California HOA & condo associations in court: the numbers

California on the map

32 of the 832 communities with court records (rings, coloured by their most common case type) have an address or ZIP in the record and are drawn here; the rest have no location in any record and are not on the map, but stay searchable. Click a pin for the community's report, or open the full-screen map.

HOA Spy indexes 3,374 California homeowner and condominium associations. 832 of them appear in 1,032 court records — 0 from county and state trial courts, 509 from appellate courts and 523 from federal dockets. California ranks 11th of the 15 states with the most court records on HOA Spy. Every number on this page is computed from official court and county records; data as of 2026-10-02.

The facts

• The records are spread thin: 696 of the 832 communities with a court record appear in exactly one case, and the ten most-litigated together hold only 5% of the records.
• It cuts both ways: associations were the plaintiff in 308 records and the defendant in 353.
• The busiest year on file was 2011, with 41 records. The last full year, 2025, had 21 — down 28% on 2020 (29).
• Appellate cases make up 49% of the records (509): decisions of the state's appellate courts. Next come Other cases (225).
• HOA Spy indexes no California trial court yet, so these are appellate decisions (509) and federal dockets (523) only — the county-court suits where most HOA litigation happens are not counted here.
• 137 records are fair-housing, disability-accommodation or other civil-rights suits — the kind of case a buyer with a service animal or an accessibility request should know about.
• Orange County alone holds 36 records (3% of the state) across 29 communities.

What the cases are about

Each court record is labelled by its nature of suit the way the map colours it. California's 1,032 records break down as:

• Appellate509 · 49%
• Other225 · 22%
• Civil Rights137 · 13%
• Insurance74 · 7%
• Collections34 · 3%
• Property30 · 3%
• Foreclosure12 · 1%
• Tax7 · 1%
• Labor4 · 0%

Appellate: decisions of the state's appellate courts · Other: dockets that carry no nature of suit or one outside these groups (county civil dockets often say only "civil") · Civil Rights: fair-housing, disability-accommodation and other civil-rights claims · Insurance: coverage disputes with an insurer · Collections: assessment, debt and contract claims · Property: property and condominium disputes · Foreclosure: the association foreclosing its lien, or named in a lender's foreclosure · Tax: tax matters · Labor: employment and labor claims

Who is suing whom

The side comes from the role the court recorded for the association where the docket gives one, otherwise from which side of the “v.” the association's name sits. Appeals, petitions and association-versus-association captions stay undetermined.

Filings by year

court records · 2026 is partial

The oldest records on file date from 1917. Years reflect the filing date on the docket (the decision date for appellate opinions); records with no date are left out. Coverage grows as courts are added, so part of any rise is HOA Spy reaching more dockets — see the sources below.

Where the cases are

The county is the community's own (from its registration or ZIP), not the court's. Courts with the most California records: California Court of Appeal (461); District Court, C.D. California (253); District Court, N.D. California (117); District Court, S.D. California (90); District Court, E.D. California (58); California Supreme Court (31); California Court of Appeal, 5th District (16); United States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. California (4).

Associations with the most court records

A long record is not by itself a verdict on a community: a large association collecting assessments through the courts can have hundreds of small-claims entries. Open the profile to see what the cases are and who brought them.

How California compares

The states with the most court records on HOA Spy. The share column is the part of each state's indexed communities that appear in at least one case; it depends on which courts are indexed there as much as on the communities themselves.

Where this data comes from

• Federal dockets and state appellate opinions: CourtListener (RECAP archive and bulk data, snapshot 2026-09-30)
• Corporate standing: SOS bizfile business search (53,372 records)
• Local inventories: City of Irvine CA — Homeowners' Associations (sub-associations with management company) (214); City of Irvine CA — Homeowners' Associations… (1,954 records)
• IRS roster: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (741 records)
• Not collected: SOS corporate bulk data — paid media request
• Not collected: LA County recorder index — bulk sold under fee agreement
• Not collected: County recorder judgment/assessment lien indexes — no free bulk index; LA sells under fee agreement

Most HOA litigation happens in state trial courts, which have no national index; HOA Spy reads the portals it can. A California community outside the indexed courts can have cases this page does not count. Names are matched conservatively, so an ambiguous match is left out rather than guessed. Sources & methodology.

Questions people ask

How many HOA lawsuits are filed in California each year?

In 2025, the last full year, 21 court records naming a California community association were filed in the courts HOA Spy indexes; the five-year average is 27 a year. The busiest year on file is 2011 with 41.

Which California associations have the most court cases?

By records on file: National Organization of Assistance for Homeowners of California (7); Leisure Village Association, Inc (6); Oak Park Calabasas Condominium Association (6).

Do California HOAs sue homeowners more than they get sued?

In the records with a known side, the association was the plaintiff 308 times and the defendant 353 times. Suits brought by associations are typically assessment collection and lien enforcement; suits against them typically come from owners, insurers or lenders.

How do I check a specific California HOA?

Search it by name on HOA Spy: the report lists every lien, case and complaint on file with a link to the official record, and says which sources were checked. Communities with records also have a profile page under the California directory. Data as of 2026-10-02.