Fertitta v. Bay Shore Development Corp.

291 A.2d 662, 266 Md. 59, 1972 Md. LEXIS 718
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJune 13, 1972
Docket[No. 374, September Term, 1971.]
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 291 A.2d 662 (Fertitta v. Bay Shore Development Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fertitta v. Bay Shore Development Corp., 291 A.2d 662, 266 Md. 59, 1972 Md. LEXIS 718 (Md. 1972).

Opinion

Smith, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is the second trip to this Court of this case which had its origin in a surveyor’s error prior to World War II. That error caused construction by the State Roads Commission (the Commission) of the “Ocean Highway” from Ocean City to Fenwick Island at a place other than in the location described in the deeds and its plats. 1 See Fertitta v. Bay Shore Dev. Corp., 252 Md. 393, 250 A. 2d 69 (1969), and the plats at pages 405 and 406 for a better understanding of this controversy. We shall repeat only such facts from the earlier case as are necessary to an understanding here.

Appellant, Rosemary Fertitta (Fertitta), was the appellant in the earlier case. Bay Shore Development Corporation (Bay Shore) and Skyline Development Corporation (Skyline) were the appellees there as they are here.

In 1940 Fertitta’s father conveyed to the Commission *61 part of Lots 1 and 2 of Block 87 on the plat recorded among the land records of Worcester County in 1891, to which reference will be made from time to time. His land lay immediately east of Philadelphia Avenue as laid down on that plat. It was intended that the Ocean Highway coincide with and extend east and west from Philadelphia Avenue as shown on that plat. As constructed, the west side of Ocean Highway in the area of the Fertitta land was just east of Philadelphia Avenue as shown on the plat.

In 1952 Fertitta’s father made a second deed to the Commission for the Ocean Highway. That time it was by a proper description. Prior to either conveyance to the Commission, Fertitta’s father owned to the center of Philadelphia Avenue under the provisions of Chapter 684 of the Acts of 1892, now codified as Code (1957, 1966 Repl. Vol.) Art. 21, § 107. The Commission did not convey back to Mr. Fertitta that which had been mistakenly conveyed to it by him. The second deed did recite that it was “in substitution for and in lieu of” the earlier deed.

In the earlier action Fertitta sued Bay Shore in ejectment. The area then in dispute was the sliver of land between the Coastal Highway as constructed and the east side of Philadelphia Avenue plus the east half of the bed of Philadelphia Avenue in front of Lots 1 and 2. We held Fertitta possessed of an equitable title, but not of legal title. Therefore, we said, she could not prevail in ejectment. We remanded the case without affirmance or reversal for further proceedings, stating that under Maryland Rule 515 it should be transferred to equity. This was accomplished. The chancellor then ruled against Fertitta except for the sliver varying in depth from .3 of a foot on the south end to 1.9 feet on the north end between Philadelphia Avenue and Ocean Highway. There was no cross-appeal. Thus, the controversy here is relative to the bed of the east half of Philadelphia Avenue adjacent to Lots 1 and 2. We shall reverse the adverse ruling relative to the east half of Philadelphia Avenue.

*62 This case may be somewhat more easily understood by reference to its cast of characters:

Frank Fertitta — acquired land by two deeds, the first in 1936 and the second in 1938. Father of appellant, Rosemary Fertitta.
Rosemary Fertitta — inherited land from her father.
William B. S. Powell — onetime owner of a much larger tract including land conveyed to Frank Fertitta by Lewis C. Merryman, trustee, in a chancery proceeding in Worcester County and that conveyed to Bay Shore on the east side of Philadelphia Avenue by M. Elizabeth Powell, trustee in a chancery proceeding in Worcester County. See Merryman v. Bremmer, 250 Md. 1, 241 A. 2d 558 (1968), for an account of a sale of the Powell land with particular reference to Lots 7 and 8 in Block 87.
Bay Shore — one of the appellees. Formerly owned land on the west side of. Philadelphia Avenue. Grantee in quitclaim deed from the Commission of a portion of the bed of Philadelphia / Avenue including land here in dispute: A Jenkins corporation.
Skyline — an appellee here and another Jenkins corporation. Land here in dispute was conveyed to it by Bay Shore.
Cullen S. Jenkins — father of Charles Jenkins and father-in-law of John Rolfe. Grantee in deed from M. Elizabeth Powell, trustee, of land on the east side of Philadelphia Avenue and a portion of the bed of Philadelphia Avenue. Also grantee in deed from Marion E. Mumford of certain land lying between the Coastal Highway as constructed and Philadelphia Avenue as laid down on the plat together with the easternmost half of the bed of Philadelphia Avenue in that area. *63 President and promoter of Bay Shore. Grantor in deed to Bay Shore including land acquired from Powell and Mumford.
Charles Jenkins — present president of Bay Shore and Skyline. He succeeded his father upon his father’s death.
John Rolfe — married a sister of Charles Jenkins, a daughter of Cullen S. Jenkins. Grantee in deed from the Commission of a portion of Philadelphia Avenue. It was his title problems which triggered the request to the Commission for a quitclaim deed for a part of Philadelphia Avenue.

In the earlier opinion we enumerated a number of matters which might be considered by the chancellor upon the transfer to the equity side of the docket in determining whether Bay Shore had such notice of the Fertitta situation as to make it other than a bona fide purchaser for value from the Commission. One specific point was “whether community knowledge of the Philadelphia Avenue — Coastal Highway situation reached Bay Shore’s officers in such manner as to put them on notice of the second Fertitta deed.”

At the second hearing the chancellor could not “find in the record any evidence that Bay Shore had any actual knowledge of the prior equities of Fertitta.” In finding that Fertitta had not met her burden of proof, he further said:

“I find no evidence that any attorney had knowledge as to the divergence of the Coastal Highway and the Philadelphia Avenue situation specifically as it related to Block #87, and certainly there is no evidence that any attorney, prior to Mr. Williams in 1960, imparted to Bay Shore any knowledge of the Philadelphia Avenue divergence adjacent to Block #87. Indeed, one would have to indulge in pure speculation to conclude that Bay Shore had knowledge of *64 any circumstance that would put an ordinarily prudent person on inquiry.”

Reference to the plat appended to this opinion, which the reporter is directed to reproduce, will show a sliver of land between the east side of the Ocean Highway as constructed and Philadelphia Avenue in Block 90. This land was conveyed by Marion E. Mumford to Cullen S. Jenkins and wife by deed dated May 3, 1957.

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Bluebook (online)
291 A.2d 662, 266 Md. 59, 1972 Md. LEXIS 718, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fertitta-v-bay-shore-development-corp-md-1972.