Dudoit v. Clifton

158 P.3d 293, 114 Haw. 175, 2006 Haw. App. LEXIS 739
CourtHawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 15, 2006
DocketNo. 27933
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 158 P.3d 293 (Dudoit v. Clifton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dudoit v. Clifton, 158 P.3d 293, 114 Haw. 175, 2006 Haw. App. LEXIS 739 (hawapp 2006).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

BURNS, C.J.

Plaintiff-Appellant Violet Yuen Shim Du-doit (Dudoit) is the trustee of a Trust Agreement dated November 15, 1983. The trust owns land court property at 1338 Wanaka Street, Honolulu, Hawaii. Trustee Dudoit appeals from the “Final Judgment Pursuant to HRCP [Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure] Rule 58” (Final Judgment) filed on April 28, 2006 in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit.1 We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Defendants-Appellees Frank Clifton and Marina Clifton (the Cliftons) own land court property at 1344 Wanaka Street, Honolulu, Hawaii. On March 9, 2005, Trustee Dudoit filed a “Complaint for Trespass and Ejectment” (Complaint) alleging that moss rock walls, tile walls, and a deck owned by the Cliftons were trespassing and encroaching on Trustee Dudoit’s property.

On September 19, 2005, the Cliftons filed a motion to dismiss the Complaint (Motion to Dismiss). Trustee Dudoit’s November 3, 2005 pretrial statement states in part:

Many years ago, two owners of adjoining residential lots agreed to build a common wall with one owner, Mr. [Stanley] Bicoy, actually constructing the wall and the other owner not participating in any way with the construction of the wall.
The walls constructed by Mr. Bicoy were far more than common walls in that some were over 14 feet high and actually used as retaining walls for the benefit of the Bicoy house.
[[Image here]]
The facts will show that the prior owner of the Clifton property, Mr. Bicoy, built [177]*177walls which encroached onto the property now owned by [Trustee Dudoit].
The property is Land Court property and there is nothing on the Transfer Certificate of Title that authorized the Cliftons to continue to maintain these encroaching walls on the Dudoit property.
[[Image here]]
The prior owner of the Dudoit property, Larry Debebar, will testify that the walls were entirely constructed by Mr. Bicoy, prior owner of the Clifton property, and that he did not object to their construction, however, Debebar will testify that to his knowledge, there were no building permits obtained and there was no written agreement signed by the parties and recorded on the Transfer Certificate of Title.
[Trustee Dudoit] will rely on the ease of Honolulu Memorial Park v. City and County of Honolulu, 50 Haw. 189, 436 P.2d 207 (1967) which issued an order of ejectment against the City and County of Honolulu to remove a sewer constructed under Honolulu Memorial Park without any authorization to do so noted on the Transfer Certificate of Title.
[Trustee Dudoit] will also rely on Waikiki Malia Hotel v. Kinkai Properties, Ltd., 75 Haw. 370, 862 P.2d 1048 (1993) for the proposition that agreements by prior owners which are not recorded on the Transfer Certificate of Title are not enforceable against subsequent purchasers. Accordingly, the Cliftons have no right to maintain the encroachment on the Dudoit property.

On January 23, 2006, Trustee Dudoit filed a motion for partial summary judgment. As an exhibit to this motion, Trastee Dudoit filed the deposition of Larry B. Debebar, the person who sold 1338 Wanaka Street to Trustee Dudoit. At the deposition, Mr. Debebar states, in relevant part:

Q. [BY COUNSEL FOR TRUSTEE DUDOIT] And about what year1 did you first move into 1338 Wanaka?
A. About 1964, something like that.
Q. Okay. And at some point in time did you sell that house?
A. I sold that house, right.
Q. Do you remember when you sold the house?
A. Oh, about 34 years ago.
Q. To whom did you sell the house?
A. I sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. Dudoit.
Q. And did you have a neighbor? ...
A. On the right side was the Bicoys.... Q. During the time that you were living at 1338 Wanaka Street did there come a time when you decided to build some walls?
A. Well, Bicoy wanted to make the wall, and suggested to me, “let’s make a wall down there.” It sounded like a good idea at the time. I said, okay sure. I said okay.
[[Image here]]
Q. Do you remember specifically what Mr. Bicoy said to you regarding the wall? A. He said “oh, let’s put this wall and halfway would be yours, half would be mine.” That’s what he said.
I said, I agreed on that.... Just was a verbal agreement. He said, make this wall, and let’s have a common boundary, part of it would be yours, part of it would be mine. That’s all I agreed on.
[[Image here]]
Q. What happened then after this agreement?
A. Well, they made the wall. That was it.
[[Image here]]
Q. Were there any other walls, other than that wall on the Bico/s [sic] boundary line that were to be built?
A. Not that I knew of. But just was a common boundary, that is what I agreed on.
[[Image here]]
A.... I called Dionne2 and said “I made a mistake on that first Affidavit of Truth.”
[178]*178Q. What did Dionne say to you?
A. And she said “what was the mistake?” I told ‘em I didn’t disclose everything to [Dudoit], which was the truth, because I didn’t even meet [Mr. and Mrs. Dudoit]. So I says [sic] I disclosed it to the real estate man. That is what I told her.

(Footnote added.)

On February 7, 2006, after a hearing on December 14, 2005, the court filed an “Order Regarding Motion to Dismiss Filed September 19, 2005” which states in part:

For good cause shown on the record, it appears that the prior owners had entered into a party wall agreement and there is no question of material fact that the prior owner who built the moss rock wall intended it to be a common wall. Therefore, it is not an encroachment on [Trustee Dudoit’s] property. The affidavits submitted by the prior owners indicate the cost of the moss rock wall was shared between the parties and it was intended to be a common wall. There is also an affidavit from [Trustee Dudoit’s] predecessor owner -which indicates [Dudoit] was notified of the fact that it was a common wall. Therefore, [t]he motion is granted as to the moss rock wall. With regards to the tile wall, there are material questions of fact as to whether it was a party wall. Therefore, the motion is denied without prejudice as to the tile wall.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
158 P.3d 293, 114 Haw. 175, 2006 Haw. App. LEXIS 739, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dudoit-v-clifton-hawapp-2006.