Bradshaw v. Wakonda Club

476 N.W.2d 743, 1991 Iowa App. LEXIS 339, 1991 WL 225327
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedAugust 27, 1991
DocketNo. 90-1302
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 476 N.W.2d 743 (Bradshaw v. Wakonda Club) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bradshaw v. Wakonda Club, 476 N.W.2d 743, 1991 Iowa App. LEXIS 339, 1991 WL 225327 (iowactapp 1991).

Opinion

HABHAB, Judge.

Plaintiffs are honorary members of the Wakonda Club, an exclusive country club facility located in Des Moines, Iowa. Plaintiffs joined the club many years ago. At the time, the club operated under rules which provided any member over the age of seventy who had been a member for twenty consecutive years could surrender his membership to the club and become an honorary member.

By surrendering membership, a member would lose equity ownership ($2,000) in the club. In exchange, honorary members would receive free use of the club facilities. Plaintiffs insist this program was part of the club’s inducement to recruit new members. It is undisputed this was the rule at the time each plaintiff joined the club.

By the time each plaintiff qualified for honorary membership, the rules required members to reach age seventy and be a member for twenty-five years. It likewise is undisputed that all plaintiffs met these qualifications by the time of trial.

In 1972 the Wakonda Club reincorporated under Iowa Code Chapter 504A. After its reincorporation, its articles of incorporation vested the board of directors with the power to provide for memberships and the fees to be paid by those members. This article is identical to Article IV of the 1958 Articles of Incorporation.

Beginning in 1974, the board of directors passed a series of resolutions. These required all persons becoming honorary members after May 1, 1975, to pay dues of $24 per month. The dues gradually increased over the next several years. By 1987, the dues for honorary members was fixed at $100 per month, one-half the dues paid by Senior “A” members.

Between February 1981 and June 1988, each plaintiff chose to surrender his regu[745]*745lar membership to attain honorary member status. Each has paid his dues. The total dues paid range from $4,409 to $8,378. Plaintiffs made no complaint about their dues until 1988. That year the board changed the dues from a specific dollar amount to one-half the dues paid by regular members.

In granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment, the trial court rejected plaintiff’s petition. The petition sought relief based on equitable and promissory es-toppel, specific performance, declaratory judgment, breach of contract, and negligent misrepresentations.

In sustaining the summary judgment motion, the trial court found the club’s rules constituted a contract between the parties. It reasoned the contract gave the board of directors the power to change the dues. The trial court did not believe the change in 1988 was so material and substantial as to deprive the plaintiffs of a substantial right. It rejected the idea that plaintiffs had a vested right in 1958 to become honorary club members in the future at the 1958 rates.

Generally, the defendant’s summary judgment motion claimed the club is entitled as a matter of law to set dues and fees for its members. The basic thrust of the defendant’s motion is there are no genuine issues of material fact which bear upon defendant’s right to assess dues to its members.

The plaintiffs counter by arguing there are genuine issues of material fact. They claim there is a dispute whether they have a vested lifetime membership in the club. They additionally urge a change from zero dues to any amount is a radical and fundamental change in the purpose of the corporation. Finally, plaintiffs contend there is a dispute whether they relied on the defendant’s representation there would be no dues when they became honorary members in choosing to join the Wakonda Club. The true question is whether these disputes are ones of material fact which prevented the trial court from granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. Summary Judgment

Review of equity cases is de novo. Iowa R.Civ.P. 4. In reviewing a grant of summary judgment under Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 237(c), the question is whether the moving party demonstrated the absence of any genuine issue of material fact and showed entitlement to judgment on the merits as a matter of law. Suss v. Schammel, 375 N.W.2d 252, 254 (Iowa 1985). The party resisting a motion for summary judgment must set forth specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for trial. The resisting party may not rely solely on legal conclusions to show there is a genuine issue of material fact justifying denial of summary judgment. Amco Ins. Co. v. Stammer, 411 N.W.2d 709, 711 (Iowa 1987). Our task on appeal is to determine only whether a genuine issue of material fact exists and whether the law was correctly applied. Adam v. Mt. Pleasant Bank & Trust Co., 355 N.W.2d 868, 872 (Iowa 1984). We examine the record in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion for summary judgment to determine if movant met his or her burden. Matherly v. Hanson, 359 N.W.2d 450, 453 (Iowa 1984). We turn to the individual issues.

II. Vested Rights.

The trial court found, and we agree, there is a factual dispute as to whether a lifetime membership was created by the parties’ understanding. The existence of this factual dispute leads us to the critical issue of whether there is any evidence showing the plaintiffs acquired vested rights in a lifetime or honorary membership in the Wakonda Club. If there is such evidence, is it sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact?

It is undisputed the articles of incorporation, by-laws, and club rules and regulations create a contractual relationship between the parties. See Swanson v. Shockley, 364 N.W.2d 252, 255 (Iowa 1985); Berger v. Amana Society, 250 Iowa 1060, 1066, 95 N.W.2d 909, 912 (1959). We conclude that whether this contractual relationship created vested rights which are to [746]*746include lifetime or honorary membership provisions is a question for the finder of fact. Further, if such vested rights were in fact created, there is the additional factual question of whether substantial rights of the plaintiffs are affected.1

It appears the trial court interpreted the documents in effect during the pertinent period to form a single unitary contract. The court found the articles of incorporation, bylaws, rules and regulations, and statutes governing the Wakonda Club corporation constituted a single contract with the members of the club. However, we believe the meaning and effect of the rules and regulations that were in place at the time the plaintiffs became members are a fact question. We are hesitant to say as a matter of law that such club rules and regulations are not entitled to separate consideration when the facts and the resulting law may lead to different conclusions.

The language of certain articles of incorporation and rules and regulations are of particular importance in this dispute. The relevant portion of the articles of incorporation provides:

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476 N.W.2d 743, 1991 Iowa App. LEXIS 339, 1991 WL 225327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bradshaw-v-wakonda-club-iowactapp-1991.