Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Arguably, if the fence has been damaged for 10 years, any applicable statute of limitations has run.

You have to comply with HOA CC&R's to submit plans. You are going to have to repair the fence. You have the right to trim her shrubbery back to the property line, but I doubt you would be able to get any monetary compensation from her in court, due to the extreme passage of time.

Read the CC&R's, architectural guidelines, and, without trespassing on your neighbor's property, take pictures of any offending piles of firewood pushing over the fence. Then, once you have done your research to determine what has to happen according to the HOA's own documents, write a letter to the HOA and property management firm, attaching the photos, citing chapter and verse in your HOA documents as to how your neighbor is responsible for damaging the fence and confirming the course of dealing as to how your neighbor refuses to share in the costs of repairing same. I would indicate in that letter that you will expect the neighbor to pay her share of the repairs to the fence pursuant to paragraph _____ of the CC&R's or the architectural guidelines, and if leaning firewood against the fence is causing the fence to collapse, I would request that she cease and desist from this practice once the repairs are made pursuant to paragraph ____ of the CC&R's or the architectural guidelines.

If your neighbor is in breach of any of the HOA documents, you can bring an action for declaratory relief in the Superior Court. If you need help reviewing your HOA documents, please feel free to contact Aimee Morris at 619-991-0548.