Craig Zgabay and Tammy Zgabay v. NBRC Property Owners Association

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided August 20, 2015·No. 03-14-00660-CV·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED 03-14-00660-CV 6585410 THIRD COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 8/20/2015 2:48:47 PM JEFFREY D. KYLE CLERK No. 03-14-00660-CV

FILED IN 3rd COURT OF APPEALS In The Court of Appeals For the Third AUSTIN, TEXAS 8/20/2015 2:48:47 PM District of Texas at Austin JEFFREY D. KYLE Clerk

CRAIG ZGABAY AND TAMMY ZGABAY, Appellants, v.

NBRC PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, Appellee.

On Appeal from the 433rd District Court of Comal County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. C2014-0501C

Unopposed Tex. R. App. P. 38.7 Motion to Supplement (with Proposed Supplemental Case Citation)

J. Patrick Sutton SBOT 24058143 1706 W. 10th Street Austin Texas 78703 Tel. (512) 417-5903 Fax. (512) 355-4155 jpatricksutton@jpatricksuttonlaw.com

Counsel for Appellants

August 20, 2015

Motion to Supplement and Supplemental Case Citation

Appellants the Zgabays hereby seek leave to supplement

their case authority. The Zgabays' brief listed unanimity amongst

the 14 other states that have rejected the argument that short-

term rentals constitute a "business use." Brief of Appellants at 33-

34. A 15th state, Colorado, has joined in the unanimity. Houston v.

Wilson Mesa Ranch Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., 2015 COA 113, ¶ 18,

2015 WL 4760331 (Colo. App. Aug. 13, 2015). A copy of the opinion

is attached hereto for the Court's convenience.

Conclusion and Prayer Accordingly, the Zgabays ask that the Court grant this

motion and, for brevity, consider their brief supplemented with the

above case authority.

Respectfully submitted, /s/ JPS J. Patrick Sutton Texas Bar No. 24058143 1706 W. 10th Street Austin Texas 78703 Tel. (512) 417-5903 Fax. (512) 355-4155 jpatricksutton@ jpatricksuttonlaw.com

Attorney for Appellants

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that on August 20, 2015, per T.R.A.P. 6.3(b), a true and correct copy of this amended brief was served by efiling and email on:

Tom Newton Allen Stein & Durbin, P.C. 6243 IH-10 West, 7th Floor San Antonio, Texas 78201 TNewton@ASDH.com

Brian Hensley Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons, L.L.P. 701 Brazos, Suite 1500 Austin, Texas 78701 Ph (512) 708-8200 Fax (512) 708-8777 BHensley@thompsoncoe.com

/s/ J. Patrick Sutton Attorney for Plaintiffs-Appellants

CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE

I certify that I conferred with Brian Hensley, counsel for Appellee, regarding this motion, and that he stated his clients are not opposed to this motion.

/s/ J. Patrick Sutton Attorney for Appellants

2015 COA 113

2015 WL 4760331 I. Background

NOTICE: THIS OPINION HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED ¶ 2 Wilson Mesa Ranch is a subdivision in San Miguel FOR PUBLICATION IN THE PERMANENT LAW County. The subdivision is subject to protective covenants REPORTS. A PETITION FOR REHEARING IN THE that are enforced by the Association's board of trustees. COURT OF APPEALS OR A PETITION FOR The covenants provide, as relevant here, that “the lands CERTIORARI IN THE SUPREME COURT MAY BE within Wilson Mesa Ranch [are intended to] be developed PENDING. and maintained as a highly desirable scenic and secluded Colorado Court of Appeals, residential area;” that all tracts designated on the recorded Div. III. plats by number “shall be residential tracts;” and that “[n]o lands within Wilson Mesa Ranch shall ever be occupied or David HOUSTON, Trustee of the used for any commercial or business purpose nor for any David Houston 1997 Trust dated noxious activity and nothing shall be done ... on any of said October 6, 1997, Plaintiff–Appellee, lands which is a nuisance or might become a nuisance to the ...

v. owners of any of said lands.”

WILSON MESA RANCH HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., a Colorado nonprofit ¶ 3 Houston owns a single-family residence in the corporation, Defendant–Appellant. subdivision. Beginning in December 2012, Houston began renting out the property for short-term vacation rentals. He Court of Appeals No. 14CA1086 advertised the residence on the website of VRBO, a company | Announced August 13, 2015 that facilitates the booking of such rentals. When the board learned that Houston had been renting out the residence, it San Miguel County District Court No. 13CV30034, adopted an amendment (“Section 11”) to its administrative Honorable Mary E. Deganhart, Judge. procedures that prohibited Association members from renting out their properties for periods of less than thirty days without Attorneys and Law Firms prior board approval. Section 11 also provided for a $500 fine Solomon Law Firm, P.C., Joseph A. Solomon, Telluride, for each violation of this prohibition. Colorado, for Plaintiff–Appellee.

¶ 4 The board notified Houston of its adoption of Section Dewhirst & Dolven, LLC, Miles M. Dewhirst, Jeffery 11 and ordered him to comply with it. Houston objected D. Bursell, Denver, Colorado; Garfield & Hecht, PC, to Section 11 as an unlawful attempt to amend the Mary Elizabeth Geiger, Glenwood Springs, Colorado, for covenants. The board responded that short-term rentals were Defendant–Appellant. a commercial use that was already prohibited under the covenants, and that Section 11 was simply adopted to clarify Opinion the board's position and set forth procedures for seeking an exception to the prohibition.

Opinion by JUDGE VOGT * ¶ 5 After the board denied Houston's request to continue * Sitting by assignment of the Chief Justice under leasing the property on a short-term basis, he took two provisions of Colo. Const. art. VI, § 5(3), and § 24–51– additional rental reservations through VRBO. The board 1105, C.R.S. 2014.

treated these reservations as anticipatory breaches of the *1 ¶ 1 In this dispute regarding the scope of restrictive covenants and Section 11 and fined Houston $500 for each covenants, defendant, Wilson Mesa Ranch Homeowners reservation. Association, Inc., appeals the district court's judgment on the pleadings in favor of plaintiff, David Houston, Trustee of the ¶ 6 Houston then filed this action, seeking a declaration David Houston 1997 Trust dated October 6, 1997. We affirm. that the Association could not bar the short-term rental of his property based on the commercial use prohibition in the covenants. The Association counterclaimed for a declaration

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. 1

2015 COA 113

that the covenants barred rentals of less than thirty days; meaning of a covenant, we must adopt the construction that that Section 11 was enforceable against Houston; and that favors the unrestricted use of property. Id. at 253–54; see also Houston was in violation of the covenants and Section 11 Double D Manor, Inc. v. Evergreen Meadows Homeowners' by advertising, and taking reservations for, short-term rentals Ass'n, 773 P.2d 1046, 1048 (Colo. 1989). of his property. The Association also sought a permanent injunction requiring Houston to comply with the covenants and Section 11.

B. Scope of the Covenants

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