Czajkowski v. Meyers

2007 MT 292, 172 P.3d 94, 339 Mont. 503, 2007 Mont. LEXIS 535
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 7, 2007
DocketDA 06-0401
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 2007 MT 292 (Czajkowski v. Meyers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Czajkowski v. Meyers, 2007 MT 292, 172 P.3d 94, 339 Mont. 503, 2007 Mont. LEXIS 535 (Mo. 2007).

Opinions

JUSTICE COTTER

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 The Czajkowskis and Meyers both own property and reside in Yellowstone Gateway Estates, a five-parcel subdivision in Livingston, Montana. The property of all five homeowners in this subdivision is subject to restrictive covenants. The Czajkowskis sued the Meyers for breach of the covenants pertaining to new construction on and improvements to the Meyers’ property. The Czajkowskis did not ask for monetary compensation or recovery of attorney’s fees; they merely asked the District Court to fashion a fitting remedy if it found that the Meyers breached the covenants. The Meyers counterclaimed alleging the Czajkowskis breached the covenant prohibiting noxious and offensive activities. They sought damages for emotional distress, punitive damages and attorney’s fees. The Montana Sixth Judicial District Court ruled in favor of the Meyers on all issues. The Czajkowskis appeal. We affirm.

ISSUES

¶2 A restatement of the issues on appeal is:

¶3 Did the District Court err when it determined that the Meyers did not violate the protective covenants applicable to the parties?

¶4 Did the District Court abuse its discretion by awarding damages to both Nick and Virginia Meyers for intentional infliction of emotional distress?

¶5 Did the District Court err by awarding punitive damages to the Meyers?

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶6 Nick and Virginia Meyers bought a twelve-acre parcel in Yellowstone Gateway Estates in 1997. At the time of purchase, the Meyers were aware of the restrictive covenants that ran with the five parcels in the subdivision. When they bought the property, the [506]*506structures on the land consisted of a berm-style house, a chicken coop and a shed/barn. The property had fallen into disrepair and the Meyers spent thousands of dollars repairing fences, removing old farm equipment, tearing down the chicken coop, undertaking extensive weed control and performing improvements to the property. The Meyers also built a pole barn in 1997 to shelter their tractors and farm equipment. The pole barn was constructed with grey metal sides and a white metal roof. In May 2002 the Meyers began constructing a guesthouse. It was a chalet-style design with cedar wood siding and a dark metal roof. The guesthouse was completed in 2005 or 2006.

¶7 Peter and Joan Czajkowski traveled to Montana in 1998 and purchased a two-acre lot adjacent to the Meyers’ property. They were notified of the protective covenants at the time of the purchase. Their purchase included both the land and a house that was being built on the property at the time. The house was designed and constructed with wooden sides and a metal roof. At the time the Czajkowskis purchased their land, the Meyers had completed construction of their pole barn but had not yet begun constructing the guesthouse.

¶8 Personal tension developed in the neighborhood shortly after the Czajkowskis arrived in Montana in May 1999. When they discovered that construction of their house was not complete, the Czajkowskis sued the original builder who was an owner of one of the five parcels in the subdivision and hired another contractor to complete construction. They maintain that their relationship with their new neighbors suffered as a result of the law suit. They also claim that shortly after moving into their house, Virginia Meyers “threatened” them over the Meyers’ rights to water running through a ditch on the Czajkowskis’ property, asserting that she could enter their property at any time without their permission in order to maintain the ditch. Virginia Meyers disputes the Czajkowskis’ description of the conversation.

¶9 Regardless of its genesis, the relationship between the Meyers and the Czajkowskis deteriorated rapidly. The Meyers claim that beginning in 2001 the Czajkowskis began subjecting them, and other neighbors, to a systematic barrage of verbal abuse and surveillance. They testified that the Czajkowskis unrelentingly screamed vulgar epithets and made vulgar gestures at them, as well as photographed them and blatantly watched them through binoculars.

¶10 In March 2003 the Czajkowskis filed suit against the Meyers alleging that they violated several covenants, including but not limited to, the requirement that secondary structures constructed on the [507]*507property must match the external design and external materials of the primary structure. The Czajkowskis did not present evidence that any alleged covenant violation by the Meyers diminished the value of their property or the subdivision as a whole, nor did they seek monetary compensation or recovery of attorney’s fees. Rather they asked the court, in the event it found that the Meyers had violated the covenants, to fashion a remedy it saw fit.

¶11 The Meyers counterclaimed that the Czajkowskis violated the covenant that prohibited noxious or offensive activities that were annoying or constituted a nuisance to other owners. They assert that the Czajkowskis’ continuous verbal abuse and surveillance constituted such prohibited offensive activity. The Meyers sought damages for intentional emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees. A bench trial was held on February 2 and 3, 2005. Subsequently, the District Court ruled in favor of the Meyers and awarded $25,000.00 each to Nick and Virginia Meyers as compensation for emotional distress. The court also imposed a $10,000.00 punitive damages award against the Czajkowskis. After a subsequent hearing, the District Court granted the Meyers attorney’s fees in the amount of $10,840.45. The Czajkowskis filed a timely appeal.

STANDARDS OF REVIEW

¶12 A district court’s interpretation of a restrictive covenant is a conclusion of law which we review to determine whether the court’s conclusion is correct. Creveling v. Ingold, 2006 MT 57, ¶ 5, 331 Mont. 322, ¶ 5, 132 P.3d 531, ¶ 5 (citation omitted).

¶13 When reviewing an award of damages, the standard of review is whether the trial court abused its discretion. Sartori v. S & S Trucking, Inc., 2006 MT 164, ¶ 12, 332 Mont. 503, ¶ 12, 139 P.3d 806, ¶ 12.

¶14 We review a district court’s punitive damages findings made pursuant to § 27-1-221, MCA, under the three-part test set forth in Interstate Production Credit v. DeSaye, 250 Mont. 320, 323, 820 P.2d 1285, 1287 (1991), to determine whether they are clearly erroneous. Marie Deonier v. Paul Revere Life Ins. Co., 2004 MT 297, ¶ 39, 323 Mont. 387, ¶ 39, 101 P.3d 742, ¶ 39. To determine whether the court’s findings are clearly erroneous, we will first review the record to see if the findings are supported by substantial evidence. Second, if the findings are supported by substantial evidence we will determine if the trial court has misapprehended the effect of the evidence. Third, if substantial evidence exists and the effect of the evidence has not been [508]*508misapprehended, this Court may still find that a finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, a review of the record leaves us with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Deonier, ¶ 39.

¶15 It is not this Court’s function, on appeal, to reweigh conflicting evidence or substitute our evaluation of the evidence for that of the district court.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2007 MT 292, 172 P.3d 94, 339 Mont. 503, 2007 Mont. LEXIS 535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/czajkowski-v-meyers-mont-2007.