I'm just fazing out on that.
I can't
answer that right now.

Q
Do you know if any of the homeowners used
proxies to vote on the CC&R amendment?

A
No, I don't know if they directly -- if anybody
used proxies.
20
Okay.
21
I'm not even sure what a proxy would look like
22
23
24
25
You never saw any proxies?
on this.
Q
Well, then I take it, you did not see any
proxies and you're not aware of any proxies being used?

A
Not aware.
I am not sure what you're asking.

197
(CROSSLEY)
Well, do you understand what a proxy is?
Yes, yes.
It's basically a written agreement by somebody
giving somebody else the authority to vote for them.
And a power of attorney, sure.
Yeah.
Not that I know of.
So to your knowledge, all of the ballots that
9
10
11
were counted were signed by the actual homeowners

themselves?
A
12
Homeowners.
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
All right.
I think I'm
13
done.
14
consult with my client, but I think we're just about
15
done.
Let's take just a quick break.
16
THE WITNESS:
17
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
I just want to
Yeah.
Before we go off the record,
18
let's make sure the court reporter has all of the
19
exhibits, okay?
20
MR. WORTHGE:
21
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
You're up to 35?
Yeah, I believe there's 35.
22
Shall we go through the stack right now and make sure
23
they're all there?
24
THE REPORTER:
25
MR. WORTHGE:
No, we can do it afterwards.

I'll do it.
I'll do it right
198
(CROSSLEY)
now.
I believe in tracking purposes.
So all the exhibits are there.
THE WITNESS:
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Yeah.
Let's enter into a
stipulation.
Let's go on the record.
I'll propose a stipulation that the court
reporter be relieved of her duties under the code and
10
that she prepare the transcript and send it to
11
Mr. Worthge, the witness' attorney, for his review and,
12
that if he makes any changes to the transcript, that
13
Mr. Worthge will notify all counsel within the case
14
within ten days from the receipt of the changes; that
15
the witness will sign the deposition transcript under
16
penalty of perjury and that --
17
MR. WORTHGE:
18
any and all purposes.
19
I'll be happy to maintain it for
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
You'll maintain the original
20
and you'll produce it at any evidentiary hearing in this
21
case or the trial.
22
MR. WORTHGE:
If the original's lost somehow,
23
the copy can be used -- certified copy can be used for
24
any and all purposes.
25
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Okay.
Is that stipulated by
199
(CROSSLEY)
everybody?
MR. KENDRICK:
MR. NAPOLES:
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
MR. WORTHGE:
MR. KENDRICK:
Yes.
13
THE REPORTER:
Let me think about it.

Okay.
Do you have a card?
I'll
give you a card.
15
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
16
you're off the hot seat.
17
THE WITNESS:
18
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
19
MR. KENDRICK:
All right.
Mr. Crossley,
Okay.
Thank you for coming.
I have a question -- I don't
have any questions.
21
MR. NAPOLES:
22
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
23
Can I have the same
thing.
MR. NAPOLES:
20
Do you guys want copies or
anything?
12
14
That's the stipulation
We'd like to order a copy with
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
10
11
Okay.
the condensed and an ASCII disk.
8
9
So stipulated.
then.
6
7
So stipulated.
I think Tracy assumed that.

All right.
Good-bye.
Nice
meeting you.
24
MS. CUMMINGS:
25
THE WITNESS:
Nice meeting you.

Nice meeting you, too.
200
(CROSSLEY)
1
2
MR. ETTINGHOFF:
All right.
Have a good
weekend.
THE WITNESS:
(The deposition was concluded at 3:20 p.m.)
All right.
You, too.
5
6
--oo0oo--
7
8
(DECLARATION UNDER PENALTY OF
PERJURY ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE)
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
201
(CROSSLEY)
DECLARATION UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY
2
3
I hereby declare under penalty of perjury that
the foregoing is my deposition under oath; are the
questions asked of me and my answers thereto; that I
have read same and have made the necessary corrections,
additions or changes to my answers that I deem
necessary.
9
10
In witness thereof, I hereby subscribe my name

this ____ day of ___________________, 2014.
11
12
13
14
__________________________________
MICHAEL CROSSLEY
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
202
(CROSSLEY)
CERTIFICATE
OF
CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER
4
5
6
7
The undersigned Certified Shorthand Reporter of

the State of California does hereby certify:
That the foregoing proceeding was taken
before me at the time and place therein set forth, at
which time the witness was duly sworn by me;
10
That the testimony of the witness and all
11
objections made at the time of the examination were
12
recorded stenographically by me and were thereafter
13
transcribed, said transcript being a true copy of my
14
shorthand notes thereof.
15
16
In witness whereof, I have subscribed my name

this date:
September 25, 2014.
17
18
19
_______________________________
ROXANN M. STRID, CSR
CERTIFICATE NO. 4842
20
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22
23
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25
203

Michael Crossleys Deposition

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Michael Crossleys Deposition

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(CROSSLEY)

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF ORANGE

Date and time:

Friday, August 29, 2014, 10:08 a.m.

30011 Ivy Glenn, Suite 121

Roxann M. Strid, CSR

Deposition of MICHAEL CROSSLEY, taken before

Roxann M. Strid, Certified Shorthand Reporter,

Certificate No. 4842, with principal office in the

County of Orange, commencing at 10:08 a.m., Friday,

August 29, 2014, at the Law Office of Tracy Ettinghoff,

located at 30011 Ivy Glenn, Suite 121, Laguna Niguel,

For the Defendant Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners

THE NAPOLES LAW FIRM

For the Defendant Michael Crossley:

BY MR. ETTINGHOFF ----------------------------------- 9

Map of Harbor Point, one page

Property profile of Harbor Pointe Drive,

Color photograph dated 3-11-86, one page

Color photograph dated 3-11-86, one page

Color photograph dated 7-21-1987, one page

Color photograph dated 12-20-90, one page

Landscape plan, four pages

Color photograph of sales brochure, marked

Photograph, marked "Confidential,

Letter from CMC association management

Color photograph dated February 25, 2013,

Letter from CMC association management

Color photograph dated May 7, 2013,

Color photograph dated May 7, 2013,

Color photograph dated May 7, 2013,

Color photograph dated May 18, 2013,

Letter from CMC Community Management

Color photograph dated May 27, 2013,

Color photograph dated May 29, 2013,

Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association

Letter from Mike Crossley, dated

Letter entitled "HOMEOWNERS ALERT", marked

Notice to All Homeowners at Harbor Pointe,

Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association

Record of Disapproval and Censure of

Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association

Recorded Agreement For Landscaping

Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association, 157

Gmail dated Wed. Jan 8, 2014 at 5:35 PM

Gmail dated Tue. Jan 14, 2014 At 11:11 AM

Gmail dated Thu. Jan 16, 2014 at 2:01 PM

Attention Homeowners of Harbor

Harbor Point - Newport Owners Association

Photocopy of envelopes for two ballots

Amendment to Sections 9.01 and 9.02 of

QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERED:

NOTATIONS FOR COUNSEL

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIFORNIA - FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014

called as a witness, and having been first duly sworn by

the Certified Shorthand Reporter, was examined and

Mr. Crossley, my name is Tracy Ettinghoff and

we're here to take your deposition today.

Have you ever had your deposition taken before?

I'm just going to go over the basic

here is going to take down everything that we say during

the deposition and when we're done, she's going to

transcribe it into a booklet and you'll be able to