River Valley Land, Inc. v. Hudson

347 S.W.3d 40, 2009 Ark. App. 600, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 763
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 23, 2009
DocketCA 08-854
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 347 S.W.3d 40 (River Valley Land, Inc. v. Hudson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
River Valley Land, Inc. v. Hudson, 347 S.W.3d 40, 2009 Ark. App. 600, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 763 (Ark. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

JOHN MAUZY PITTMAN, Judge.

liThis appeal and cross-appeal present questions concerning the location of the boundary of a leasehold interest, whether a breach of the lease was material, and whether that breach justified termination of the lease. We affirm on both direct appeal and on cross-appeal.

This is a third appeal to this court of a case involving a long-standing family dispute over the use of a fifty-six-acre tract of land in Pulaski County. C.R. Hudson, Sr., and his wife, Julia Ann Hudson, owned this land, which was used for the operation of a marina and for agricultural purposes. In 1973, they gave a ninety-nine-year lease of the property to appellant River Valley Land, Inc. This lease referred to the property as it was represented in an attached map. Their son, C.R. Hudson, Jr., is now River Valley’s owner. In 1977, the 12elder Hudson and his wife were divorced. The divorce court ordered their property sold and the proceeds divided. In the late 1970s, C.R. Hudson, Sr., and his son became estranged and ceased farming together. River Valley and the elder Hudson then became involved in this action, which was filed in 1979 and consolidated with the divorce case, over the validity of River Valley’s lease. The lower court held that the lease was valid, and the elder Hudson appealed that decision, along with other issues arising out of the divorce proceeding. We affirmed the holding that the lease was valid in Hudson v. Hudson, No. CA83-94, 1984 WL 1875 (Ark.App. May 23, 1984) (Hudson I).

The divorce court set a public sale of the property in dispute and, in 1986, the elder Hudson’s second wife, appellee Glenna Hudson, purchased the land at that sale. The commissioner’s deed stated that it conveyed to her all of the “right, title, interest or claim, either in law or equity,” of J.A. Hudson, C.R. Hudson, Sr., C.R. Hudson, Jr., and River Valley in the property.

Throughout the dispute, River Valley continued to pay rent and operate the marina and the elder Hudson continued to farm the portion of the tract not used by the marina. In later years, the elder Hudson ceased farming and Keith Cook began farming that land as a tenant of appellee. Trouble arose after River Valley obtained a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to expand the marina and began building a road at the base of the levee on land that appellee claimed had always been used as farmland. Cook and C.R. Hudson, Jr., got into a dispute and guns were drawn. See Hudson v. Cook, 82 Ark.App. 246, 105 S.W.3d 821 (2003).

Appellee filed a complaint to intervene in this ongoing action between River Valley and C.R. Hudson, Sr., in 1999, alleging that the commissioner’s deed had terminated River Valley’s interest in the lease; that River Valley had breached the lease by building the road; and that this breach was sufficiently material to terminate the lease. A supplement to the complaint was filed in which appellee sought to reform the lease agreement to reflect that it was not in effect on her property. River Valley took the position that the commissioner’s deed had purported to convey its leasehold interest in the property in error.

After a trial in June 2000, the court entered an order on July 5, 2000. The court found that the language in the commissioner’s deed purporting to convey River Valley’s interest in the property was a mistake and reformed it to reflect that the deed is subject to the lease, which the court determined to be valid. River Valley was granted ninety days to restore the land to the condition it was in before the road was built or to seek and receive permission to make the changes on the property. If River Valley believed that permission was unreasonably withheld, it must institute an action to obtain permission for the changes. We dismissed the appeal from that order because it was not a final order. Cook v. River Valley Land, Inc., No. CA00-1428, 2001 WL 1298844 (Ark.App. Oct. 24, 2001) (Hudson II).

^Following the dismissal of the appeal in Hudson II, appellee sent River Valley a “Notice of Termination of Lease Agreement” in 2006 in which she asserted that River Valley had breached the lease by building a road on the leased property, by violating an order of the court that it either obtain permission for building the road or removing it; by subletting portions of the marina; by failing to keep the leased premises in a neat and presentable condition by having abandoned boats and vehicles on the property; and by failing to maintain liability insurance. River Valley responded by stating that the road issue had been litigated and the court had found the breach not material. It also denied the remaining bases contained in the notice.

On July 31, 2006, appellee filed a “Motion to Terminate Lease Agreement and for Award of Damages” in which she alleged the breaches contained in the above notice and sought damages for River Valley’s wrongful holding over on the property. River Valley responded and denied the material allegations. It also filed a motion requesting permission for a road it had built to remain and alleged that appel-lee was unreasonably withholding her consent.

After a trial held in the summer of 2007, the circuit court took the matter under advisement and entered its order containing extensive findings on December 31, 2007. The court found that River Valley planned to expand its marina by systematically expanding its leasehold. The court discussed the survey performed by John Tweedle and noted that 15Tweedle attempted to match his survey with known landmarks, but that the survey did not match the parties’ apparent intention. The court nevertheless accepted the survey as the boundary of the leasehold. That survey established the boundary line as the middle of the levee road. The court also concluded that River Valley breached the lease by building the road without appel-lee’s permission, but that it was not a material breach. Finally, the court found that appellee unreasonably withheld her consent to the construction of the road. The court also ruled that, except as modified, the July 5, 2000, order remained in full force and effect.

After the parties filed their notices of appeal and cross-appeal, each party filed a motion for attorney’s fees, asserting that they were the prevailing party. Following a hearing, the circuit court found that ap-pellee was the prevailing party even though she did not prevail on all of her claims. The court awarded her $10,200 of her requested fees of $20,400, but stayed the award pending appeal. River Valley timely filed its notice of appeal from the order awarding attorney’s fees.

For its first point on appeal, River Valley argues that the circuit court’s order does not contain a specific description of the boundary of the leasehold interest. The location of a boundary line is a question of fact, and we will affirm a circuit court’s finding of fact with regard to the location of a boundary line unless the finding is clearly erroneous. Robertson v. Lees, 87 Ark.App. 172, 181, 189 S.W.3d 463, 469 (2004). A finding is clearly erroneous |fiwhen, although there is evidence to support it, we are left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Id. We first note that this dispute only concerns the southern boundary of the leasehold.

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Bluebook (online)
347 S.W.3d 40, 2009 Ark. App. 600, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/river-valley-land-inc-v-hudson-arkctapp-2009.