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RMS COURT REPORTING SERVICE - (949) 859-0787
(CROSSLEY)
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF ORANGE MAHMOOD REZAI, ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) vs. ) Case No. ) 30-2013-00686136- HARBOR POINTE-NEWPORT OWNERS ) CU-OR-CJC ASSOCIATION, a Nonprofit Mutual ) Benefit Corporation, MICHAEL ) CROSSLEY, CONNIE MORRIS, ) GEORGIA W. HICKINGBOTHAM, ) HOUSHANG KHADEMI, and DOES 1-10 ) INCLUSIVE, ) ) Defendants. ) ________________________________) Deposition of: MICHAEL CROSSLEY Date and time: Friday, August 29, 2014, 10:08 a.m. Location: 30011 Ivy Glenn, Suite 121
Laguna Niguel, California 92677 Reporter: Roxann M. Strid, CSR Certificate No. 4842
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RMS COURT REPORTING SERVICE - (949) 859-0787
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Deposition of MICHAEL CROSSLEY, taken before Roxann M. Strid, Certified Shorthand Reporter, Certificate No. 4842, with principal office in the County of Orange, commencing at 10:08 a.m., Friday, August 29, 2014, at the Law Office of Tracy Ettinghoff, located at 30011 Ivy Glenn, Suite 121, Laguna Niguel, California. APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL: For the Plaintiff: LAW OFFICE OF TRACY ETTINGHOFF Attorneys at Law
BY: TRACY ETTINGHOFF, ESQ. 30011 Ivy Glenn
Suite 121 Laguna Niguel, California 92677 (949) 363-5573
For the Defendant Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association: HAIGHT BROWN & BONESTEEL LLP Attorneys at Law BY: CHRISTOPHER KENDRICK, ESQ. 555 South Flower Street Forty-Fifth Floor Los Angeles, California 90071
(213) 542-8000
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RMS COURT REPORTING SERVICE - (949) 859-0787
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APPEARANCES (CONTINUED): For the Defendants Georgia W. Hickingbotham and
Houshang Khademi: THE NAPOLES LAW FIRM Attorneys at Law BY: STEVEN R. NAPOLES, ESQ. 120 Vantis Suite 300
Aliso Viejo, California 92656 (949) 540-6767
For the Defendant Michael Crossley: LITCHFIELD CAVO LLP Attorneys at Law BY: MARK K. WORTHGE, ESQ. 251 South Lake Avenue Suite 750 Pasadena, California 91101-3003 (626) 683-1100
ALSO PRESENT: Mahmood Rezai Barbara Cummings
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RMS COURT REPORTING SERVICE - (949) 859-0787
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I N D E X Witness: MICHAEL CROSSLEY Examination: Page BY MR. ETTINGHOFF ----------------------------------- 9 E X H I B I T S Description Page 1 Map of Harbor Point, one page 24 2 Property profile of Harbor Pointe Drive, 25 Corona Del Mar, CA 92625-1332, Orange County, three pages 3 Color photograph dated 3-11-86, one page 30 4 Color photograph dated 3-11-86, one page 32 5 Color photograph dated 7-21-1987, one page 35 6 Color photograph dated 12-20-90, one page 39 7 Landscape plan, four pages 45 8 Color photograph of sales brochure, marked 54 "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0112, one page 9 Photograph, marked "Confidential, 56 Bates-stamped MC0106, one page 10 Letter from CMC association management 62 dated February 12, 2013, addressed to Michael Crossley, marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0073, one page 11 Color photograph dated February 25, 2013, 64 entitled "Trimmings from trees bordering 3 Harbor Pointe", marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0057, one page
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RMS COURT REPORTING SERVICE - (949) 859-0787
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E X H I B I T S (CONTINUED) Description Page 12 Letter from CMC association management 66 dated April 29, 2013, entitled "2nd Notice of Violation", addressed to Michael Crossley, marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0075, one page 13 Color photograph dated May 7, 2013, 71 entitled "Podacarpis and ficus trimmings", marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped , MC0060, one page 14 Color photograph dated May 7, 2013, 73 entitled "Podacarpis halfway through trimming", marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0059, one page 15 Color photograph dated May 7, 2013, 74 entitled "Ficus and palm fronds on driveway", marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0058, one page 16 Color photograph dated May 18, 2013, 75 entitled "More ficus trimming", marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0061, one page 17 Letter from CMC Community Management 77 Company dated May 20, 2013, entitled "Hearing Notice", addressed to Michael Crossley, marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0076, one page 18 Color photograph dated May 27, 2013, 79 entitled "Second ficus uprooted", marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0062, one page 19 Color photograph dated May 29, 2013, 82 entitled "Second ficus uprooted", marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0063, one page
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E X H I B I T S (CONTINUED) Description Page 20 Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association 84
Board Of Directors Meeting, Executive Session Minutes, June 4, 2013, Bates-stamped HPNOA 0000028 through HPNOA 0000029, two pages 21 Letter from Mike Crossley, dated 91 August 24, 2013, "Dear Homeowners,", marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0016, one page 22 Letter entitled "HOMEOWNERS ALERT", marked 92 "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0017, one page 23 Notice to All Homeowners at Harbor Pointe, 96 marked "Confidential" and Bates-stamped MC0031, one page 24 Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association 111 Board Of Directors Meeting, General Session Minutes, December 3, 2013, Bates-stamped HPNOA 0000030 through HPNOA 0000033, four pages
25 Record of Disapproval and Censure of 132 Board Member, General Meeting of Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association, December 3rd, 2013, one page 26 Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association 146 Request For Variance, one page 27 Recorded Agreement For Landscaping 153 Variance, "Recording Requests By And When Recorded Return To: Michael Crossley", dated 12/11/13, six pages
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E X H I B I T S (CONTINUED) Description Page 28 Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association, 157 December 18, 2013, Proposed Amendment To The CC&R'S To Except And Exclude Palms From The Ridge Line Height Limitation, two pages 29 Gmail dated Wed. Jan 8, 2014 at 5:35 PM 169 from "nragenovich@regentcmc.com", "To: Crossley Mike", one page 30 Gmail dated Tue. Jan 14, 2014 At 11:11 AM 178
from Marshall Freedman, "To: Adams, William", one page 31 Gmail dated Thu. Jan 16, 2014 at 2:01 PM 185 from "nragenovich@regentcmc.com", "To: Connie Morris, Michael Crossly, Mahmood Rezai", one page 32 Attention Homeowners of Harbor 187 Pointe-Newport Owners Association: Special Meeting of the Board of Directors, Thursday, January 23, 2014, 5:00 PM at 25 Harbor Pointe, one page 33 Harbor Point - Newport Owners Association 188 Ballot for Amendment, Meeting of the Membership, January 23, 2014, Minutes, Bates-stamped HPNOA 0000034 through HPNOA 0000035, two pages 34 Photocopy of envelopes for two ballots 192 from Stan Gribble and Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association, marked "Confidential", Bates-stamped MC0087, one page
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E X H I B I T S (CONTINUED) Description Page 35 Amendment to Sections 9.01 and 9.02 of 194 the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions of Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Association, "Recording Requests By And When Recorded Return To: Harbor Pointe-Newport Owners Assn.", dated 1/27/14, five pages INFORMATION REQUESTED: QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERED: Page Line Page Line (None) 104 6 140 10
NOTATIONS FOR COUNSEL Page Line (None)
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RMS COURT REPORTING SERVICE - (949) 859-0787
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LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIFORNIA - FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014 10:08 A.M.
MICHAEL CROSSLEY
called as a witness, and having been first duly sworn by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, was examined and testified as follows:
EXAMINATION BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Mr. Crossley, my name is Tracy Ettinghoff andwe're here to take your deposition today.
Have you ever had your deposition taken before?A Yes.Q Okay. I'm just going to go over the basic
ground rules. The court reporter seated to my righthere is going to take down everything that we say duringthe deposition and when we're done, she's going totranscribe it into a booklet and you'll be able toreview that booklet and make sure that the transcriptionof what you said is accurate, okay?
