Allan v. Nersesova

307 S.W.3d 564, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 1662, 2010 WL 797205
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 10, 2010·No. 05-08-00916-CV·Published·Cited by 47 cases

Opinion

OPINION NUNC PRO TUNC

Opinion By

Justice SMITH (Retired).

This case involves a dispute between two unit owners in a condominium project. Autumn Allan appeals the trial court’s judgment that she recover damages of $640.65 from Ekaterina Nersesova and As-lan Koraev on her negligence claim and that she take nothing on her breach of contract claim. Allan brings four issues contending the trial court erred by (1) concluding she failed to prove the existence of a contract between her and Ko-raev, (2) failing to award her attorney’s fees, (3) allowing appellees a settlement credit under chapter 33 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code, and (4) excluding her testimony of the diminution in value of her condominium unit. We reverse the trial court’s judgment in part, affirm in part, and remand the cause for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

Allan and Koraev both owned units in the Boardwalk on the Parkway Condominiums. Allan’s unit was directly beneath Koraev’s. Allan resided in her unit, while Koraev leased his unit to tenants; Nerse-sova managed Koraev’s rental unit. Between March 2005 and July 2007, Allan’s unit suffered eight incidents of water and sewage incursion as a result of plumbing problems and misuse of appliances in Ko-raev’s unit. Allan sued Koraev, Nerseso-va, the condominium’s Owners’ Association, its president, and its management company on a variety of causes of action, including negligence and breach of contract. Before trial, all the defendants except Koraev and Nersesova settled with Allan for $10,750. During the trial, the court excluded Allan’s testimony about the loss in market value of her unit due to the water and sewage incursions.

The jury found for Allan on her claims for breach of contract against Koraev and for negligence against both appellees, and further found Allan suffered damages of $12,885.51. 2 The jury found Koraev and *569 Nersesova were each thirty percent responsible for the damage and a third party, Koraev’s tenant, was forty percent responsible. The jury also found Allan’s reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees were $81,000 through trial and additional amounts for appeals. Koraev moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, asserting Allan failed to prove as a matter of law the existence of a contract between her and Koraev. The trial court granted the motion, rendering a take-nothing judgment on Allan’s claim for breach of contract and for attorney’s fees. On the negligence claim, the trial court subtracted the amount of the settlement from the damages found by the jury and, applying the jury’s funding of thirty-percent responsibility, rendered judgment that Koraev and Nersesova were each liable to Allan for $640.65.

BREACH OF CONTRACT

In her first point of error, Allan contends the trial court erred by rendering judgment notwithstanding the verdict on her breach of contract claim.

In reviewing rulings on motions for directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict, appellate courts apply the no-evidence standard. See City of Keller v. Wilson, 168 S.W.3d 802, 828 (Tex.2005); Adams v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 264 S.W.3d 424, 427 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2008, pet. denied). We review the evidence and must credit the favorable evidence if reasonable jurors could, and we must disregard the contrary evidence unless reasonable jurors could not. Wilson, 168 S.W.3d at 827. A challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence will be sustained when, among other things, the evidence offered to establish a vital fact does not exceed a scintilla. Kroger Tex. Ltd. P’ship v. Suberu, 216 S.W.3d 788, 793 (Tex.2006). Evidence does not exceed a scintilla if it is so weak as to do no more than create a mere surmise or suspicion that the fact exists. Ford Motor Co. v. Ridgway, 135 S.W.3d 598, 601 (Tex.2004).

Allan asserted that the Declaration, Bylaws, and Rules and Regulations for the condominium (collectively, the governing documents) formed a contract between each unit owner and the Owners’ Association (the Association), and that she had authority to sue Koraev because the Declaration specifically provided her that authority. She asserted that the Declaration required Koraev to comply with the terms of the governing documents, and the Bylaws and Rules and Regulations made Ko-raev liable for any damage he caused to another unit. 3

In his motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, Koraev asserted that *570 Allan could not enforce the covenants in the Declaration because she failed to prove the common-law requirements for a restrictive covenant to run with the land. In this argument, Koraev asserted there was no contract between himself and Allan and that Allan had no authority to bring suit on her own behalf for his breach of the governing documents.

Existence of a Contract Between Koraev and the Association

Koraev asserted there was no evidence of a contract between himself and the Association to which Allan could be a beneficiary. Koraev argued Allan faded to present evidence proving the restrictive covenants in the governing documents ran with the land and, therefore, failed to prove they applied to Koraev. He also argued Allan failed to prove he was subject to any restrictive covenants in the governing documents because she did not prove by a valid instrument that Koraev owned the allegedly encumbered unit.

Under the common law, restrictions on the free use of land are not favored. Wilmoth v. Wilcox, 734 S.W.2d 656, 657 (Tex.1987); Davis v. Huey, 620 S.W.2d 561, 565-66 (Tex.1981). Koraev asserts that restrictive covenants must meet certain requirements to run with the land and, if all those requirements are not met, then subsequent purchasers are not subject to the restrictions. None of the cases Koraev cites for this position involved condominiums; instead, they involved residential and business subdivisions and other restrictions on the use of land. We have not been cited to any case where a condominium regime has been set aside for failing to meet the common-law requirements for a restrictive covenant to run with the land.

The concept of the condominium comes not from the common law but is a statutory creation. Dutcher v. Owens, 647 S.W.2d 948, 949 & n. 1 (Tex.1983) (“Condominium ownership is a tenure unknown at common law.”). As the supreme court explained,

In enacting the Texas Condominium Act, the Texas Legislature intended to create “a new method of property ownership.” 1963 Tex. Gen. Laws, Ch. 191, § 26 at 512. A condominium is an estate in real property consisting of an undivided interest in a portion of a parcel of real property together with a separate fee simple interest in another portion of the same parcel.

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Allan v. Nersesova, 307 S.W.3d 564, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 1662, 2010 WL 797205 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

307 S.W.3d 564 (Allan v. Nersesova) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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