Judicial Review Timeline & Key Documents

6/9/2026– Judge Honeycutt held a public hearing and private mediation session regarding the petition. During the public hearing, both sides provided feedback on the Court's proposed framework (not yet public). Brian Pressman stated that while he supported the framework's election reforms, any solution must also address the quorum issue. He argued that even with additional voter outreach and election reforms, elections could continue to fail if the quorum requirement remains above achievable participation levels, citing PVHA's own election history and prior Section 7515 proceedings.

The principal remaining issue — the quorum percentage — will be decided by the court following public testimony. This is where your voice matters most. The judge has specifically asked residents to weigh in on whether they support a reduction in the quorum requirement and why.

To that end, three public hearings have been scheduled:

• July 29, 2026 at 1:30pm — Public Hearing #1 — Community Testimony

• August 5, 2026 at 1:30pm — Public Hearing #2 — Community Testimony

• August 19, 2026 at 10:00am — Final Hearing — Closing Arguments & Ruling (open to public)

All 3 hearings will be held in Dept E at the Torrance Court House 825 Maple Ave in Torrance

5/21/2026- 7ABC news aired a news report about the PVHA and our Election Lawsuit this past Thursday at 530pm. Although 7ABC has not yet posted the aired segment on their website, we did manage to record a copy of the story using an iphone as it ran live.

You can watch the 4 minute story here: https://youtu.be/R-yuZL_DYtw

Once 7ABC posts their version online (which will be much better quality than mine) I will post the link.

5/7/2026- Judge Honeycutt agreed to delay the May 14th hearing but only until June 9, 2026 (not mid-late summer as the PVHA had asked for). Judge Honeycutt also said that he was working on and would soon forward a proposed settlement agreement for both parties to review ahead of the next hearing. Members are welcome to attend the June 9th hearing, however, Depending on how the Court structures the proceedings, some or all discussions may occur in a mediation setting rather than a traditional public hearing.

5/5/2026- The PVHA files ex parte motion seeking a multi month delay to the May 14th hearing until July or August. Brian Pressman, petition filed an opposition to the PVHA's request stating that the May 14th date was agreed upon by all parties ahead of time and that it was important to keep the hearing process moving forward.

3/9/2026 to 3/13/2026- The Judge held sessions with both the PVHA and Petitioner. Currently the next hearing date will be May 14, 2026 at 830am in Dept E of Torrance.

2/24/2026- At the follow up meeting it appeared that Judge Honeycutt never received both side's bullet points. They were discovered in the hearing by the clerk. Judge Honeycutt then scheduled individual meetings with both sides for the week of March 9, 2026.

1/29/2026- Mediation session was held with Judge Honeycutt. The two sides met with Judge Honeycutt and discussed several aspects of the case. Judge Honeycutt requested both sides email him bullet points on what a proposed settlement might look like. He scheduled a follow up meeting for February 24 ,2026.

1/23/2026- Hearing held on PVHA"s Ex parte motion. Judge Honeycutt denied the PVHA's motion but asked the parties to use the upcoming January 29th hearing to participate in a mediation led by himself.

1/21/2026- The PVHA files an Ex Parte (Emergency) motion asking the Judge to delay the upcoming January 29th hearing. Brian Pressman, responding for the Petitioner responds with his opposition. We believe the hearing on the merits should not be delayed. You can read the PVHA's motion here. Brian Pressman's opposition can be read here.

1/15/2026- The PVHA filed their opposition brief. You can read it here.

1/15/2026- Petitioners filed their brief for the upcoming hearing with Judge Honeycutt. All PVHA members are encouraged to read our brief which we think many will find very interesting. You can read the brief here. As a reminder, the hearing on the PVHA Election will be taking place on January 29, 2026 at 830 am in the Torrance Courthouse Dept E.

1/13/2026- At the annual meeting the PVHA announced that 993 members voted in the recently election. This marks the 17th year in a row with no quorum. In a change from previous years, only members who were using a "verified corporate zoom account" were allowed to join the member meeting.

12/1/2025- The PVHA filed their official response to our petition. You can view their reply here.

11/6/2025- The PVHA withdrew their motion to strike.