A Hm-hmmn.Q I don't want you to guess at any of your
answers. If you don't understand my question, tell methat you don't understand it, because I want to make
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sure we have a clear record, okay?A Sounds good.Q All right. And when you answer questions, you
have to answer audibly, because if you shake your head"yes" or "no", even though I might understand what youmean, the court reporter won't be able to transcribe it,okay?
A Yes.Q You are testifying under oath. It's the same
type of oath that you would testify under if you weretestifying in court, okay?
A Yes.Q And I want to caution you that if you answer
any of the questions today and if you change your answerat the trial or in the deposition transcript after youreview it, any of the attorneys at the trial couldcomment upon, you know, your changes because you'reunder oath today; do you understand that?
A Yes.Q Okay. Let's go over some background
information.What kind of education do you have? Do you
have a college degree?A To college.Q Which college did you attend?
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RMS COURT REPORTING SERVICE - (949) 859-0787
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A Orange Coast College, Saddleback College, UCI,UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton.
THE REPORTER: One more time.MR. WORTHGE: See, the most important person in
the room here is the court reporter -- THE WITNESS: Oh, yeah. Okay. MR. WORTHGE: -- not you, not you. Sorry about
that. THE WITNESS: Saddleback College, start there.
Orange Coast College. Oh, College of the Desert, UCI,UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q When were you at UC Santa Barbara? That's myalma mater.
A Oh, really. I think it was '76. Q That's just about the time when I -- A Went through a summer session there.Q Oh, okay. I graduated from UCSB, but I can't
remember the date now, so -- but I was there during theVietnam war.
Were you there during the Vietnam war?A Right after that.
Were you there when they burned the bank?Q I was there right after that.A Yeah, same thing.
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MR. WORTHGE: Yeah, fun place.THE WITNESS: Hm-hmmn.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q And did you receive any degrees from -- A No. Q -- any of these colleges?A No, from -- I believe -- no, I'd say, I don't
think I have any A.A. degree there. I don't know ifthey sent me one or not, but no.
Q Okay. And do you have any -- so you have nocollege degrees then?
A No.Q All right. A A few too many and just short.Q Do you have any type of legal background?A No.Q Do you have any professional licenses?A Such as?Q Real estate license, a broker's license.A Contractor's license, been through real estate.Q I'm sorry. Say that again. You have a
contractor's license?A I have a contractor's license.Q In California? A 402250.
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Q 402 -- A Inactive.Q Oh, okay. A 2250.Q 2250 -- that's a contractor's license?A Yes.Q And when did you get that?A '79, '80, unsure.Q And what other type of license did you say you
have?A Nothing that would -- as far as real estate, I
have a scuba instructor's license --Q Okay.A -- things like that.
MR. WORTHGE: Pilot's license.THE WITNESS: Maybe a pilot's license.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q And are you currently employed?A Self-employed.Q And what type of business are you employed in?A Real estate.Q What's the name of the business?A We call it Tempest. That is what our dba is,
Tempest Equities.Q Tempest Equities?
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A Hm-hmmn. Q That's a "yes"?A Yes.Q I'm sorry. Don't -- when you say "hm-hmmn",
she can't really --A Yes.Q -- interpret that.
Tempest Equities, okay. And where is that business located?
A Home.Q At your home?A Yes.Q And what does that business do?A We have property. We manage it.Q The Tempest Equities owns properties and you
are the manager of those properties?A Correct.Q So those are rental properties then or what?A Correct.Q Okay. And have you ever been employed as a
property manager for anybody else other than --A No.Q -- yourself? A Okay.Q Make sure I finish my question before you
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answer it --A Hm-hmmn.Q -- okay, so she can get everything down.
Have you ever not been self-employed; in otherwords, have you ever been employed by somebody else?
A Oh, sure.Q Okay. Why don't you just briefly give me a
run-down of some of your employment.A Palm Springs Plumbing, Palm Springs Ice Skating
Rink. I mean, how far do you want to go back?Q Well --
MR. WORTHGE: How about the most recent jobwhere you worked. BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Yeah, the most recent before you wereself-employed.
A That would probably be Club Med.Q Club Med, but I mean, they're all over the
world, so -- A You mean the particular resort?Q Yeah, did you work in a resort or what?A Yes. Q Which resort did you work at? A Playa Blanca, Cancun. Q Okay.
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A Tahiti.Q And you were a scuba instructor there or what?A Sailing and scuba.Q And what did you do before then?A As far as jobs go?Q Yes. Yes, sir.A I've worked in MacGregory Yachts.Q Okay. A That's about it; I mean, I worked construction
in certain locations, but I couldn't tell you the namesof the people I worked for now, it's been so long.
Q Were you ever a real estate developer?A I built a home out in Palm Desert. We've done
projects for ourselves.Q Have you ever done any projects that involved
CC&R's?A I've been on boards for CC&R's for quite a few
years with homeowner associations.Q Right. A I've been associating with CC&R's for quite a
few years.Q Are you currently on any of those -- A Yes.Q -- boards, other than the --A Yes.
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Q -- Harbor-Pointe Newport? THE REPORTER: Excuse me. You need to let him
finish his -- THE WITNESS: Okay. THE REPORTER: -- question, because you're
stepping on the very end -- THE WITNESS: Okay. THE REPORTER: -- of his question and I can't
take two of you at the same time. THE WITNESS: Okay.THE REPORTER: Thank you.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Okay. Why don't you tell me the names of the
other homeowners associations that you are on the boardfor at the current time.
A We have Mesa Business Center.Q Where's that located?A Pomona and 17th Street.Q That's in Costa Mesa?
MR. WORTHGE: Just real quick here, he wasasking about residential boards, but if you're asking -- responding of all the boards you're on, that'sprobably --
THE WITNESS: Ahhh. MR. WORTHGE: He'll get there anyway --
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THE WITNESS: Okay. MR. WORTHGE: -- so --THE WITNESS: Yeah, I was just starting with
that. Then there's Seashore Townhomes.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Well, wait. Let me go back to Mesa -- A Okay. Q -- Business Center.
What city is that located in?A Costa Mesa.Q Okay. And that's property that -- do you own
that property or --A I have a unit in that property.Q And you sit on that, and that is a commercial
property?A It's -- they're condos, business condos for
various businesses. I think there's a hundred unitsbasically.
Q And you're on the board of that association,and what is your position on that board?
A Member at-large.Q Okay. Let's go to the next one that you were
going to tell me about.A Seashore Townhomes.Q Seashore Townhomes?
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A Hm-hmmn.Q Where is that located in?A Newport Beach.Q And do you own a unit at Seashore Townhomes?A Yes.Q And are you an officer of that association?A Yes.Q What's your position?A Member at-large again.Q Does Seashore Townhomes in Newport Beach, do
they have any view protections in their CC&R's?A I would have to see the CC&R's to be exact on
that.Q You haven't had any view issues then come up on
that board?A Yes, we have.Q What kind of view issues did you have on that
board?A Trees.Q Trees that were blocking other people's views?A Hm-hmmn.Q That's a "yes"?A Yes. Q Okay. A Sorry.
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Q And what did the board decide to do about thatissue?
MR. WORTHGE: Is that too general of aquestion?
THE WITNESS: Yeah, it really kind of is, yeah.MR. WORTHGE: And then, there may be more than
one the reason I'm asking, so --BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q I don't know. Was there a lawsuit or was itjust an architectural issue?
A No, just we've had homeowner complaints atspecific times that we have taken care of by trimmingor, you know, saying "This is the way it is."
Q Okay. There's never been a lawsuit then overthe --
A No. Q -- views?A No. Q Okay. A A lawsuit is a rare thing, as far as I'm
concerned, and with homeowners associations, we've nothad many in 15 years of being on a board.
Q Okay. And why do you think that is?A I can't answer.
