Masha Davis secured $100,000 in attorney fees on September 29, 2026, after a four-year legal battle with her Texas homeowners association over a backyard home office, The Times of India reported.
The neighborhood dispute began in 2020 when Davis, a resident of the Davis Spring subdivision in Williamson County, Texas, applied to build an accessory structure on her property. The homeowners association described the proposed addition as a shed in court documents, while Davis maintained it was a home office.
The Davis Spring Property Owners’ Association and its board president, Amanda Mock, rejected the application through their Architectural Review Committee. The committee argued that the building exceeded permitted height restrictions and rose above the roofline of the primary residence.
Davis challenged the denial by filing a lawsuit, pointing out that the community’s recorded declaration and enforceable design guidelines lacked any specific height restriction that prohibited her structure. The litigation spanned more than four years, during which Davis’s legal team accumulated approximately 300 attorney hours and 37 paralegal hours.
Her lawyers initially requested $149,680.25, arguing that the work across multiple claims was deeply intertwined. While the trial court ultimately awarded a smaller sum than requested, it approved $100,000 along with contingent fees for potential appeals.
The association and Mock appealed the financial penalty, contending that Davis had no statutory entitlement to legal-fee recovery under Texas Property Code Section 5.006 and that her counsel failed to properly itemize costs for separate claims. The Texas Third Court of Appeals dismissed both arguments, noting that the association failed to raise its statutory objection during original proceedings and that Davis provided sufficient proof of intermingled legal work.
The appellate court’s September 29, 2026 ruling upheld the lower court’s order, leaving the homeowners association responsible for the $100,000 legal tab.
