Jones v. Schoellkopf

2005 NMCA 124, 122 P.3d 844, 138 N.M. 477
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 22, 2005
Docket25,055
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 2005 NMCA 124 (Jones v. Schoellkopf) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Schoellkopf, 2005 NMCA 124, 122 P.3d 844, 138 N.M. 477 (N.M. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

PICKARD, Judge.

{1} Plaintiff appeals from the decision of the trial court, which allowed to stand a six-foot wall that Defendants had built at or near their lot line across the street from Plaintiffs house. Plaintiff claimed that the wall violated the restrictive covenants applicable to the neighborhood, which Plaintiff alleged prohibited walls higher than three feet and prohibited walls in a 25-foot set-back area. Defendants claimed, and the trial court found, that the intent of the covenants was not violated; that the covenants were ambiguous; that the covenants provided for an architectural control committee that could permit the wall they built, but there was no such committee in existence; and that changes in society since the covenants were enacted in the 1950s made a three-foot wall unreasonable. The trial court allowed 30 days for the formation of an architectural control committee and allowed it to make decisions about the completion of the wall, but prohibited the committee from ordering the wall’s removal.

{2} On appeal, Plaintiff argues that (A) the trial court’s ruling was incorrect- as a matter of evidence and property law, (B) the trial court erred in denying him a jury trial on his claim of emotional distress damages, (C) the trial court erred in admitting evidence of a zoning decision allowing Defendants’ wall, and (D) the trial court erred during the pendency of the appeal by requiring the entire transcript to be produced and requiring Plaintiff and Defendants to share equally in its cost. We agree in part with Plaintiffs first issue, but do not find reversible error in any of the other issues. We remand with directions that the trial court exercise its equitable discretion in a manner such that the rights of all parties are considered, for example, allowing a reasonable time be given for an architectural control committee to be constituted, following which that committee will decide whether it is reasonable for some variation of Defendants’ wall to be allowed to stand, and if no such committee is timely formed, then the trial court is directed to evaluate the reasonableness of Defendants’ wall in light of the principles contained in this opinion.

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

{3} The Altura Addition to the City of Albuquerque was platted and replatted in the 1950s. Protective covenants were imposed, and the ones applying to the property at issue had as their purpose “the establishment, creation and maintenance of a high type residential district.” The set-back provisions applying to the property at issue stated:

No building shall be erected on any lot in the above mentioned Zone C nearer than twenty-five (25) feet to the front lot line, nor more than forty (40) feet, nor nearer than twenty-five (25) feet to a side street line, and no building shall be erected nearer than five (5) feet to an interior lot line.

The covenants provided that an architectux-al coixtrol committee would approve all plans for buildings and additions, and they further provided that “[n]o fences or walls shall be erected, placed or altered on any lot nearer to any street than the minimum building set[-]back line unless similarly approved. Approval shall be as provided in paragraph fifteen (15).” Paragraph 14 designated the original members of the committee and the method for election of committee member's after 1963, and paragraph 15 provided that:

In the event the Committee ... fails to approve or disapprove within thirty (30) days after plans and specifications have been submitted to it, in writing, or in any event, if no suit to enjoin the construction has been commenced prior to the completion thereof, approval will not be required and the related covenants shall be deemed to have been fully complied with.

The covenants also stated that “no fence, garden wall or other like structure fronting on any street or avenue shall exceed three feet in height.” Finally, the covenants provided that they would remain in existence for 25 years and would be automatically extended for successive ten-year periods unless a majority of the owners agreed to change them.

{4} Plaintiff has lived in the Altura Addition since 1965. Defendants moved in across the street from Plaintiffs property in 2002. Defendants live on a corner lot, and their side yard faces Plaintiffs property. When Defendants purchased the property, a six-foot tall cinder block wall surrounded their backyard, but the wall was beyond the setback area from the street. Having no actual knowledge of the covenants and desiring to enlarge and improve their backyard for their two small children, Defendants took down the existing wall and rebuilt a similar wall within a few feet of the sidewalk on the side street. A diagram of Defendants’ property, showing the location of the old and new walls, together with their orientation toward Plaintiffs property follows:

[[Image here]]

The tear-down of the old wall and construction of the footing and cinder block portions of the new wall took two days, a Friday and Saturday, following which Plaintiff objected and notified Defendants of the covenants, Defendants halted the finish work on the wall, and Plaintiff filed suit less then 20 days thereafter. In fact, Plaintiffs complaint alleged and Defendants admitted that the pouring of the footings and installation of the cinder blocks took place entirely on Saturday. One Defendant testified that the wall was “far from completed” when suit was filed.

{5} Plaintiffs evidence at trial concentrated on the covenants, Defendants’ constructive notice of them, and the intrusiveness of the new wall at or near the lot line in comparison to the open-looking streetscape elsewhere on the immediate block. Defendants’ evidence concentrated on their desire to enlarge and improve their backyard for the sake and safety of themselves and their small children; their efforts, all unavailing but after the fact, to locate an architectural control committee that could approve their wall; the fact that there are other similar walls in the Altura Addition; and the fact that other, more modern, high-end subdivisions have similar walls. In fact, the parties and the court toured the Altura Addition and several other neighborhoods to demonstrate these last points. In response, Plaintiff pointed out that Defendants had located only 6 similar walls in Altura out of a total of 170 properties.

{6} Following closing argument and the submission of post-trial briefs and requested findings and conclusions, the trial court made its own findings and conclusions and ruling. The trial court’s ultimate ruling allowed the newly built wall to stand. However, the trial court allowed 30 days for the formation of an architectural control committee that could oversee the completion of the wall, and in the absence of such formation the court permitted the wall to be completed at Defendants’ discretion.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2005 NMCA 124, 122 P.3d 844, 138 N.M. 477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-schoellkopf-nmctapp-2005.