Prieskorn v. Maloof

1999 NMCA 132, 991 P.2d 511, 128 N.M. 226
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 16, 1999
Docket19,653
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 1999 NMCA 132 (Prieskorn v. Maloof) 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
Prieskorn v. Maloof, 1999 NMCA 132, 991 P.2d 511, 128 N.M. 226 (N.M. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

BUSTAMANTE, J.

{1} Plaintiff Mia Prieskorn (Prieskorn) appeals from a judgment refusing to quiet title to certain property in San Miguel County, New Mexico. She contends on appeal that (1) a reversionary clause in a deed affecting a portion of her property unreasonably restrains alienation of her property, and (2) changes in the circumstances of the subject property and its environs are so profound and substantial that enforcement of the reversionary clause would be inequitable. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

{2} Prieskorn was the owner of two parcels of land situated in San Miguel County, consisting of a total of approximately 26.46 acres. A portion of Prieskorn’s land is located •within a larger surveyed tract of land consisting of seventy-one acres as described and included in a warranty deed from Najeeb and Mentaha Maloof to the City of Las Vegas (Najeeb Deed), dated December 24,1985, and recorded January 17, 1936, in the office of the San Miguel County clerk. The Najeeb Deed contains the following restriction:

provided, however, that this conveyance is hereby made and the land conveyed under the following conditions: That no building now on said premises or to be erected on said land shall at any time be used for immoral purposes, or for the manufacture and/or sale of any intoxicating liquors by the grantee, its successors, heirs, and assigns, and that in the event of said condition being broken, then this deed shall become null, void, and of no effect, and all right, title, and interest of, in and to the premises of said above described land hereby conveyed, shall revert to the grant- or, his successors and assigns.

The reversionary clause establishes Defendants’ interest in the land because, should the reversionary condition be broken, title to the property might revert to Najeeb and Mentaha Maloof, their successors and assigns.

{3} The reversionary clause was the subject of a prior quiet title action in the early 1950s, filed by Prieskorn’s predecessor-in-interest. In the prior litigation, the reversionary clause was affirmed as to the entire seventy-one acre parcel conveyed by the Najeeb Deed. See Leonard Hoskins Post No. 24, American Legion, Inc. v. City of Las Vegas, No. 14,656 (4th Jud. Dist., San Miguel County, N.M., Feb. 13, 1952). Prieskorn took title to her portion of the land described in the Najeeb Deed with notice of the reversionary clause.

{4} Since 1961, the land conveyed in the Najeeb Deed has been subdivided into multiple ownership with a housing development of thirty homes on the west end and a 204-unit mobile home park constructed by Prieskorn’s parents and predecessors-in-interest on the east end. The center portion is undeveloped. To date, there have apparently been no violations of the provisions of the reversionary clause and thus no efforts to enforce it. Nevertheless, Prieskorn argues that she has been unable to obtain title insurance on the property because of the existence of the reversionary clause. She argues in turn that this has adversely affected the value of her property. She provided no evidence that the values of other properties encompassed by the Najeeb Deed have been adversely affected by the reversionary clause.

DISCUSSION

{5} Before turning to the issues we think it important to define the property interests created by the Najeeb Deed. Clearly, by the insertion of the restriction in the deed the grantors meant to convey something less than a fee simple estate — either a fee simple determinable with an associated possibility of reverter or a fee simple on condition subsequent and right of entry, which is also sometimes referred to as a right of reentry or power of termination.

No exact language is required to create a determinable fee or a condition subsequent, but there must be a clear indication in the dedication of an intent that an interest is given or granted as a determinable fee or on condition subsequent____ “[A] possibility of reverter is that future interest which a transferor keeps when he transfers an estate and attaches a special limitation which operates in his own favor.” When this type of interest is created, the grantee’s estate automatically terminates upon the happening of an event. Typical language which is used to justify a possibility of reverter is: “so long as,” “during,” or “until.” On the other hand, “a power of termination (also commonly called a right of re-entry) is that future interest which a transferor retains when he transfers an estate in his own favor.” When a right of re-entry is created, the grantor or his heirs are given an election to terminate the estate upon the happening of an event. Language creating a right of re-entry may follow from: “provided that,” “but if,” or “upon the express condition.”

Wheeler v. Monroe, 86 N.M. 296, 298, 523 P.2d 540, 542 (1974) (quoting Thomas F. Bergin & Paul G. Haskell, Preface to Estates in Land & Future Interest 64, 66 (1966)); see also 3 Thompson on Real Property §§ 24.01 (discussing possibilities of reverter), 25.01-.03 (discussing rights of entry) (David A. Thomas ed., 1994) (Thompson on Real Property).

{6} The provisions of the Najeeb Deed are ambiguous. On the one hand, the condition is introduced by the phrase “provided however that.” Normally this language is interpreted as creating a condition subsequent with the grantor and his heirs retaining the associated power of termination. See Restatement of Property § 45 cmt. j (1936) (Restatement). However, the condition itself contains language which indicates that the Najeeb Deed is to be “null, void, and of no effect,” and that the land is to “revert to the grantor” upon occurrence of the condition. This language suggests that the condition is to operate automatically.

{7} Comment m to Section 45 of the Restatement notes, however, that “[s]uch a conveyance more commonly manifests an intent to create an estate in fee simple subject to a condition subsequent.” The commentators addressing the subject agree with the Restatement’s position. See Lewis M. Simes & Allan F. Smith, The Law of Future Interests §§ 247-48 (2d ed. 1956) (Simes & Smith). Representative cases so holding include Hardman v. Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce, 238 Ga. 551, 233 S.E.2d 753, 755-56 (1977); Independent Congregational Society v. Davenport, 381 A.2d 1137, 1139 (Me.1978); Ohm v. Clear Creek Drainage District, 153 Neb. 428, 45 N.W.2d 117, 119-20 (1950) (mere expression that the land shall revert is not enough by itself to create a possibility of reverter as distinguished from a right of entry); Fausett v. Guisewhite, 16 A.D.2d 82, 225 N.Y.S.2d 616, 617, 621 (1962) (holding where land was conveyed “subject to the following conditions and reservations viz: ... and whenever the property hereby conveyed shall cease to be used for school and meeting purposes ... the same shall revert to and become the property of the first part [sic],” a right of reentry was created); but see Purvis v. McElveen, 234 S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
1999 NMCA 132, 991 P.2d 511, 128 N.M. 226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prieskorn-v-maloof-nmctapp-1999.