MR. WORTHGE: Objection, calls for a legal
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conclusion.THE WITNESS: Yeah, can't answer that.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q All right. Let's see. So we've talked about
Mesa Business Center and Seashore Townhomes. Any other associations that you're on the
board?A No.Q Have you ever been on the board of directors of
any other homeowners association, other than those two?A No.Q And how long have you been on the
Seashore Townhomes board?A Probably off and on over 20 years.Q And is the property that you own there a
vacation home or is it a rental property?A It is -- used to be my primary residence --Q Okay. A -- and now it is a satellite home. It's not
either of what you're asking.Q And how long have you been on the board at
Mesa Business Center?A 15 years, give or take.Q Does Mesa Business Center, do they have any
view issues there?
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A No.Q What is your current address?A 1 Harbor Pointe.Q And how long have you lived there?A A little over two-and-a-half years. I don't
know the exact date.Q Who did you buy it from?A Bought it from the real estate company
from -- Frank Hickingbotham owned it before.Q So you bought it from Frank Hickingbotham or --A Well, we -- we worked with the real estate
company. We never had direct association with theowner.
Q You mean you bought it through a realtor?A Right.Q But the seller was Frank Hickingbotham?A Hm-hmmn.Q That's a "yes"?A Frank and Georgia, yes.Q And at the current time, are there any palm
trees on your property?A Yes.Q How many palm trees are there?A Unknown.Q Do you know who planted those palm trees?
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A No.Q I know your counsel has produced some photos
just recently and I understand that these may be photosof the Harbor Pointe community when it was originallydeveloped.
First of all, can I ask you where you got thesephotos from?
A From an aerial photography company.Q What's the name of that company?A Is that something I need to tell him or does it
matter?MR. WORTHGE: Yeah.THE WITNESS: Okay. Aerial Eye.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q How do you spell that? Aerial -- A I have no idea, Aerial Eye.Q Aerial Eye like -- A Yeah, E-y-e, I imagine.Q Okay. A Yes. Q And do you know where they're located?A I believe Tehachapi.Q And you basically told them the coordinates of
where you wanted to look for and they found these photosfor you?
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A We contacted them and say, "We're in thisassociation next to Fashion Island and do you have anyphotographs of this particular area?", and that's thebest they -- after researching, that's the best theycould come up with.
Q And how long ago were you able to obtain thesephotographs?
A Boy, not that long ago; a couple of months.(Exhibit 1 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Okay. Let's see. Before we go into the
photos --A Hm-hmmn.Q -- let's mark this as Exhibit 1 and I'm going
to ask you to take a look at that.A Hm-hmmn.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Here's an extra copy of that.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q This is a diagram of the Harbor Pointecommunity where you live, correct?
A Appears to be.Q Yes, and you lived at number 1, right here,
(indicating)?
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A Correct.MR. ETTINGHOFF: So the next thing I want to
do, too, let's mark this as Exhibit number 2.(Exhibit 2 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q This is a property profile of your property. I
just printed it for the purpose of determining when itwas originally sold, and according to the propertyprofile, it looks like it was originally sold by The Fieldstone Company on August 14th, 1987, to a Gene Hamrick; do you see that --
A Let's see here.Q -- on the second page?A Second page?Q Yes.A Showing the model, I see that. What's
the -- maybe if you can point out the Gene part. Idon't --
Q Right here, (indicating). A Okay.Q I'm going to circle it, (indicating).A Okay.Q First of all, do you know Gene Hamrick?
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A Never heard the name.Q Have you ever spoken to him?A Never heard the name; never spoken to him.Q Also, according to this property profile, when
you purchased the property, it looks like you purchasedit in January of 2011; does that sound correct?
A Sounds good, yes.Q And shows that the seller was Ocean Sunset
Trust; do you see that?A Hm-hmmn.Q That's a "yes"?A That's a yes. I see that here.Q Who is Ocean Sunset Trust? Are the
Hickingbothams involved with Ocean Sunset Trust?MR. WORTHGE: If you know.THE WITNESS: I -- you know, I wouldn't say I
know. No, I don't know anything about that, who'sinvolved in it.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Well, when you said that you bought theproperty from Frank Hickingbotham --
A Uh-huh.Q -- why did you -- or what did you base that on?A Just from what we've talked about and in the
past with Frank, yeah.
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Q Did he tell you that he was the seller of theproperty that you bought?
A That's what I was understanding, yes.Q Did he sign the sales documents and the
Grant Deed and so forth?A You know, I can't tell you if he did or not.
I'd have to look through my papers on that.Q But your understanding is that he was somehow
involved or that he owned that --A Yes.Q -- property at 1 Harbor Pointe for a while?A Hm-hmmn, yes.Q Have you ever talked to Frank Hickingbotham
about any of the trees on your property about whoplanted them?
A Yes.Q What did he say?A They were there, I believe, when he purchased
it.Q Oh, okay. But did he tell you whether or not
he knows who planted them?A He does not know. Q Okay. A As far as I know, he does not know.Q Okay.
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A I can't be sure if he knows or not.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. I don't know if I --
did I say we were going to mark this as Exhibit 2?MR. WORTHGE: I think you said that. MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah, we're going to mark this
as Exhibit 2, so you can hold onto that, if you want.MR. WORTHGE: Actually, these are going to go
to the court reporter.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah, those are going to the
court reporter.THE WITNESS: Okay. Oh.MR. WORTHGE: So we have -- her job is at the
end of this deposition not -- THE WITNESS: Okay. MR. WORTHGE: -- to let any of us leave until
she has all these documents.THE WITNESS: Okay. So I can keep these here
for now then? BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Yeah, you can just --A Okay. Q -- for reference, because I'm going to be
asking you some questions about some dates that are onsome --
A Sure.
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Q -- photos, okay?Now, let's see. Let's mark this as Exhibit
number -- these are -- by the way, let's let the recordreflect that your counsel has agreed to produce thesephotos this morning and they look like they're colorcopies.
So is it okay for me to mark these as originalexhibits?
A Sure.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. in other words, you can
reproduce these, right?MR. WORTHGE: Right, and they already are in
black and whites. MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah. MR. WORTHGE: So the prior production of
documents which you requested that we produce colorcopies, we said we'd try to find them and we dideventually locate those and brought them here today foryou.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. So let's just mark --MR. WORTHGE: You may just want to reference
the black and white through the Bates number and havethe witness confirm that that's the same photo, becauseI believe it's --
MR. ETTINGHOFF: I've got the black and whites
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also.MR. WORTHGE: Yeah, okay.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Okay. Let's start. There's a handwriting on
the bottom left-hand corner that says March 11, 1986.A Correct.Q Who wrote that on there?A Barbara did.Q And how do you know that that was the date that
this was taken?A Because Aerial Eye copyrights and documents the
date that they were taken.Q So that information was provided to you?A Yes.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: So let's mark this photo asExhibit number 3 then.
(Exhibit 3 was marked for identificationby the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q And I take it, this is a photo showing your
house; is that correct?A Correct.Q All right. And so as of March 1986, it appears
that there was no trees planted yet on your property; is
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that --A On my property, no; on the community property,
yes.Q And these are the palm trees planted near
the --A Mailboxes.Q -- Mailboxes?A Correct.Q So this shows that as of March 1986 the
developer of Harbor Pointe had already planted palmtrees in the common area?
A Yes.Q Is this a corner over here part of the common
area of Harbor Pointe?A Yes.Q And so the area that is -- looks like a slope
that is mostly green then, does the HarborPointe-Newport Homeowners Association maintain thatslope?
A Yes.MR. WORTHGE: Let's just make sure it's clear
on the record. Do you know what roadway this is, (indicating)?THE WITNESS: San Miguel, I --MR. WORTHGE: Okay. So you've been indicating
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that the green area to the south --THE WITNESS: I guess that'd be the south.MR. WORTHGE: So this is San Miguel,
(indicating)? THE WITNESS: No, this is MacArthur,
(indicating).MR. WORTHGE: Okay. So -- THE WITNESS: San Miguel, (indicating). MR. WORTHGE: -- this is San Miguel which is -- THE WITNESS: Correct. MR. WORTHGE: -- the intersection of the
"V" -- THE WITNESS: Hm-hmmn. MR. WORTHGE: -- and so this green area that
you've been pointing to is kind of the end of thetriangle, (indicating)?