11/5/2025- The hearing on the PVHA's motion to strike and an informal discovery conference was held. Brian P represented Petitioner and Nick Meerson was the Lawyer representing the PVHA Board. Below are the key takeaways:

1. The Judge made it crystal clear that he believed our Petition against the PVHA's election procedures was not improper and he would not be granting their request to strike the entire petition or any part of it. As a result, the PVHA's lawyer withdrew their motion to strike on Thursday 11/6. We believe this was the correct decision and look forward to the next phase of the trial.

2. The Judge also spoke a bit about the merits of our case. He indicated that it is strange and interesting that we haven't had an election in 16 years and even thought about our situation in the context of Tuesday's Government elections and the concept that "every vote counts". However, he also said that he seemed to think the PVHA's election is more like a private contract between members & the PVHA and not like a public election. He also said the HOA's rules were created 100 years ago and members willingly accepted them when they joined the association. Because this was a pre-trial hearing we didn't get to explain to Judge Honeycutt why this is not the case and during the upcoming hearing on the merits look forward to doing so. Judge Honeycutt also said that he wanted to fix the PVHA's election situation for good- so we will not be back in front of him next year if the election problem remains. We really liked hearing that.

3. The Judge pushed both parties to participate in a settlement conference with him being the mediator. Brian P told him he would gladly participate and was100% willing to work with him or anyone at any time to fix our elections. The PVHAs lawyer did not accept initially but told Brian P via telephone on Nov 6 that the PVHA would join the mediation.

4. On our discovery issues the Judge agreed with Brian P that all of the things asked for were relevant to our case (which we of course agreed with) but that he agreed with the PVHA that asking for 9 years worth of docs as requested was too much. Brian P offered to reduce the request from 9 years to 3 years as a compromise. The Judge seemed very happy with this offer and the PVHA agreed.

   
   

10/29/2025- The PVHA's lawyer filed their reply to our Opposition. You can read the full reply here.

10/17/2025- We filed our Opposition to the PVHA's Motion to Strike. A link to our Opposition is here. We believe that the PVHA's Motion is just an attempt to avoid Judicial oversight and continue its undemocratic and broken election process of directors self appointing themselves year after year.

9/29/2025- The PVHA filed a motion to strike our entire first Amended Petition. A motion to strike is legal method one side can use to wipe our a complaint or petition when they believe that the pleading filed has irrelevant, false, or improper matters OR not drawn or filed in conformity with the laws of the state. A link to the PVHA's motion can be found here. We obviously believe the PVHA's motion is wrong on the law and wrong on the facts. The Motion will be heard on November 5, 2025 at 11am in the Torrance Courthouse Section E. We hope PVHA members will attend.

8/25/2025- Brian Pressman on behalf of the PVHA files an "Amended First Petition" with the court. A copy of the Amended Petition is here.

8/8/2025- The Court scheduled our first hearing on the petition. It is scheduled for January 29, 2026 at 11am In Department E of the Torrance Court House 825 Maple Ave in Torrance with Judge Honeycutt.

7/25/2025- A petition with the Los Angeles Superior Court and assigned to Judge Honeycutt. The lawsuit seeks to compel the PVHA to:

• Open the ballots received for the Jan 2025 election, count them, and accept the top five candidates as Directors

• Lower the quorum on future elections to 20% from 50%

• Lower the quorum on changing the By-Laws from 67% to 40%

• Require all candidates (including incumbents) to comply with the process for collecting nominating signatures

• Require PVHA to do three ballot mailings (unless a quorum has been reached with less than 3 mailings)

• Allow for proxies, drop-off of ballots, and cumulative voting (which means if there are 5 positions, the voter can allocate 5 votes however the voter wants, such as on vote for each for 5 candidates or 5 votes for one candidate)

A copy of the full petition with all exhibits is here

3/26/2025- Mahmoud Farzaneh, a current PVHA board member responds saying that "At this time, the Board has decided that it is not in the best interest of the Association to incur legal fees and time to file such a petition. As you know, the Association conducts annual meetings as required, allowing each member the opportunity to exercise their right to vote, including the option to vote electronically."

3/4/2025-Mahmoud Farzaneh, a current PVHA board member responds saying that board will discuss supporting the legal petition the week of March 17th.

3/3/2025- After receiving no response to the second letter a third letter was sent.

2/25/2025- After receiving no response a second letter was sent.

1/26/2025- Letter sent to the PVHA's lawyer asking if they would support a legal petition to reform the PVHA's election rules and reduce the quorum. We offered to cover $1000 of the legal fees associated with the petition.