$51,709 in fees on $20,000 of unpaid assessments — the Court of Appeals sent it back
$51,709 in fees on $20,000 of unpaid assessments — the Court of Appeals sent it back
2026-09-10 · Kentucky · Courts
What happened. The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld a homeowners association's continuing lien and its right to foreclose against an owner who had not paid assessments for five years — and then vacated the attorney-fee component of the $70,991 judgment and sent it back, because the circuit court had never assessed whether the fees were reasonable.1
Blair v. Sanctuary Bluff Homeowners Association, Inc. was rendered on 20 March 2026. It consolidates six appeals — Nos. 2024-CA-0650-MR, 2024-CA-0933-MR, 2024-CA-1065-MR, 2024-CA-1119-MR, 2025-CA-0003-MR and 2025-CA-0627-MR — from three Jefferson Circuit Court actions. Judge Cetrulo wrote, with Judges Combs and L. Jones. NOT TO BE PUBLISHED.
The numbers
Roughly $20,000 of unpaid assessments. Claimed attorney fees of $51,709. A total judgment of $70,991. The court noted the association's claimed fees rose by $40,133 in two months “without explanation and/or accounting,” and that the order granting them — tendered by the association's own counsel — contained no fee analysis at all.
What the court said
The line that will be quoted:
“To be clear, legal fees for pursuing the unpaid HOA debt should be legal fees for pursuing the unpaid HOA debt, not an attempt to recoup litigation fees from other claims.”
Procedurally the striking feature is that the point was not preserved. The court reached it anyway under palpable-error review, citing Key v. Mariner Finance, 617 S.W.3d 819, Superior Steel v. Ascent at Roebling's Bridge, 540 S.W.3d 770, and Flag Drilling for the proposition that a court awarding fees must determine both entitlement and reasonableness.
The association still won everything else
This is not a defeat for the association. The owner's challenges to the association's validity were rejected, her appeals were dismissed or affirmed, and the lien and foreclosure stood. Only the fee figure was vacated, and only for a reasonableness review on remand.
The underlying dispute had run to nineteen counts, more than twenty parties, six complaints, three consolidated circuit court actions and ten appellate cases — what the court itself called “a largely unproductive legal cacophony.”
Keep reading with the Kentucky State Pass
The rest of this analysis — what an association can actually do, the recent bills and rulings, and how Kentucky compares nationally — is for subscribers. $49/month for every Kentucky topic on HOA Weekly.
$49/month, $449/year, or a $19.99 day pass.
What you unlock
- The practice this decision is aimed at
- What changes for a board and its manager
- The other half of the story: deferred repairs
and 2 more sections in detail
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Recurring monthly subscription · Cancel anytime · Need help?
Related Kentucky HOA Topics
Stay on top of Kentucky HOA law
Every week: new Kentucky legislation, court rulings, and regulatory developments affecting condos, planned communities, and property managers. Free.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.