F Family South, LLC v. Property Owners Association of Ono Island, Inc.

── F Family South, LLC v. Property Owners Association of Ono Island, Inc. ── Case No.: CL-2025-1091 Court: Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama Date: March 20, 2026 Author: Christy Edwards Category: General Rel: March 20, 2026 Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published in Southern Reporter. ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026 _________________________ CL-2025-1091 _________________________ F Family South, LLC v. Property Owners Association of Ono Island, Inc. Appeal from Baldwin Circuit Court (CV-19-901602.80) EDWARDS, Judge. F Family South, LLC ("FFS"), appeals from a judgment entered by the Baldwin Circuit Court ("the trial court") determining that the Property Owners Association of Ono Island, Inc. ("the POA"), could, pursuant to Ala. Code 1975, §§ 40-10-82 and 40-10-83, redeem a parcel of CL-2025-1091 real property that had been purchased by Duong Hoang at a 1995 tax sale, which parcel had subsequently been transferred to FFS. This is the second appeal arising from the underlying proceedings. See F Family South, LLC v. Property Owners Ass'n of Ono Island, Inc., 403 So. 3d 812, 814 (Ala. 2024). The facts and procedural history were set out in our supreme court's opinion: "Ono Island is a natural barrier island in Baldwin County. In 1969, Ono Development Company, Inc. ('Ono Development'), began developing Ono Island into a single- family residential subdivision. In September 1970, it filed a 'Declaration of General Covenants and Restrictions Applicable to Ono Island Subdivision' ('the general covenants'). The general covenants expressed both Ono Development's intention to create 'a community with ... canals ... and other common areas and common facilities for the benefit of [the Ono Island] community' and its desire 'to provide for the preservation of the values and amenities ... and for the maintenance of said ... canals ... and other common areas and common facilities.' The general covenants further explained that Ono Development had formed the POA 'for the ... preservation of the values and amenities in said community.' The general covenants defined '[t]he Properties' to which they were intended to apply as including 'all those parts of Ono Island ... of which a plat of subdivision, duly recorded has been executed by Ono Development ... or to which Ono Development ... has given its approval ... and such additions thereto.' They excluded from that definition '[l]ands not included within the perimeter boundaries of a recorded plat executed or approved by Ono Development ... unless and until the same are annexed.' The general covenants further created an Architectural Control Committee ('the ACC') and granted it the power to permit or approve construction and 2 CL-2025-1091 maintenance of all structures upon the properties subject to the general covenants and/or adjacent waters. Finally, the general covenants explained that portions of Ono Island, following future development, could also be subject to additional '[l]ocal [c]ovenants and [r]estrictions.' "In 1981, Ono Development secured a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ('the Corps') authorizing its construction of a series of inland canals on Ono Island intended to provide water access to interior lots that would front on the canals and were slated for development. It is u