Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Property issue with HOA

First read your insurance policy to see if you are in fact covered. In general it should not matter if it is a civil or criminal matter; if there was a fire not caused by someone's negligence would there be no coverage? Very doubtful.

The management company is the agent of the HOA so if the company is liable then so too would be the HOA, but you do not want the HOA to pay because that is your money. The management company had to give notice that it was going to remove and junk items; how is it cleaning up to remove items from an enclosed storage locker? Whether there was a lock on it or not seems irrelevant. It was the clear intent of the people using the locker to keep the property and not make it available to the general publio. What legal basis does the management company have to throw away private property? Go after the company, including filing a small claims action. Tell your HOA Board you want a new management company.

Re: Property issue with HOA

If the value of the property is fairly substantial, talk to an attorney in your about suing the management company; you may have a cause of action for conversion and potentially a claim for punitive damages.

Re: Property issue with HOA

The civil equivalent of the crime of theft is a tort (civil wrong) called conversion. Unless there are additional facts not mentioned in your question, this looks like a clear-cut case of conversion, and the main difficulties in presenting and winning the case would be (1) the multiplicity of plaintiffs; (2) difficulty of proof of the contents of each storage unit; and (3) its real market value at the time of the conversion.