THE WITNESS: Correct. MR. WORTHGE: Okay. THE WITNESS: Yeah. MR. WORTHGE: Okay. THE WITNESS: South-facing.MR. WORTHGE: All right.(Exhibit 4 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
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BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q All right. The next photograph appears to have
the same date, and we'll mark this one as number 4, andagain this photo has a date on it of March 11, 1986.
I'll ask you where that date came from.A Again, from the company that took the
photograph. They have -- they have to date the datethey take this picture.
Q And this is showing the other half ofHarbor Pointe-Newport, correct?
A Correct, the entranceway and the upper streets.Q Right. So this is the entranceway and it looks
like there were some palm trees --A Correct.Q -- already planted by the developer on that
date?A Correct.Q And do you -- by the way, let me ask you a
couple questions. Is this a color copy from a photo that's been
printed on real photo paper or what?A 8-by-10, yeah, correct.Q So this company that you bought these
photographs from, they provided you with 8-by-10 colorphotos?
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A Correct.Q And then you put those on a color copy machine
and you copied them?A Correct.Q Did they give you the digital files, too?A No.Q And is this the actual size that they produced
the photos to you in, 8-by-10?A Yes.Q Have you done any analysis of these photographs
to determine what some of these things are in thephotos? For instance, on the street up where Mr. Rezailives, it looks like there's some -- I don't know ifthose are poles or trees or what.
A They appear to be power poles. I have not doneany analyzation.
Q Okay. A All I know is that it shows the palm trees were
planted at that particular time.Q Do you believe it shows that there's any palm
trees planted on Mr. Rezai's lot?A No.Q But it appears there may be some palm trees
planted on Mr. Khademi's lot, correct?A Yes.
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Q So it looks like there may be some palm treesin the front of Mr. Khademi's yard?
A Yes.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. The next one that we'll
mark, we'll mark as number -- let's see, number 4?MR. KENDRICK: That one was 4.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. We'll mark this one as
5. (Exhibit 5 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q It appears to be dated July 21st 1987?A Correct.Q And that date came from the aerial company that
you got this photo from?A Correct.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: And by the way, I think I havesome extra copies of these, if you guys want them.
MR. KENDRICK: No thanks -- MR. ETTINGHOFF: You don't? MR. KENDRICK: -- if you don't mind me looking
over Mark's shoulder here.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q This appears to be a photo that shows the
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entire project at Harbor Pointe, correct?A Appears, yes.Q And according to the date of it, it's July 1st,
1987, so that's about three weeks before the developersold your house to the original owner, correct?
A If you say so.Q And this -- it doesn't appear that there's any
trees on your lot at that date, correct?A Not yet, no.Q And can you tell on this photo or have you
analyzed it to determine whether there are any palmtrees planted on the Hickingbotham property at number7 Harbor Pointe?
A I don't know. All I can see is there are palmtrees in Stanley's place and at the entranceways and inthe common areas.
Q Stanley Gribble you're talking about?A Stanley and Hans' down here, (indicating). You
can see those in the picture, but -- Q You're talking about these palm trees -- A Yes, those here, (indicating).Q -- right here, (indicating)?A Yeah.Q And did the developer put these pools in?A I have no idea.
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Q Okay. Do you know the dates that these housesappear they were sold?
A No idea.MR. NAPOLES: Tracy, belatedly, you might want
to clean -- when you referenced the Hickingbothamproperty, which property you're talking about, becauseyou already established at one point they own more thanone.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Well, I'm talking about theirproperty at 7 Harbor Pointe.
MR. NAPOLES: Just for a clear record is whatI'm talking about.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q So this shows that as of July 21st, 1987, therewas some palm trees on Stan Gribble's property, but Idon't know. I'm not sure if I have a property profilefor that. I'm not sure what the date is of originalsale of that one, though, is, so --
MR. WORTHGE: The document might as well speakfor themself.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q And do you see any palm trees on any otherproperties other than Stan Gribble's and onHans Khademi's?
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A Not with this picture. My eyesight isn't allthat good. I'd have to get my magnifying and myglasses.
Q Is the original photograph that this was copiedfrom, is it better quality than this picture?
A I believe so.Q And you have the original of that?A Yes.Q Do you know if that company that sold you this,
do they have the -- did they offer you to sell you theactual digital files or --
A No.Q -- maybe they're not digital; I don't know.A No, they're very protective of their files. We
had a hard time getting these. Q Oh, okay. A They're very protective, yeah.Q So they won't give you the negative or the
digital?A No. Oh, no.Q That's all they will give you is a color print
of the photos?A They will sell you a print, yeah.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: And next in line then will bethis one. We'll mark this one as number 6.
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(Exhibit 6 was marked for identificationby the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q This photo appears to be taken at almost the
same location as Exhibit number 5 and it has a date onit of December 20th, 1990.
Again, is that a date that was provided to youby the seller --
A Yes. Q -- of the photo?
MR. KENDRICK: Yes, I just wanted to see whatwas referenced, (indicating). BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Okay. So this photo appears to show variouspalm trees at different locations in the community. Iguess we would have to go search the --
A Correct.Q -- the deeds on each property to see when they
were originally sold, right?A Hm-hmmn.Q Okay. Other than these photographs that you
produced to us today, and I know there's a couple otherblack and white ones, are you aware of any evidenceabout what trees were planted by The Fieldstone Company
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before the lots were sold?A There's one more picture, I believe, of
Connie's house, but it doesn't really show much in palmtrees. It shows -- I forgot what kind of trees theyare. I know they're not Robelinis, but they'reconsistent through the homeowners association.
Q What was the date? Is that one of the pictureswe have?
A It's one of the -- I believe so. I believeit's at --
Q Well, we'll go through --A Yeah.Q -- all of these, but have you spoken to anybody
that used to work at The Fieldstone Company?A Yes.Q Who did you speak to?A Have no idea, no. We called Fieldstone. We
explained who we are, what we were after. They told usthey had nothing in their files of anything anymore.They got rid of it all.
Q Okay. So you didn't get information fromanybody --
A No. Q -- at Fieldstone?A I wish we could have; we did not.
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Q But have you tried to get any information fromanybody else like the City of --
A Yes.Q -- Corona Del Mar or the City of Newport Beach
or anything?A City of Newport Beach, we have the landscaping
plans for the original landscaping plans on the project.Q And can you tell me, do you have those in your
possession?A No, I do not. They -- I have them at my house,
yes.Q Okay. So you've --A Yeah.Q -- copied them from the city then?A You go to the city and you ask them and they
make a copy for you.Q Those are landscape plans that were submitted
by The Fieldstone Company?A Correct.Q Can you tell me what those landscape plans
show, if you remember?A It shows the community landscaping, including
the palm trees and the size and what type of plantsthroughout the community that they were going --planning on putting in. Whether the city held to it
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exactly, I don't know.Q But it's only on the common areas; they're not
on individual lots?A Only on -- yes. Q What generally does it show then? Does it show
these palm trees in the entranceway then?A Correct.Q And the palm trees near the mailbox?A Correct.Q Anything else?A It may show these up here, (indicating). I
can't be sure. They're at the city. It's easy to pickup the plan and see what they have or I can bring minedown.
Q Okay. MR. WORTHGE: You know, I may have a set in my
car.THE WITNESS: Hm-hmmn.MR. WORTHGE: If you want to take a quick
break, I can -- THE WITNESS: Sure. MR. WORTHGE: -- go check and that way we won't
be speculating -- THE WITNESS: Yeah. MR. WORTHGE: -- what's where --
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THE WITNESS: Yeah, because I have no idea.MR. WORTHGE: -- if you want, or we can just
wait.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. Well, why don't you get
them, because I think that was one of the documents weasked to be produced at the deposition was any documentsyou have regarding the trees that show what this --
MR. WORTHGE: I don't know if you did or not,but if I have them --
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah, let's -- MR. WORTHGE: -- I'll bring them in.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Let's go off the record for a
minute.THE WITNESS: Okay.MR. WORTHGE: Okay. So we'll take about ten
minutes or something.THE WITNESS: Okay. MR. ETTINGHOFF: Sure.(Recess from 10:38 a.m. to 10:54 a.m.)THE REPORTER: Back on the record?MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah, let's go back on the
record. Is everybody ready to go back on the record?MR. KENDRICK: Yeah.MR. WORTHGE: These are copies that we or you
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have from the city. You gave them to me?THE WITNESS: Yes.MR. WORTHGE: So you don't have them?THE WITNESS: Yeah. MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah, here's what -- so let's
go back off the record then.THE WITNESS: Okay. Off the record.(Discussion off the record).MR. ETTINGHOFF: Let's go back on the record.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q We'll mark this set. These are landscape plans
that Mr. Crossley has provided to us through his counselthat appear to be the original landscaping plans thatwere submitted by The Fieldstone Company to the City ofNewport Beach; is that where you got these?
