Husband-and-wife legal duo that took on ‘David and Goliath’ sinkhole case against HOA awarded $6 million in fees

When retirees Doug Ridley and Sherry Shen ran out of money to pay their legal bills amid a yearslong battle with their homeowners association their attorneys agreed to push on without pay Lawyers Terence and Mary Ann O Hara a San Jose husband-and-wife band who have been married for years agreed that helping the couple whose lives were upended in over an abandoned artesian well that sprang to life beneath their Santa Clara condo was the right thing to do Most of normal people can t afford to have a lawyer fight for them but Doug and Sherry are just salt of the earth kind of people Mary Ann O Hara disclosed There was no way we could have abandoned them without following through with everything But the O Haras decision came with sacrifices they maxed out their line of credit turned away anticipated clients borrowed money from their son and dipped into their retirement savings to take on what Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge JoAnne McCracken described as a David and Goliath affair In February McCracken ruled that the Rancho Palma Grande Homeowners Association and former HOA president Steve Moritz engaged in extensive deception violated the Elder Abuse Act and breached state laws regulating HOAs The HOA will be responsible for more than million in damages owed to Ridley and Shen Now the O Haras could soon be getting their due McCracken this month ordered the HOA to pay them million in attorney fees During the July court hearing McCracken declared that she does not order this amount of money lightly Part of the reason the fees are very high in this situation is we re talking about the extent to which false statements conduct that should never have happened by the HOA had to be unraveled the judge mentioned according to a transcript of the proceeding Ridley purchased the three-bedroom two-bath condo in and lived there for more than two decades eventually renting it out in The rental income was supposed to serve as a retirement nest egg for him and Shen but things took a turn in April when their tenant spotted a reflection in a floor grate from water that had accumulated in the crawl space They later learned that the water was flowing from a more-than- -feet deep well located beneath the living room Similar artesian wells used to be sprinkled throughout Silicon Valley and provided irrigation for orchards and farms when the region was better known as the Valley of Heart s Delight Countless of the wells were decommissioned decades ago before being developed over The one under Ridley and Shen s condo though had been forgotten What ensued was a bitter struggle between the couple and the HOA over the source of the trouble For several years the HOA maintained that its records displayed the water wasn t caused by a well but instead was due to a high ground water table Meanwhile foul odors flooded the condo and mold grew as a sump pump that Ridley installed tried to keep up dumping to galloons of water a day into the yard At trial Moritz the former HOA president testified that he falsely claimed there wasn t mold in the condo when he communicated Ridley that the condo was habitable SANTA CLARA CA - JANUARY A sump pump works overtime under the floor boards of Doug Ridley and Sherry Shen's home in Santa Clara Calif Wednesday January pumping out water from a sinkhole that possibly developed on the site of an old abandoned well from s Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group SANTA CLARA CA - JANUARY Doug Ridley and Sherry Shen are fighting their homeowner's association in court over a sinkhole that has opened up under their home in Santa Clara Calif possibly due to a leaking s-era well They survey the site Wednesday January Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group Doug Ridley left greets his attorneys Terence O'Hara second from left and Mary Ann O Hara right along with his wife Sherry Shen center in their condominium on Tuesday March in Santa Clara Calif The couple was just awarded million after a years long court battle over an abandoned artesian well under their home Aric Crabb Bay Area News Group SANTA CLARA CA - JANUARY A warning sign is posted to the front door of Doug Ridley and Sherry Shen's home in Santa Clara Calif where a sinkhole possibly caused by a leaking 's-era well opened underneath it Wednesday January Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group Doug Ridley left and his wife Sherry Shen right stand a room of their condominium on Tuesday March in Santa Clara Calif The couple was just awarded million after a years long court battle over an abandoned artesian well under their home Aric Crabb Bay Area News Group SANTA CLARA CA - JANUARY Diverted water flows into ivy after being pumped out of a sinkhole in the home of Doug Ridley and Sherry Shen in Santa Clara Calif Wednesday January The retired couple is fighting their home owner association over damage they say is caused from the activity of an old abandoned well from s Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group Show Caption of SANTA CLARA CA - JANUARY A sump pump works overtime under the floor boards of Doug Ridley and Sherry Shen's home in Santa Clara Calif Wednesday January pumping out water from a sinkhole that possibly developed on the site of an old abandoned well from s Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group Expand The ground under the crawl space in the living room eventually collapsed into a sinkhole which was discovered in September Several months later in January of the HOA eventually cut a hole in the floor above the sinkhole a suggestion they had received two years prior and saw the bubbling hole had no discernible bottom according to court documents The well was destroyed the following month and the hole in the living room floor was closed But five years later the condo remains uninhabitable as the HOA has appealed an injunction ordering them to complete the construction work A judge with the Sixth District Court of Appeal is expected to hear the matter next month Ridley and Shen have yet to see the million in damages that the HOA and Moritz owe them and the O Haras recognize that the million they re due is unlikely to hit their bank account anytime soon In an interview at the Santa Clara condo Terence O Hara disclosed he knew early on that the episode was likely to consume a lot of money and information In the beginning Ridley petitioned him just how far they d be willing to take the development if the HOA continued denying responsibility The O Haras are all in Terence stated he described Ridley What that means is we re going to take it all the way no matter what Over the last seven years the O Haras and various of their colleagues who helped along the way have spent upwards of billable hours on the matter But the actual number is likely much higher We re out for dinner we re talking about the incident We re watching TV we re talking about the episode We re driving up to see our new grandson we re talking about the affair Terence declared We don t bill for any of that time Really the amount of hours and thought devoted to this are -to- more than what we submitted to the court Mary Ann O Hara revealed that she s hopeful they can come to a mediation with the HOA without having to fight any further I hope they pay the judgement fleetly she commented I hope that maybe this affair will lead to selected changes in the laws which would make it easier for homeowners to have the homeowners association take care of what they re supposed to take care of promptly It s unclear how the HOA which oversees more than condos in Rancho Palma Grande will find the money to pay Ridley Shen and the O Haras The million is accruing interest each month and Terence disclosed that it s likely the HOA could owe more in attorneys fees through the appeals process Bobby Dale Sims Jr and John Hill attorneys for the HOA and Moritz did not respond to a request for comment In a court filing though the lawyers stated that the HOA is insured by Philadelphia Insurance under a approach that has a million limit The approach however doesn t cover the cost of attorney s fees or expenses that stem from the abatement therapy or remediation of fungi or bacteria Terence credits much of their success in the situation to Mary Ann who he called one of the best lawyers around He describes himself as the hammer a more rough and tumble attorney who made his name fighting construction cases Mary Ann he disclosed is more of a scalpel in their legal duo with the ability to dig through documents with a fine tooth comb and untangle fraud Mary Ann can put on all the hats and that s rare Terence stated That s nice revealed Mary Ann showing pleasure at her husband s compliment We are a good association