Papanikolas Bros. Enterprises, L.C. v. Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers of New York, Inc.

2007 UT App 211, 163 P.3d 728, 2007 Utah App. LEXIS 218, 2007 WL 1775128
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJune 21, 2007
Docket20060350-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2007 UT App 211 (Papanikolas Bros. Enterprises, L.C. v. Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers of New York, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Papanikolas Bros. Enterprises, L.C. v. Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers of New York, Inc., 2007 UT App 211, 163 P.3d 728, 2007 Utah App. LEXIS 218, 2007 WL 1775128 (Utah Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

BILLINGS, Judge:

T1 Plaintiffs Papanikolas Brothers Enterprises, LC. and White Investment Co., Inc. appeal the trial court's grant of summary judgment to Defendant Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers of New York, Inc. (Wendy's). On appeal, Plaintiffs contend the trial court erred in interpreting the declaration of restrictions and grant of easements and in concluding that the statutes of limitations had run on Plaintiffs' breach of contract and trespass claims. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.

BACKGROUND 1

T2 Plaintiffs and Wendy's are adjacent land owners in Salt Lake City, Utah. Plaintiffs own the Canyon Rim Shopping Center (the Shopping Center), and Wendy's owns property next to the Shopping Center (the Wendy's Property), on which it owns and operates a fast-food restaurant.

13 Both the Shopping Center and the Wendy's Property are located on land parcels described in a declaration of restrictions and grants of easements (the Declaration) recorded in 1982. The Declaration describes three distinct land parcels. The Declaration states that Plaintiffs own parcels one and two. The Wendy's Property is located within parcel three.

T4 The Wendy's Property was originally developed in 1982 as a Burger King restaurant. Wendy's purchased the property in early 2008 and converted the Burger King restaurant to a Wendy's restaurant (the Restaurant).

15 The original development of the Wendy's Property in 1982 included construction *731 of a drive-through lane on the north side of the Wendy's Property. As constructed, the drive-through lane was bound on the north by a narrow, landscaped island edged with concrete curbing and on the south by the Restaurant (we refer to the drive-through lane and the related island as the Drive-Through Facilities).

T 6 The Declaration limits the construction of buildings with drive-through traffic on parcel three, allowing such construction only when certain conditions are satisfied. Specifically, the Declaration states that

[njo building featuring drive-in, drive-up or drive-through traffic shall be located on [plarcel [three, except as shown on the [pliot [pllan [ (the Plot Plan) ], without the prior written consent of the [oJwner of [plareel [two and [the lessor of parcel one], including consent to the location of the drive-in, drive-up or drive-through lanes of such facility. Such consent will not be unreasonably withheld provided that the location of such lanes and the use thereof do not impede or inhibit access to and from and the conduct of business from the buildings in the Shopping Center or access to and from the adjacent streets.

T7 The parties agree that the Plot Plan details the Drive-Through Facilities as two curved lines running from the northwest corner of the Restaurant to the northeast. They also agree that the Restaurant and the Drive-Through Facilities have, since the time of their construction, remained in the same location and configuration and have remained in continuous use.

8 In addition to the Restaurant and the Drive-Through Facilities, there are also a number of signs located on parcel three, including two pylon signs and two menu board signs (the Menu Board Signs). The Menu Board Signs and one of the parcel three pylon signs are located on the Wendy's Property. Although menu board signs have continuously existed on the Wendy's Property since 1982, Wendy's replaced one of the existing menu board signs and installed an additional menu board sign when it acquired the property in 2008. The Declaration limits the amount and type of signage permitted on parcel three. Specifically, the Declaration states that '

[the [olwner of [plarcel [three shall have the right to construct two(2) free-standing pylon, monument or other signs at the location designated on the Plot Plan as "Parcel Three Sign." No other pylon, monument or other free-standing sign shall be permitted on [plarcel [three without the prior written approval of all [ojwners and [the lessor of parcel one].

The Declaration also permits, without limit, the construction of directional signs within the designated common areas of each property parcel.

T9 In 2004, Plaintiffs filed suit against Wendy's for breach of contract and trespass. In 2005, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, alleging that the Menu Board Signs are not permitted by the Declaration and therefore constitute a breach a contract; that the Drive-Through Facilities are not physically located "as shown on the Plot Plan" and therefore constitute a breach of contract; and that the Drive-Through Facilities, and patrons' continued use of those facilities, constitute a trespass. Plaintiffs also subsequently asserted that Wendy's committed trespass and breached the Declaration in maintaining landscaping on the Drive-Through Facilities and in constructing a new fence and sign on Plaintiffs' property. 2

10 Wendy's moved for summary judgment on Plaintiffs' claims. The trial court granted Wendy's motion for summary judgment, concluding that: (1) the Drive-Through Facilities do not violate the Declaration, and thus do not constitute a trespass, because the Declaration "expressly authorizes [the] Drive[-]Through Facilities located on [plarcel [three as shown on the Plot Plan"; (2) even if the Drive-Through Facilities constituted a breach of contract or trespass, Plaintiffs' claims are barred by the relevant statutes of limitations; and (8) the Menu Board Signs do not violate the Declaration because the Declaration does not explicitly prohibit the signs and, moreover, be *732 cause the Declaration expressly contemplates the operation of a drive-through restaurant on parcel three, the Declaration must have contemplated the erection of menu board signs-"an inherently necessary feature of modern drive through restaurants." The trial court thus denied Plaintiffs' claims for damages, awarded Wendy's "a declaratory judgment decreeing that the Menu Board Signs may remain in use in their present location and configuration," and "enjoin[ed Pllaintiffs from taking any action to inhibit Wendy's from using and maintaining the Drive-Through Facilities and the Menu Board Signs in their present location and configuration." In accordance with a fee provision in the Declaration, the trial court awarded costs and attorney fees to Wendy's. The fee provision states that

[in the event that legal proceedings are brought or commenced to enforce any of the terms of the] Declaration against any [olJwner or other party with an interest in the Shopping Center, the successful party in such action shall then be entitled to receive and shall receive from the defaulting [olwner or party a reasonable sum as attorney [] fees and costs, to be fixed by the court in the same action.

In its findings of fact and conclusions of law, the trial court did not apparently consider Plaintiffs' claims concerning Wendy's alleged maintenance of landscaping within the Drive-Through Facilities and its purported installation of a new fence and sign on Plaintiffs' property.

1 11 Plaintiffs appeal.

ISSUE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

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2012 UT App 241 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
2007 UT App 211, 163 P.3d 728, 2007 Utah App. LEXIS 218, 2007 WL 1775128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/papanikolas-bros-enterprises-lc-v-wendys-old-fashioned-hamburgers-of-utahctapp-2007.