A Correct, yes.Q And it looks like there's one, two, three, four
pages of this landscape plan. I'm not sure of thecorrect order.
MR. WORTHGE: Just there's a little block onthe bottom right corner, that if you can read it --
THE WITNESS: Yeah, I need -- that's -- myeyesight's so bad, I can't even --BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Makes it kind of hard.
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Can you tell, what was this?MR. WORTHGE: Well, it's obliterated with some
sticker. Why don't you just pick an order.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. It doesn't matter.MR. WORTHGE: There's a little coding over the
document, that usually it's "1 of 15" or "2 of 15", butsomeone put a sticker over it at the city.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. Let's mark this as --MR. KENDRICK: Tracy, this will be 7?MR. ETTINGHOFF: This is number 7.THE REPORTER: What was number 6? MR. ETTINGHOFF: 6 was a color photograph. Okay. We're marking what's been identified as
Exhibit number 7 now to this deposition then. (Exhibit 7 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Mr. Crossley, these are the plans that the
City of Newport Beach provided to you a copy of?A Yes.Q And when did you get these from the city?A I can't be sure; probably nine, ten months ago.
I'm not sure.Q And are these the actual pages that they
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provided to you right here that we're looking at?A I'm not sure.Q Or is that a copy then?A It may be a copy. Yeah, let's see what we've
got here.Q What was the size of the plans that they
actually provided to you?A This -- your plan legend is here and it tells
you what -- what you have, like a 60-inch box. I can'treally read that too well. I think it says 60-inch box,but --
Q Yeah.A -- those will probably be the palm trees.
Again, I'm unsure without my glasses and magnifying andyou have to do all that, and --
Q So did you at one point sit down and analyzethese plans then?
A Yes.Q Okay. Why don't you -- just based on your
analyzation of the plans, why don't you tell us what youbelieve they show.
A Again, without seeing this, I can't be sure,but it does show there are palm trees planted here, youknow, in the entryway and various spots in thecommunity. Whether they're, you know -- each circle has
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a designator and it goes back to the legend. It'spretty self-explanatory.
Q So to the best of your knowledge then, itshowed there were going to be palm trees planted in theentryway, right?
A Correct.Q And in the mailbox area?A Correct.Q But does it show any trees being planted on any
individual lots?A This is just a community plan submitted to the
city. Individual lots, they -- we couldn't get any.Q Okay. I believe this is Mr. Rezai's lot, lot
number 16; do you -- A Correct.Q -- do you see that?
Do you see that slope right there?A Correct.Q Is that slope maintained by the homeowners
association?A This is a very interesting situation we have
here.Q Why don't you tell me what you mean by that.
MR. WORTHGE: Well, let's make sure we knowwhat page we're referring to.
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MR. ETTINGHOFF: Well, you want to --MR. WORTHGE: Everything is Exhibit 7. MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. We'll number them. MR. WORTHGE: Why don't you put 7.1, 7.2, 3, 4
then.MR. ETTINGHOFF: We'll number them then.MR. WORTHGE: Here's 7.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. For the record, I'm
going to mark these four pages as 7, 7-1, 7-2, 7-3 and7-4. Okay.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Looking at what we've identified as page 7-2, Iwas referring to the slope area on lot 16 which is nowowned by Mr. Rezai and I'm --
A Accompanying lot 16, 'cause it's not lot 16.Q Oh, okay. I guess that's a good question
is -- my eyesight is so bad, I can't even see where thelot is either.
So these plants then are on a slope areathat --
A Correct.Q Is that slope area designated by the homeowners
association as common area?A It appears to be.Q Does the homeowners association maintain it?
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A I don't know. I would ask our landscape peopleif they do or not. Maybe Mr. Rezai can tell us what hedoes to it.
Q But you don't believe it's on lot 16, though?A Well, the problem with this layout here, you've
got -- this is something we may wish to look at.Q Let's look at the tract map. Does that show
lot 16 on there? Yeah, this shows lot 16. This is theactual tract map that was recorded.
So lot 16 is right here, (indicating), isn'tit?
A Here's probably the better example here,(indicating).
Q Okay. Yeah, let's -- looks like lot 16 goesall the way to the end where the curb is.
A So you see the confusion.Q Okay. So it's not clear to you then whether or
not the landscaped area near lot 16 on Exhibit 7-2 ispart of lot 16 or whether it's part of the common areaor whether the association is supposed to maintain it ornot?
A No, it's unclear to me.Q What about these other areas near
San Miguel Drive that are shown here, are thosemaintained by the homeowners association?
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A Yes.Q What about the ones near MacArthur Boulevard?A Yes.Q That's maintained by the association?A Yes.Q What about the ones that are backing up to the
nursery behind you, are those maintained by thehomeowners association --
A Yes.Q -- at the end of this cul-de-sac?A That would be 7.2?Q Yeah, it's 7.2.A Okay.Q So to the best of your knowledge, on
Exhibit 7.2, everything that is shown as landscaping onthis plan is maintained by the homeowners association,but you're unclear about the ones shown near lot 16?
A Correct.Q Also on Exhibit number 7.2, lot 9, I believe
that's the lot that Mr. Khademi owns, correct?A Appears to be.Q But it doesn't appear that there's any
landscaping shown on there, though.A There's no individual residence landscaping on
7.2 at all that I can see.
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Q Okay. So to the best of your knowledge then,7.2 only depicts the common areas that the developer wasplanning --
A Correct.Q -- for purposes of the city approval?
On Exhibit 7.4, there's kind of like aboomerang-shaped area there that looks like it haslandscaping on.
Does your homeowners association maintain thatarea?
A Yes.Q And what about the area near -- I'll call it
near the mailboxes, does your homeowners associationmaintain that area?
A That would be the lower mailbox. Yes, theytake care of that.
Q There's a lower and an upper?A Yes.Q Where's the upper one located?A Probably -- da-da-da. Right above the
Cape Court name, I believe.Q Oh, there's a mailbox up here on the street?A Yes.Q It's not shown on any of that?A It's not shown on that at all.
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MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. And then we're going tostipulate that this document will be returned to you, acopy of it or what? How do you --
MR. WORTHGE: Sure. I propose that the courtreporter take this, make a copy of these, this set ofplans; that the copy be attached as the actual Exhibit 7 --
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Oh, okay.MR. WORTHGE: -- 1 through 4, and that the
originals be sent with the original transcript to myoffice.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay.MR. WORTHGE: We'll talk about that at the end,
so we can return this back to Mr. Crossley.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. That's stipulated to.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Just a couple more questions then.
When you got these plans from the City ofNewport Beach, were they full size plans, like 24-by --
A No, they weren't. Q They were -- A They were larger than this somewhere, I
believe. Q Oh, okay. So this is actually --A Yeah.
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Q -- a reduced copy of them?A I believe so, yeah. It's been ten months. I'm
not sure and we've got -- as you can see, we have theother plans over here and I get confused.
Q And what department at the City ofNewport Beach did you obtain these from?
A Building department.Q The building department of the City of
Newport Beach?A Building and planning.Q Now, your project is located in the City of
Corona Del Mar, isn't it?A Hm-hmmn. Yes.Q Was the city handling the permits for that back
then?A Yes.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Let's mark this next exhibitthen as Exhibit number 8.
