The court filing involves a lawsuit between Michael Zehner, Aaron Norton, and Patricia Zehner (plaintiffs) and David Van Der Voort and Tommi West (defendants). The case is about a contract dispute over property ownership in San Francisco. The case was filed in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District, with the court case ID A166089 on April 9th, 2024.
The plaintiffs and defendants co-own a property in San Francisco as tenants in common. The plaintiffs have exclusive use of the front part of the property while the defendants have exclusive use of the rear part. The dispute arose when the defendants made unpermitted improvements to their residence which led to an increase in residential density and altered the property's residential occupancy classification from R-3 to R-2.
This change triggered additional building code requirements which derailed improvement plans that the plaintiffs were having prepared and approved. Despite objections from the plaintiffs, the defendants refused to withdraw their application for an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), forcing the plaintiffs to incur additional costs in modifying their improvement and construction plans.
The plaintiffs are seeking judgment for breach of their ownership agreement with the defendants. They contend that neither party could unilaterally file an application for an ADU which altered the legal status of the property without mutual agreement. They argue that this action by the defendants has caused them significant financial damage due to necessary changes to their own improvement plans.