B. Investment LC v. Anderson

2012 UT App 24, 270 P.3d 548, 700 Utah Adv. Rep. 51, 2012 Utah App. LEXIS 23, 2012 WL 234546
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJanuary 26, 2012
Docket20100071-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2012 UT App 24 (B. Investment LC v. Anderson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
B. Investment LC v. Anderson, 2012 UT App 24, 270 P.3d 548, 700 Utah Adv. Rep. 51, 2012 Utah App. LEXIS 23, 2012 WL 234546 (Utah Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

VOROS, Associate Presiding Judge:

1 1 This quiet title action involves a stretch of beach at Bear Lake. The beachfront property is part of a hybrid condominium project known as Spinnaker Point. The project includes both traditional condominium units and lots intended for single family dwellings. Owners of the traditional condominium units (the Condo Owners) brought suit against the condominium declarant, the Spinnaker Point Condominium Owners Association, and the owners of the single family lots (collectively, the Lot Owners).

£2 This appeal requires us to interpret the provisions of Spinnaker Point's Amended Plat and Amended Declaration in light of the Utah Condominium Ownership Act (the Act), see Utah Code Ann. §§ 57-8-1 to -54 (2010 & Supp.2011). 1 Each set of owners contends that the documents support its position. Because the documents are internally inconsistent, neither side's reading is wholly satisfactory. The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the Lot Owners, ruling that the Lot Owners as well as the Condo Owners own a share of the beachfront property. For reasons stated below, we agree with the trial court and therefore affirm.

BACKGROUND

T3 Spinnaker Point was created in 1984; the original record of survey map showed six condominium units in a first phase, with a possible expansion area. After three condominium units were constructed on what is now Lot 2, Spinnaker Point was conveyed to Donald and Cathy Anderson. In 2001, the Andersons filed an Amended Plat and an Amended Declaration, dividing the property into five lots and designating Lots 1, 3, 4, and 5 for single family dwellings. The Amended Plat also designated, and marked with a cross-hatch pattern, a Limited Common Area consisting of a corridor between Lots 2 and 3 and a beachfront area abutting Lots 2 and 3.

4 The Limited Common Area is the subject of this dispute. The Condo Owners contend that they own the Limited Common Area, subject only to the Lot Owners' right of access to and from the beach. The Lot Owners contend that they and the Condo Owners own the Limited Common Area in *551 equal shares. The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the Lot Owners.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW

T5 On appeal, the Condo Owners contend that "the Amended Declaration and Amended Plat require" that they are the sole owners of the Limited Common Area. The Condo Owners also contend that the Condominium Ownership Act "precludes the Lot Owners from owning a portion of the [Limited] Common Area and requires that the Condo Owners own the [Limited] Common Area." Summary judgment is appropriate when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Utah R. Civ. P. 56(c). We "review[ ] a trial court's legal conclusions and ultimate grant or denial of summary judgment for correctness and view|[ ] the facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." Bingham v. Roosevelt City Corp., 2010 UT 37, ¶ 10, 235 P.3d 730 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

16 On eross-appeal, the Lot Owners contend that the trial court erred in refusing to award attorney fees to which they were entitled under the Amended Declaration. Generally, "[wlhether attorney fees should be awarded is a legal issue that we review for correctness." Gardiner v. York, 2006 UT App 496, ¶ 5, 153 P.3d 791 (citing Valcarce v. Fitzgerald, 961 P.2d 305, 315 (Utah 1998)).

ANALYSIS

I. Ownership of the Limited Common Area

17 This dispute arises from a conflict between the language in the Amended Declaration and the language in the Amended Plat. The Lot Owners rely principally on Exhibit C of the Amended Declaration. It features a columnar chart defining the "Percentage of Ownership of Limited Common Ownership Areas as indicated on the Plat Map." According to this chart, the Lot Owners and the Condo Owners each own an undivided 14.286% interest in the Limited Common Area.

T8 The Condo Owners rely principally on a note appearing on the Amended Plat. This note states, "Limited common ownership on this plat denotes access to and use of common area at beach. Ownership of this limited common area remains with Lot 2." Lot 2 belongs to the Condo Owners. They thus claim full ownership of the Limited Common Area and argue that the Lot Owners hold only a right of access over it.

19 "We interpret the provisions of the Declaration as we would a contract." View Condo. Owners Ass'n v. MSICO, LLC, 2005 UT 91, ¶ 21, 127 P.3d 697. "If the Declaration is not ambiguous, we interpret it according to its plain language." Id. "We may resort to extrinsic evidence as an aid to construction only where there is an ambiguity." 2 Id. In addition, the declaration and the plat must be construed together. See id. 4] 24.

T10 We also read the Amended Declaration and Amended Plat in light of the Act. See Country Oaks Condo. Mgmt. Comm. v. Jones, 851 P.2d 640, 641-42 (Utah 1993). Condominium declarations and the condominium plats are governed by separate see-tions of the Act. Condominium declarations are governed by section 57-8-10. That seetion requires the declaration to "include the percentage or fraction of undivided interest in the common areas." See Utah Code Ann. § 57-8-10(@)(d)(i) (Supp.2011). This must be done "in accordance with Section 57-8-7(2)." Id. Significantly, section 57-8-7(2) provides that "[elach unit owner shall be entitled to an undivided interest in the common areas and facilities in the percentages or fractions expressed in the declaration." Id. § 57-8-7(2) (2010) (emphasis added). This interest may be "reflected by ... an exhibit or schedule accompanying the declaration and recorded simultaneously with it, containing columns." Id.

*552 {11 Plats are governed by section 57-8-13. Unsurprisingly, this section focuses on boundaries, encroachments, locations, dimensions, floorplans, and the like. See id. § 57-8-13 (2010). It does not mention the proportional ownership of common areas.

{12 As required by section 57-8-7(2), Exhibit C to the Amended Declaration "allocate[s] to each unit an equal undivided interest in the common areas," see id. § 57-8-7(2). In addition, Exhibit C features a columnar chart defining the percentage of ownership of the Limited Common Area:

Percentage of Ownership of Limited Common Ownership Areas as indicated on the Plat Map by the cross hatched pattern
Lot No.
1 14.286%
2 Unit 1 14.286%
2 Unit 2 14.286%
2 Unit 3 14.286%
3 14.286%
.

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Bluebook (online)
2012 UT App 24, 270 P.3d 548, 700 Utah Adv. Rep. 51, 2012 Utah App. LEXIS 23, 2012 WL 234546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/b-investment-lc-v-anderson-utahctapp-2012.