MR. KENDRICK: Pardon me, Counsel. Let me lookat Exhibit 7.
MR. WORTHGE: Do you want to attach the tractmap? You referenced them. I didn't know if it'simportant or not.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: I don't think I need to rightnow.
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MR. WORTHGE: I'll keep them handy just in caseyou change your mind.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah. There's Exhibit 8.(Exhibit 8 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q And Mr. Crossley, is this something that you
obtained, this Exhibit number 8?A I don't recall, but I would imagine. It looks
to be --Q Well, your counsel -- A -- an original, yeah.Q Well, your counsel produced it to me.A So yeah.Q Where did you get it from?A It looks to be an original sales brochure.Q Okay. And do you have --A Not sure.Q Do you have that sales brochure in your
possession?A No, I do not.Q Where did you get this from?A Unsure.Q Did you ask other homeowners in the community
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whether they had any original documents from thepurchase?
A I have in the past, yes.Q And was this one of the things that might have
been given to you?A It could be.Q Other than this, do you have any other
documents that show the placement of trees in thecommunity by the original developer?
A The only other items that we got werearchitectural sketches of extremely large trees next tothe homes, but nothing that was ever planted. It was Fieldstone. It was boilerplate from Fieldstonebasically. I don't know where they got it.
Q Okay. But you don't really know whether thosewere planted or not?
A No, they were not.Q Okay.
MR. WORTHGE: They were architectural concepttypes?
THE WITNESS: Yeah, exactly.MR. WORTHGE: Art sketches?THE WITNESS: Art sketches.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q And Exhibit 8 appears to show the project from
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an aerial view and there's only three houses built. Itlooks like number 8 is built. Your house is not builtyet, number 1. It appears to show some trees, but it'shard to see them.
A I wish I knew who took this picture; I don't.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. Let's go on to -- we'll
mark this as number 9.(Exhibit 9 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Actually, I happen to have a color photo of
that one to show you.A I think you do. I think I saw it in there.Q Well, I can't find a color photo of this, but
let's mark this as 9 then, and I'm going to ask youwhere this photograph came from.
A I believe this is a photograph from Mahmood'slot, lot number -- what is it -- 16.
Q This is a photograph from Mahmood's lot?A I believe so, yes.Q Oh, one of the photos that he produced?A I believe it is.Q Okay. A I think it's spectacular. The black and white
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doesn't do it justice.Q Yes.A I think the color is very nice.Q Then the next one I have here is -- let's see.
Is this a duplicate of -- well --A Yes.Q Is this a duplicate --A It is.Q -- of one of the other ones we already saw? Is
that this, (indicating)? Yeah, that's the same thing asthat. Yeah, that's the same picture it looks like. Iwon't bother with that one. So this one we're not goingto bother with.
MR. WORTHGE: Let's keep these in order.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Let's see. Do we already have that one incolor? Is that this one, (indicating)? Yeah, thatlooks like the same picture, just in black and white.So that one we won't bother with.
This one right here, do we have this one,(indicating)? Okay. That's that one, (indicating).
How about this one right here, do we have this,(indicating)?
A (Indicating). Q Okay. I'm not going to bother with that.
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Yeah, what about this one, (indicating)? Isthis something we already have?
MR. WORTHGE: These photographs, if this is inthe second disk, they may be actual blowups --
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah, this is the second disk.MR. WORTHGE: -- digitally blown up from these
prior ones.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. These are what you gave
me, but they're taken from the same photographs, though? MR. WORTHGE: I believe so.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Okay. Let me ask you just a general question,
Mr. Crossley: What your counsel has provided us withtoday is it looks like we've got four, four colorphotographs from the aerial photo. Is that how manyphotographs you bought from them?
A We have three. One of this is combined. Iforgot which one it is.
Is it this one or this one, (indicating)? Holdon.
MR. WORTHGE: Like a panorama?THE WITNESS: Yeah, if you take the border out
and I think you put those two together, you have onepicture, I believe.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
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Q Is that an enlargement of the actual photographthen?
A Yes.Q So what you're referring to is what we've
marked as Exhibits 3 and 4 then. That was taken from an8-by-10 photo that was given to you --
A I believe so, yes.Q -- and then you enlarged it?A Yes.Q So am I correct then that you only purchased
three 8-by-10 photos from this company?A Yes. Q Okay. A Four? We had four. Oh, that's -- they
probably broke that up into two. I have to go back andlook at it. We just -- you know, it's been awhileand --
Q Okay. A So --
MR. ETTINGHOFF: You said these are justblowups, right, of the same photos we've already gotmarked?
MR. WORTHGE: Yeah, you can probably match upthe locations.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Yeah, these are -- let's see.
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This goes to --MR. WORTHGE: They've got the same reddish, so
I'm going to guess it's this one right here,(indicating).
MR. ETTINGHOFF: No, I think it's this oneright here, (indicating).
MR. WORTHGE: Oh, yeah, you're right.MR. ETTINGHOFF: That's just a blowup of that,
right? Okay. I'm not going to mark that then.MR. WORTHGE: Yeah, you can see the quality
then is fading.MR. ETTINGHOFF: And this one then looks
like -- this looks like it's a blowup --MR. WORTHGE: Yeah. MR. ETTINGHOFF: -- of this one, (indicating),
right?MR. WORTHGE: Yeah.MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. Yeah, I'm not going to
use this one then. Put it right there.This one right here is a blowup of this I
think, (indicating), right?MR. WORTHGE: Yeah. MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. That one we already
have.This is just a blowup of this I think, right
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down in the corner, (indicating). Yeah, it looks likethe same like that right there, (indicating).
And this is a blowup of this, (indicating),right? Yeah, that's the same as that. Okay. So I'mnot going to bother marking all those.
THE WITNESS: You're going to be busy.MR. WORTHGE: I told you. She's not going to
let us out of the room until she has all of those.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Other than the photographs that we've looked attoday, are you aware of any other photographs that showwhat the trees were like when the developer originallysold the homes here?
A I believe Mahmood has some, but I don't haveany possession of anything, so --
Q Oh, of the -- my question to you -- listencarefully to my question: Are you aware of any otherphotos that depict what the trees were like when thedeveloper originally --
A Oh, no.Q -- sold the homes? A Absolutely not. Q Okay. These are all the photographs that -- A Yes.Q -- you're aware of?
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Let's start through this stack of documentsright here.
I'm going to mark the first letter as number -- are we on 9 or -- oh, wait. This is 9.
MR. KENDRICK: I think we have more. This willbe 10, I think.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: This will be 10. Mark thisletter as number 10.
MR. NAPOLES: Thank you, sir.(Exhibit 10 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Is this a copy of a letter that you received
from the Harbor Pointe-Newport Homeowners Association inor around February 2013?
A It appears to be, yes.MR. KENDRICK: Excuse me. I'm just going to
lodge an objection here to any documents fromassociation files that might potentially reveal privateinformation of members of the Harbor Pointe-NewportOwners Association.
The association doesn't authorize, did notauthorize the release or use of any such documents andobjects to their introduction into evidence, and just so
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that we don't go through this over and over again, I'mgoing to make this a continuing objection to any and allsuch documents that come out of the Harbor-Pointe OwnersAssociation records.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Well, for the record, this isa document that was produced by Mr. Crossley and I don'tsee any information that's private, so I don't know whatthe big deal is.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Anyways, this is a copy of a letter that wassent to you by Mr. Ragenovich, the property manager atHarbor Pointe?
A Appears to be, yes.Q And what's this handwriting on the lower
right-hand corner? Whose handwriting is that?A This would be Barbara's handwriting.Q And who's "Lydia"?A Someone at CMC.Q Okay. And after you received this letter, this
letter was asking you to trim some overgrown trees alongyour property line that borders number 3 Harbor Pointeand it's telling you that the trees need to be reducedin height and volume so as not to obstruct the view ofother neighbors.
Did you do any trimming as a result of
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receiving this letter?A We did extensive trimming.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Let's mark the next in line asnumber 11.
