Our HOMEstead

Varied types of housing (condos, single homes, multi-plex, etc) surrounding a golf course within the PRD. The benefit to our community would be property value, tourism, scenic views, access to golf, and mitigating storm-water levels through a system of ponds, pumps, and weirs.

The golf course would be responsible for its tee-boxes, fairways, greens, cart paths, bunkers (sand traps), on-course rest-rooms, Pro-shop, equipment yard and maintenance facility.

In Jan. 2020, residents volunteered to represent their neighborhoods in negotiating with MJ Management and Mr. Chen. The goal was to resolve the increased fees and added amendments, acting as our liaison, which was very appreciated! Now fast-forward to year-three of the class action lawsuit...and the HOAG is still here? Their purpose began and ended when negotiations failed, and lawyers were hired to represent the class members. It’s time to retire!

Lawyers can choose to use the opt-in or opt-out response when filing a class action lawsuit. Both are legal but obviously the opt-in letter requires a direct response from the affected group, the opt-out letter does not.

David Andersson and Matt Davis chose the opt-out method which means those of you who did not complete the form to opt out, are now class members in this lawsuit. And these lawyers are your lawyers.

Lawyers typically carry the expenses for class action suits through a contingency fee which means they’re only paid if they win. The reason for this is it provides an incentive for lawyers to work for the best results (which includes shortest time frame) while eliminating financial burdens the lawsuit would place on plaintiffs.

They do not ask for money upfront! Google or use link:

https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/opia/what-is-public-interest-law/public-interest-work-types/class-

action/#tab1-3

Scroll to “Out of Pocket Expenses”

https://www.morrisbart.com/faqs/how-is-money-divided-in-a-class-action-lawsuit/

April 16, 2020: Mr. Andersson’s letter about where to send our fees:

“Under the current circumstances, we have advised our clients in the Homestead PRD to refrain from paying fees to the Golf Course, until such time that we resolve our dispute with the Declarant and its agents. Instead, we encourage our clients to pay $93/month (or such amount as individual circumstances may permit) into the established Litigation Trust Fund.”

April 21, 2022:

At the lawyers’ Town Hall meeting in Lynden, Mr. Andersson said 140 people were now paying into their trust fund. If each of them is paying $93 - and we know some are paying more, some are paying less - that would be $13,000 each month or $156,000 per year.

Please see our blog post in the "Our Updates" section: 

https://www.ourhomesteadlynden.com/homeowner-meeting-minutes-april-19-2022

In a class action, the representative plaintiff is the individual who commences an action on behalf of a class of similarly situated individuals. It is not uncommon for there to be more than one representative plaintiff.

In a class action, the named class representatives represent the interests of all members of the class in an effort to obtain appropriate relief and recover damages for the class members.

A class representative must adequately and fairly represent the class members. This means that a class representative must always consider the interests of the class member just as he/she would consider his/her own interests.

The role of representative plaintiff is an important and challenging one. You give up making decisions about your own legal dispute with the defendant because you are acting on behalf of many.

https://classactionclinic.com/2021/06/07/what-am-i-getting-myself-into-the-role-andresponsibilities-of-the-representative-plaintiffs/