Pebble Beach Property Owners' Ass'n v. Sherer

2 S.W.3d 283, 1999 WL 33199
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 28, 1999
Docket04-98-00650-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 2 S.W.3d 283 (Pebble Beach Property Owners' Ass'n v. Sherer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pebble Beach Property Owners' Ass'n v. Sherer, 2 S.W.3d 283, 1999 WL 33199 (Tex. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

PHIL HARDBERGER, Chief Justice.

The Pebble Beach Property Owners’ Association (PBPOA) appeals an adverse ruling on three restrictive covenants issues. Specifically, PBPOA complains that the trial court erred in three respects: 1) finding that PBPOA had waived the restrictive covenant barring manufactured homes; 2) finding that the structure appellee Connie Sherer erected on her property in Pebble Beach was not subject to the restrictive covenants; and 3) finding that PBPOA was equitably estopped from enforcing the restrictive covenants because it acted in bad faith attempting to enforce the restrictive covenants. In a cross-point, Sherer argues that the trial court erred by awarding Allan Smith, president of PBPOA, attorney’s fees on her counterclaim that Smith violated restrictive covenants. We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand for a new trial consistent with this opinion.

I.

Pebble Beach is a subdivision located in Bandera County governed by the Pebble Beach Property Owners’ Association. Its Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions was duly recorded in Bandera County in 1984, as were the bylaws of the PBPOA. On June 1, 1997, Connie Sherer purchased two lots in Pebble Beach, subject to the Declaration. The Declaration provides that “[n]o house trailers of any kind may be moved onto the property” and that “[n]o structure of a temporary character, trailer, motor home, mobile home, basement, tent, shack, garage, bam, or other outbuilding shall be used on any Lot at any time as a residence, either temporary or permanent. ” Finally, the Declaration requires prior written approval of the Architecture Control Committee before a building or structure can be erected or constructed.

Sherer took steps to purchase a double-wide trailer to be placed on her two lots on or around June 17,1997. When a resident noticed the septic tank being installed on her property, the resident informed her of the need to secure prior approval for her structure. Sherer presented her plans to the PBPOA Board of Directors, who also served as the Architecture Control Committee. In a letter dated August 17, 1997, Sherer’s plan to place the trailers on her lots was denied. Believing that Sherer was nonetheless planning to proceed with installing the trailer, PBPOA moved for a temporary restraining order and injunction to enjoin her from placing a double-wide mobile home on her two lots in the subdivision, asserting that the restrictive *286 covenants contained in the Declaration prohibited such structures.

On August 24, 1997, a hearing was held on the temporary injunction, where Smith appeared pro se on behalf of PBPOA. At the hearing, Sherer argued that the structure she was planning to install was a HUD-code manufactured home, and not a mobile home, and thus was not restricted by the covenants contained in the Declaration. Without an attorney present on Smith or PBPOA’s behalf, Sherer’s attorney called Smith to the stand, and questioned him at length about the restrictive covenants. At the close of Smith’s testimony, the judge made statements to the effect that he had no choice but to deny the injunction, and encouraged the parties to engage in settlement-type discussions during a recess of the hearing. After the recess, the judge announced on the record that he was going to dissolve the TRO, deny the injunction PBPOA sought, and permit Sherer to place her mobile home on the property. Sherer’s attorney asked Smith if he “had a problem with that,” to which Smith replied “No.” Sherer signed a purchase contract for her mobile home on September 3,1997.

An interlocutory judgment denying the temporary injunction, purporting to memorialize the court’s rulings on the record, was signed on October 3, 1997. The court’s order stated that the parties announced that a settlement had been reached and that PBPOA “waives and abandons its claim for relief to prevent Defendant Connie Sherer from moving her HUD-Code Approved Manufactured Home onto her property and she is allowed to place said home on her lot in the Pebble Beach Subdivision.” This judgment was not agreed to or approved by Smith or PBPOA, and erroneously stated that the parties had announced that a settlement had been reached. In fact, the record from the hearing does not reveal any such pronouncement of a settlement or its purported terms.

PBPOA, somewhat tardily, retained an attorney, and brought a declaratory judgment action against Sherer to enforce the restrictive covenants. Sherer then filed a counterclaim against Allan Smith, president of PBPOA, alleging that Smith himself was in violation of the restrictive covenant prohibiting a business from being operated from a home in Pebble Beach.

In a pretrial hearing held on November 24, 1997, the trial court was faced with the issue of the effect of the prior interlocutory judgment from the temporary injunction proceedings on the declaratory judgment action. After much discussion about the effect of the judgment, the trial court ruled that it would not disturb the previous judgment to the extent that it dissolved the TRO and denied the temporary injunction sought by PBPOA, but that a trial on the merits would be held as to all matters contained in the original pleadings; that is, the scope of the restrictive covenants and Sherer’s cross-action. Upon a bench trial, the trial court entered, in pertinent part, the following findings of fact:

1) the Declaration as filed applied to the lots owned by Sherer, it prohibited mobile homes, and Sherer was bound by it;
2) the Board of Directors of PBPOA held itself out as having the authority to approve or disapprove Sherer’s construction plans, and it denied her plans;
3) Sherer moved forward with the purchase of the manufactured home in reliance on the dissolution of the TRO and statements made by the PBPOA president;
4) Sherer had several contacts with members of the PBPOA Board after the injunction hearing, but they did not indicate that they planned to pursue further legal action;
5) Out of the 800 lots in Pebble Beach, of which most residences are situated on multiple lots, there are approxi *287 mately 14 trailers, mobile homes, and manufactured homes.

Accordingly, the trial court entered the following conclusions of law:

1) PBPOA had waived the restrictive covenant regarding Sherer’s manufactured home by its past actions;
2) PBPOA acted in bad faith in seeking to enforce the restrictive covenants, and is equitably estopped from enforcing them as to Sherer;
3) Sherer’s structure or substantially similar structures are not barred by the restrictive covenants;
4) Smith, as a counter-defendant, was entitled to $2000 in attorneys’ fees pursuant to section 5.006 of the Texas Property Code.

II.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Carpenter v. Southbay Homeowners Association
2025 ND 114 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 2025)
MICHAEL DAVID BURGE v. STATE OF MISSOURI
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2025
Garden Oaks Maintenance Org. v. Chang
542 S.W.3d 117 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017)
Tevin Willis v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Aaron Wiese v. Heathlake Community Association, Inc.
384 S.W.3d 395 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012)
College Book Centers, Inc. v. Carefree Foothills Homeowners' Ass'n
241 P.3d 897 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 2010)
Hourani v. Katzen
305 S.W.3d 239 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2 S.W.3d 283, 1999 WL 33199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pebble-beach-property-owners-assn-v-sherer-texapp-1999.