(Exhibit 11 was marked for identificationby the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q This is a photograph I believe that you've
produced to us?A Yes.Q Is this a photograph showing some of the
trimming that you did in response to the letter that --A Correct.Q -- you received?
And did you do this trimming yourself or didyou hire a company to do the trimming?
A I did the trimming myself.Q What kind of equipment do you use to do this?
Do you have tall ladders or something or --A I have a saw and a pole. I can go up 30 feet
plus.Q And what types of trees are these that you were
trimming in February of 2013?A These are Mallot flower plants right here in
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front. We have a large Mallot in flower the back. Wetrim that down. There's some trees back there. I'm notsure what they are. We trimmed all those. We trimmedthe Ficus. We trimmed the Cotton -- these ones right infront here, (indicating). I forgot if they'reCottonwood. They're not Cottonwoods. They're -- whatare they?
MS. CUMMINGS: Carrot.THE WITNESS: Carrotwoods, Carrotwoods. We
trimmed the Carrotwoods.BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q Did you trim any of the palm trees?A Trimmed the -- yes, all the palm trees we
trimmed. We constantly trim palm trees there.Q After you received this letter dated
February 12th, you -- A Absolutely.Q How many palm trees do you have on the left
side of your house as you're looking at your house?A Again, I'm not exactly sure. On the left side,
I -- let's see. I believe three in the front, three inthe back; maybe six. I'm not sure. That's easy to findout.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: All right. Let's mark thenext one as number 12.
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(Exhibit 12 was marked for identificationby the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Is this a copy of a letter that you received
from the Harbor Pointe-Newport Association --A Yes.Q -- on or around April 29th, 2013?A Yes.Q In this letter, they're asking you to trim the
trees to reduce the height and the bulk on the left sideof your property. That's the same thing that they askedyou to do in the first letter, isn't it?
A Correct.Q But it looks like there's some additional
requests in this letter. There's a second line thatsays, "All Palm trees need to be thinned outsubstantially.", and, "The right side trees need to bethinned out and lowered to enhance neighbor's views."
Were you surprised to receive this letter afteryou did the trimming that's shown on Exhibit 11?
A Yes.Q Shows on the right-hand there's some
handwriting. It says, "Meeting with Nick Ragenovich at1 Harbor Pointe May 7th at 9:00". Who wrote that?
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A Barbara did.Q What happened after you received this letter,
did you call Nick Ragenovich or what?A Yes, we did.Q And why, were you disputing the contents of the
letter?A Well, in one letter we -- we received a letter
to do some trimming and in it they sent us a picture ofKhademi's property saying we need to trim these trees.
Q Oh, you mean Exhibit number 10, which was theletter dated February 12th, it had a photo attached toit?
A I believe, yes.Q And but the photo wasn't your property?A No. Q Oh, I see. A So we were confused.Q What about, did this letter dated April 29th
have any photos attached to it?A I don't know which letter it was that that
photo was attached without my notes and such, which Idon't have --
Q Okay. A -- but they weren't -- as you can see, it says
"Trim trees". They don't say which trees. They don't
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say how far. It's very vague, and after we did asubstantial amount of trimming, they're still vague, andyou cannot -- when it says "All palm trees need to bethinned out substantially.", you can only thin out apalm tree so far and then you start killing it, so -- and on the right side, to be thinned out andlowered, the third thing, to enhance neighbor's view, itis not my responsibility to enhance neighbors' views ifthe board is not directed exactly what to do.
Q Well, is it your understanding this wasdirected by the board, this letter?
A This is from the management company. I don'tknow who on the board started this. I wasn't on theboard and it doesn't say what to do.
Q Other than what's reflected in this letterthen, you don't believe it was clear enough?
A I don't. That's why we called Nick, to havehim come out, to say specifically what needed to be doneso we could be in complete compliance and make everybodyhappy. We had no problem with that.
Q Did Nick come out on or -- A He did.Q -- about May 7th?A He came out nine o'clock, May 7th.Q Did you meet with him?
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A Yes, I did.Q And what did he tell you?A He showed us what needed to be trimmed. It
was on the right side of the property next to MacArthur Boulevard. We needed to lower the Podocarpuson the other side. I can show you the pictures. Youhave them right there.
Q What about the palm trees?A Wasn't an issue.Q Even though the letter said "All palm trees
need to be thinned out substantially."?A Either they had been done by then, which they
probably had. This seems to be -- again, it's veryunclear what they wanted. I doubt they even looked andwe -- really, he said nothing about the palm trees whenhe came out. So when we were done with that, we hadcomplied with everything that the management company hadasked us to do.
Q So just to be clear then, as of this date,April 29th, 2013, you were not on the board or thearchitectural committee?
A I was not.Q Do you know who was on the board and the
architectural committee?A It was -- I believe it was Connie, Jerry and
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Mahmood.Q Connie, Jerry and -- A Yes. Q -- Mahmood?A What's Jerry's last name?
MS. CUMMINGS: Kelly.THE WITNESS: Okay. Jerry Kelly.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Did you attend any board meetings to discuss
the issues about your --A I'm not sure about that. It could have been
Danni and Frank. I should be clear about that. Again,I forgot. I wasn't on it. I wasn't associated with theboard that much.
Q Okay. So when Nick came out then, after youreceived this letter then, he only asked you to trimsome trees that were to the right of your property asyou're looking at it from the street?
A As you're looking at my house from the street,to the right of the property, to lower to the height ofthe association trees on the outside.
Q Okay. And that's what he asked you to do, buthe didn't ask you to trim out any of the palm trees?
A I don't remember him saying anything about thepalm trees.
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Q And what did you do after you met with Nick, ifanything, on the right side of your property? Did youtrim any of those trees?
A Under your elbow are the pictures of all thetrimming we did on that side.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: So let's mark this next photo.This is dated May 7th. We'll mark this as number 13.
(Exhibit 13 was marked for identificationby the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Is this a photograph that you took on
May 7th --A Yes.Q -- which was the same day that Mr. Ragenovich
came out?A Same day. We spent the whole day trimming.Q And what does this photograph depict?A This is a little half-court basketball area
that has the Podocarpus and Ficus remnants fromtrimming. There's a series of pictures showing how highthey were and how far down we went. This is not theseries; just one of the pictures.
Q Well -- A You have the others.
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Q Where is this basketball court located?A On the right side of the property, behind my
front pole.Q Oh, okay. And you did this trimming then after
you met with Nick then?A Yes -- Q Okay. A -- at his direction.Q And you did this trimming yourself with these
poles and the --A Yes.Q -- saw that's depicted in this photo?A Yes.Q What is this big thing on the table over here,
(indicating)?A That's an archery target.Q All right. Then we have --
MR. WORTHGE: You're a good shot.THE WITNESS: You bet.MR. ETTINGHOFF: We'll mark this as number 14. Everybody have one?MR. WORTHGE: You have extras, so I'm just
collecting the extras --MR. ETTINGHOFF: Oh, really? Okay. All right.MR. WORTHGE: -- but you can keep that or I
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can. It's easy for me to start over then.(Exhibit 14 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Looking now at Exhibit number 14, this is
another view from your basketball court on the rightside of your property then?
A Correct.Q And this is showing the trees that you were
trimming then on that May 7th then?A Correct.Q And are these trees that are along your back
property line that front MacArthur Avenue or what?A Yes, there's a glass wall behind these trees --Q Yes.A -- on a slope down to MacArthur Boulevard.Q Okay. So these are at the rear of your
property then adjacent to MacArthur?A I'd say it was a side, but it's -- I guess
that's up to -- Q Are these the trees that Nick asked you to
trim?A These are where he said they needed to be
trimmed. I can draw that on one of your maps then, if
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you want.Q Well, do you have trees in your front yard up
to the right of your property also?A Yes, we have some Carrotwoods in the front;
trimmed those, too.Q When Nick asked you to trim these trees, did he
ask you to trim the ones in your front yard and the onesin your backyard?
A He was more concerned with these right here,(indicating) --
Q The ones -- A -- because I think we'd already trimmed the
others. I'm not sure, but they -- we've trimmedeverything. You know, there's been so much trimmingthere, it's crazy.
