Andrews v. North Coast Development, Inc.

526 P.2d 1009, 270 Or. 24, 1974 Ore. LEXIS 273
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 26, 1974
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 526 P.2d 1009 (Andrews v. North Coast Development, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrews v. North Coast Development, Inc., 526 P.2d 1009, 270 Or. 24, 1974 Ore. LEXIS 273 (Or. 1974).

Opinion

McAllister, j.

Plaintiff brought this suit to enjoin defendants from obstructing a view easement appurtenant to her Gearhart condominium.

*27 Plaintiff owns a top story unit on the south end of the Pacific View Condominium near Gearhart which contains a window in the south living room wall from which there was at the time she purchased the unit a view to the south of Tillamook Head and some of the beach adjacent to Seaside. On the property immediately south of Pacific View, owned by defendant Hotel Gearhart, Inc., defendants North Coast Development, Inc., North Coast Management, Inc., and W-P Development, Inc., constructed Tillamook House, a large multi-story condominium. The northwest corner of this building partially obstructed the view from plaintiff’s south window, which obstruction allegedly violates the easement claimed by plaintiff. There is no doubt that plaintiff owned a view easement, which was created by two separate deeds. The dispute is over the scope of the easement.

It will be helpful to relate the chronological development of these parcels of property. Originally, Hotel Gearhart, Inc., owned all the real property involved in this suit. In recent years it has sold several parcels which have been developed by the purchasers into condominium projects.

In December, 1966, Hotel sold to W. C. Ban-man a parcel on which was built the Pacific View Condominium and is the dominant estate to which the view easement is appurtenant. Hotel retained a parcel on which the old Gearhart Hotel was then standing and on which Tillamook House later was built which is the servient estate in this dispute.

In conveying the dominant estate to Bauman, two deeds were executed by Hotel. The first deed, dated December 6, 1966, described the property con *28 veyed by metes and bounds and granted a view easement in the following language:

“Together with the right to the unimpeded view over and across that piece of land owned by the Hotel Gearhart South and West of the above described property situated in the City of Gearhart.”

The second deed, dated December 16, 1966, was given because Bauman’s lender wanted the easement reworded. It described the easement as follows:

“* * * an easement to an unimpeded view from the windows of a building to be constructed on [the dominant parcel]. Said view easement is to run over and across the following described land situated in the County of Clatsop and State of Oregon, bounded and described as follows; to-wit: * * *”

The servient estate was then described by a metes and bounds description.

In July, 1967, Hotel and Bauman entered into a declaration of Pacific View Condominium, which described the real property and the view easement in the language of the December 6, 1966, deed. This declaration was required by the Oregon Unit Ownership Law, ORS 91.505 to 91.675 and especially by ORS 91.525 and 91.530. After Pacific View was built, Bauman deeded to plaintiff’s predecessor the unit now owned by plaintiff. This deed described the unit by reference to the recorded declaration of Pacific View Condominium. In 1971, plaintiff purchased the unit and received a deed which also described the unit by reference to the declaration.

"When Pacific View was built and plaintiff bought her unit, the Gearhart Hotel was still standing. In the spring of 1972 the Hotel was razed and about July 1, 1972, construction of Tillamook House was commenced. On July 11, 1972, plaintiff notified de *29 fendants in writing of her claim to a view easement as described by the December 6,1966, deed and demanded that construction cease immediately. During the next two to three weeks there was an exchange of correspondence and telephone calls between various representatives of defendants and plaintiff and her attorney culminating in a meeting in Portland on August 2, 1972, between plaintiff and two officers of defendants.

At the Portland meeting plaintiff tentatively agreed to accept a unit in Tillamook House in exchange for her Pacific View unit if she was satisfied with the view she would have from the new unit. She testified, however, that she told the men she wanted to wait and see “how the building was going to be looking” before she could definitely accept the exchange of units as a settlement of her claim. Later, while plaintiff was apparently out of the state, there was another exchange of letters between plaintiff’s attorney and defendants. On September 12,1972, plaintiff’s attorney notified defendants that their settlement offer was not acceptable to plaintiff and that she intended to start legal proceedings. On September 22 the complaint in this suit was filed. Plaintiff’s motion for a temporary injunction was denied on October 16. This suit was tried on November 2, and on December 12 a decree was entered dismissing plaintiff’s suit. The trial court held that the intent of the parties to the two original deeds, as shown by parol evidence, was to grant a view easement out of the west window of the Pacific View Condominium looking toward the southwest around to the northwest.

We must first consider -whether the court erred in admitting parol evidence of the original grantor *30 and grantee as to the scope of the easement. When parties have reduced the terms of their agreement to writing, other evidence concerning the terms is inadmissible except for certain purposes. Such evidence is admissible to explain a mistake or ambiguity in the writing, or to show the circumstances under which the agreement was made. ORS 41.740.

Defendants contend that both deeds granting the easements are ambiguous. Turning first to the December 6 deed, defendants claim that the phrases “South and West” and “situated in the City of Gear-hart” are each susceptible of at least two interpretations.

We find no ambiguity in the phrase “South and West.” It is well established that the words “north,” “south,” “east,” and “west” mean “due north,” etc., in the absence of other words qualifying their meaning. E. E. McCalla Co. v. Sleeper, 105 Cal App 562, 288 P 146, 148 (1930); Livingston Oil & Gas Co. v. Shasta Oil Co., 114 SW2d 378 (Tex Civ App 1938); Waldmann v. Hoechst, 487 SW2d 541 (Mo 1972). Extrinsic evidence is admissible here only to show what piece of land owned by Hotel lies “South and West” of the dominant estate. Bloech v. Hyland Homes Co. et al., 119 Or 297, 305, 247 P 761 (1926). The record shows that Hotel owned property which consisted of a large rectangular block due west of Pacific View between it and the ocean, a larger rectangular block due south of Pacific View (the site of the Gearhart Hotel and Tillamook House), and a narrow diagonal strip connecting these sections. There is nothing ambiguous in the phrase “South and West” as applied to describe this servient estate.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sander v. Nicholson
473 P.3d 1113 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2020)
Hamlin v. Hamlin
352 P.3d 737 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2015)
Vossen v. Forrester
963 P.2d 157 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1998)
Seid v. Ross
853 P.2d 308 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1993)
Hosokawa Micron (USA) Inc. v. Duncan
659 F. Supp. 151 (S.D. New York, 1987)
Swaggerty v. Petersen
572 P.2d 1309 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
526 P.2d 1009, 270 Or. 24, 1974 Ore. LEXIS 273, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrews-v-north-coast-development-inc-or-1974.