Fashion Plantation Estates Property Owners Ass'n v. Sims

209 So. 3d 384, 16 La.App. 5 Cir. 237, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 2319
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 21, 2016
DocketNO. 16-CA-237
StatusPublished

This text of 209 So. 3d 384 (Fashion Plantation Estates Property Owners Ass'n v. Sims) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fashion Plantation Estates Property Owners Ass'n v. Sims, 209 So. 3d 384, 16 La.App. 5 Cir. 237, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 2319 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

GRAVOIS, J.

_JjPlaintiff/appellant, Fashion Plantation Estates Property Owners Association (“the Association”), appeals a trial court judgment that denied its petition for a permanent injunction and found that defendants/appellees, Albert and Gilda Sims (“the Sims”), were not in violation of the subdivision’s restrictive covenants. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Sims own a home in the Fashion Plantation Estates Subdivision located in Hahnville, Louisiana. Their property, as well as all property in the subdivision, is subject to restrictive covenants recorded in the St. Charles Parish conveyance records. The Association is responsible for enforcing the covenants. The original covenants, recorded on February 26, 1999, provide, in pertinent part:

8. Temporary Structures:
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Parking or temporary storage of boats, campers, etc. will not be permitted in front of any homes.

By act recorded on June 11, 2010 in the St. Charles Parish conveyance records, the covenants were amended. The amended covenants provide, in pertinent part:

11. Parking
... Parking or temporary storage of boats, campers, recreational vehicles, trailers, etc. will not be permitted in front of any homes. Also, such items will not be permitted within 100 feet from the edge of any street unless it is parked behind a six-foot privacy fence or in a garage.

In 2004, the Sims purchased a boat, and since that time, have parked it in their driveway, next to the garage door, and in front of a portion of their home. On April 7, 2015, Vincent Comberrel, the Association’s Vice-President and Treasurer, sent the Sims an informal notification advising them that they were in violation of Paragraph 11 of the amended covenants because their boat was parked “in front of |a[their] property.” In the notification, the Sims were informed that they had until April 10, 2015 to remove the boat from the front of their property or formal action would be imposed. When the Sims failed to comply with the Association’s informal request, Mr. Comberrel sent them formal notification on behalf of the Association via letters dated April 13, 2015,1 April 21, 2015, and May 15, 2015 that they continued to be in violation of Paragraph 11 of the amended covenants, and that if they did not remove their boat from the front of their property, the Association would implement the enforcement provision of the covenants and impose an assessment fee of $15.00 per day until the violation was corrected, plus costs and attorney’s fees.

The Sims continued to ignore the Association’s requests, and thus, on August 5, 2015, the Association filed a petition for permanent injunction pursuant to La. C.C. art. 779 in the 29th Judicial District Court, seeking to permanently enjoin the Sims from violating Paragraph 11 of the amended covenants. The Association prayed that the Sims pay a $15.00 daily fine and all costs incurred in connection with the Association’s enforcement of the covenants, including attorney’s fees.

On August 17, 2015, the Sims answered the petition for permanent injunction, de[386]*386nying the ciatos made in the petition, and arguing that the covenants were improperly amended in 2010 and that their property is only subject to the original covenants.

A bench trial on the permanent injunction was held on December 4, 2015. At trial, Mr. Comberrel testified that the Sims’ boat is parked in front of their home, is only 54½ feet from the street, and is not behind a six-foot privacy fence, and thus, they are in violation of both Paragraph 8 of the original covenants and Paragraph 11 of the amended covenants. Three photographs of the front of the |shome were submitted into evidence depicting the location of the boat. Mr. Comberrel testified that the pictures reveal that the boat is parked in front of a portion of the house that faces the street. He stated that it was his opinion that the portion of the house that the boat is parked in front of is part of the front of the home.

Mr. Comberrel further testified that the purpose of Paragraph 11 of the covenants is “to maintain the value of the properties by, by continuing them to look like a, uh, a property subdivision and not some junkyard or whatever else might be put in front of their homes.” He testified that there had been other instances where boats, trailers, or campers had been parked the way Mr. Sims parked his boat, and in those instances, the individuals were sent a notice of the violation, were given time to correct it, and corrected the violation.

Mr. Sims admitted that his boat is parked in the driveway in front of a portion of his house that faces the street. He described the boat as being on the “side of [his] house where the garage is.”

Following the trial, both parties submitted post-trial memoranda. In their memorandum, the Sims argued that a legal definition, not a literal interpretation of what constitutes the front of the Sims’ property, should be applied. In its post-trial memorandum, the Association argued that the covenants are properly recorded, the boat is parked in front of the home, and the Sims have violated the covenants “to the detriment of the overall scheme of uniformity of planning and development governing the subdivision and to the detriment of the other property owners.”

On February 4, 2016, the trial court issued a judgment in favor of the Sims. In its written reasons for judgment, the trial court found that Paragraph 8 of the original covenants is vague and ambiguous. The trial court found that “[n]othing in the covenants defines ‘in front of,’ and the covenants do not otherwise employ the term ‘front’ in such a way that ‘in front of in Paragraph 8 could be interpreted |4in relation to other provisions of the covenants.” The trial court went on to note that while the Association contends that the portion of the structure that juts out past the garage constitutes the “front” of the home, as supported by the testimony of Mr. Comberrel, this may not be the “opinion” of other laymen who may view the Sims’ home. The trial court stated that this finding is supported by the testimony of Mr. Comberrel, who testified that the covenants were amended in 2010 because several of them were ambiguous and needed explanation. Accordingly, the trial court found that the placement of the Sims’ boat on the side of the home in front of the garage door did not violate the original 1999 restrictive covenants.

The trial court also found that the 2010 amendments to the covenants were not effective as to the Sims. It noted that the original covenants set a term of 25 years and a method thereafter for their continuation and modification. The trial court found that the original covenants were recorded on February 26, 1999, and thus, had not been in effect for the 25-year term, such that they could be amended in 2010.

This timely appeal followed.

[387]*387ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE

In its first assignment of error, the Association argues that the trial court erred in finding Paragraph 8 of the original covenants to be vague and ambiguous. The Association argues that in plain and simple terms, Paragraph 8 prohibits the parking of a boat in front of a home.

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Bluebook (online)
209 So. 3d 384, 16 La.App. 5 Cir. 237, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 2319, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fashion-plantation-estates-property-owners-assn-v-sims-lactapp-2016.