Q So he specifically came into your backyard andsaid, "We --
A Yes.Q -- want you to trim these trees adjacent to
MacArthur"?A This is his major focal point, yes.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. Then the next one,we'll mark this as 15.
(Exhibit 15 was marked for identificationby the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy of
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which is attached hereto.)BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
Q What does this photo that's been marked asnumber 15 show?
A This shows a Ficus and palm fronds in the frontdriveway.
Q And this photo was taken on May 7th --A Yes.Q -- 2013? A Hm-hmmn.Q And this was some of the other trimming that
you did after you met with Nick?A Well, we did trim them and we trim everything.
We've got the pole out, so I start trimming everything.Q By the way, after you did this trimming on
May 7th, did you call Nick up and ask him to come lookat it?
A No, because he said that would be fine, "Let'sdo this", and we did it.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: All right. So the next one isnumber 16.
(Exhibit 16 was marked for identificationby the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF:
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Q This is dated May 18th, "More ficus trimming"?A Hm-hmmn.Q Were you still doing trimming as of May 18th
then?A We -- if you look at this picture, there's a
Ficus here. We had three large Ficus and I took themall out to try to make everybody happy.
Q You actually removed the entire Ficus trees?A I removed them, yes.Q How many Ficus trees did you remove?A I believe there were three.Q So you physically removed three entire Ficus
trees from your backyard then --A Yes.Q -- in or around May of 2013? A It was about a month-long project at least.Q And you did the work yourself?A Yes.Q How did you get rid of all this debris? Did
you have to hire a hauling company or something?A No. My property in Costa Mesa has numerous
trash bins and I take it over every day.MR. ETTINGHOFF: All right. And then let's
mark this as number 17. Oh, I guess -- did everybodyget one?
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MR. WORTHGE: Yeah.MR. NAPOLES: Yeah.(Exhibit 17 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Okay. This what we've marked now as number 17
then, is this a letter that you received shortly afterMay 20th, 2013?
A Yes.Q And now, in this letter right here, the board
is telling you that -- in the first paragraph, it says,"In the April 29 letter, you were given 10 days tocomplete the trimming...". "To date the necessarytrimming has not been sufficiently completed in order toenhance your neighbor's views."
Were you surprised when you got this letter?A Very.Q And in this letter, it basically says that
they're going to have a hearing on June 4th if you don'tdo some additional trimming by June 4th; do you seethat?
A Yes.Q So did you call Mr. Ragenovich about this
letter after you received it?
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A Yes.Q Wait. You're looking at the wrong -- A Oh, I was looking at this one here,
(indicating). Q -- letter. A I have to look at this one, (indicating). Q Yeah, I'm asking you about Exhibit number 17.A Yes.Q What did you tell Mr. Ragenovich when you
received this letter?A I have no idea anymore, it's been so long.Q Were you upset?A Well, it's -- it's a little confusing because
it's basically the same letter we got before.Q And you had done what you considered to be
substantial trimming then?A At his direction, correct.Q So you disagreed with the content of this
letter then?A Yes.Q But you disputed that any further trimming
needed to be done?A No. I just don't know what they're after.
They -- again, it's very vague.Q So you felt that you had complied with the
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April 29th letter and when you received this, it wasunclear to you what additional trimming they wanted youto do?
A Correct.Q Did you ask Mr. Ragenovich to come and look at
your property when you received this letter?A No. I believe we had a meeting coming up and
we were going to talk about it there.Q At the June 4th meeting?A Yes.Q So in between the time when you got this letter
and the June 4th meeting, did you do any additionaltrimming?
A I have no idea. I wouldn't know what to trim.MR. ETTINGHOFF: All right. Let's mark this
next photo as number 18.(Exhibit 18 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Looking at Exhibit 18 now, it looks like this
is dated May 27th. This is showing another Ficus treeuprooted.
Is that a picture of another Ficus tree thatyou uprooted in your property?
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A Correct. Remember, I said it was at least amonth-long process.
Q Okay. So you were continuing to do this workeven after you --
A Yes.Q During the period of time when you received
Exhibit 17, you were still doing work?A It's a -- it's a very large lot with a lot of
vegetation. It is constant. We're out there everyweek, cut and trimming everything.
Q So these are trees basically that were plantedby previous owners?
A Yes.Q You didn't plant these trees?A I did not plant these trees.Q Okay. And they've grown pretty large and so
you've been trimming them since before?A Well, I was under the impression this was an
offending vegetation.Q This Ficus tree?A Yes.Q Why, did Nick point it out to you?A No, but if you had looked at the property at
the time, these were the largest trees on the lot.Other than palm trees, these were the highest thing or
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palms. These were the highest trees on my lot.Q Did you ever go to Mr. Rezai's property and
look at the view that he was complaining about to seewhat it looked like as far as your property?
A Have I ever been on his property and looked atthe view?
Q You can answer that question.A Yes, I have.Q When?A When we first moved in, pretty much the first
six months we were there, we were up having wine atMr. Rezai's property.
Q When you first moved in --A Hm-hmmn.Q -- in 2011?A Whenever, within six months of January then.
You said January something when I purchased the propertyprobably.
Q And it was just a social function?A Yes.Q Since that social function, have you been to
his property any other time to see the view?A Since social functions, no. I've been not on
his property.Q Well, wait. My question is this: Since that
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social function that you told us about shorty after youmoved in, have you been back to Mr. Rezai's property atany time to observe the view from his property?
A Have I been on his property?Q Yes.A No. Have I looked at the view from -- in his
area, yes.Q Oh, okay. So you haven't -- in other words,
just to try to put it, you haven't knocked on his doorand said, "Can I come in and see the view from yourbackyard" --
A No --Q -- for an idea?A -- no.Q But you've gone up around to where his lot is
located; you've looked at the view from near hisproperty then?
A I have looked from the neighbors' houses. Ihave looked from the street. He has probably the nicestview in the entire neighborhood. It is spectacular.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: Okay. All right. Let's markthis next one number -- I think we're on 19, right?
(Exhibit 19 was marked for identificationby the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
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BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q All right. Number 19 is dated May 29th and
this is another Ficus tree that you removed -- A Correct. Q -- from your property?
How tall were these Ficus trees when you cutthem down?
A I have no idea; under the ridgeline.MR. WORTHGE: You asked if it was another Ficus
tree.THE WITNESS: Another Ficus tree?MR. WORTHGE: Yeah, I think your question
was, sir --THE WITNESS: Oh, that looks like the same one. MR. WORTHGE: Yes. THE WITNESS: Yeah, same date I think -- MR. WORTHGE: Yeah. THE WITNESS: -- I see.MR. WORTHGE: Just a different picture.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Well, I believe your testimony was that you
actually removed three Ficus trees from your property --A Yes.Q -- during this time period?A Yes.
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MR. WORTHGE: His question was: Was thisanother Ficus tree and it appears to be --
THE WITNESS: It looks like the same one.MR. WORTHGE: -- the same one -- THE WITNESS: Yeah. MR. WORTHGE: -- give or take. THE WITNESS: Yeah, we were just taking
pictures of removing them and the size of the stump andthe size of the tree. Yeah, it looks like the same one.
MR. ETTINGHOFF: All right. We're going tomark this next exhibit --
MR. WORTHGE: Okay. MR. ETTINGHOFF: -- as Exhibit number 20.THE WITNESS: Hm-hmmn.(Exhibit 20 was marked for identification
by the Certified Shorthand Reporter, a copy ofwhich is attached hereto.)
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Okay. I'm going to show you what's been marked
as Exhibit number 20. I'll represent to you that thisis a document that was produced by the association inresponse to a document request and it's a copy of anexecutive session which occurred on June 4th, 2013.
Did you attend this meeting, sir?
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A Yes, I believe.Q And can you tell me what happened at that
meeting?MR. WORTHGE: It's kind of overbroad.THE WITNESS: Yeah.
BY MR. ETTINGHOFF: Q Well, when --
MR. WORTHGE: I mean, the meeting or theexecutive session, because he may not have been in theexecutive sessio