Sandlake Residences, LLC v. Ogilvie

951 So. 2d 117, 2007 WL 776605
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 16, 2007
Docket5D06-2520
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 951 So. 2d 117 (Sandlake Residences, LLC v. Ogilvie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sandlake Residences, LLC v. Ogilvie, 951 So. 2d 117, 2007 WL 776605 (Fla. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

951 So.2d 117 (2007)

SANDLAKE RESIDENCES, LLC, and Sand Lake, etc., Appellants,
v.
Robert V. OGILVIE and Marilyn Ogilvie, Appellees.

No. 5D06-2520.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

March 16, 2007.

*118 Richard M. Coln and Harry W. Carls of Taylor & Carls, P.A., Maitland, and Peter P. Hargitai, Cynthia L. Hain and Stuart F. Williams of Holland & Knight, LLP., Jacksonville, for Appellant.

Jack W. Shaw, Jr., of Jack W. Shaw, Jr., P.A., Winter Park, and Carl D. Motes, Orlando, for Appellee.

GRIFFIN, J.

Sandlake Residences, LLC and Sand Lake Private Residences Condominium Association, Inc. ["Sandlake"] appeal the trial court's non-final order granting Robert V. Ogilvie and Marilyn Ogilvie ["Ogilvies"] a temporary injunction. We conclude that the criteria for entry of a temporary injunction were not met and vacate the injunction.

Initially, the Ogilvies owned forty acres of land, part of which fronted Turkey Lake Road. The Ogilvies' home is situated some distance back, away from Turkey Lake Road, on this property. In 1993, the Ogilvies sold a portion of their property to Sandlake's predecessor in interest, Sand Lake Joint Ventures.[1] The portion of the property they sold was the part adjacent to Turkey Lake Road. In conjunction with this sale, Sand Lake Joint Ventures conveyed an easement to the Ogilvies. This easement provided the Ogilvies access to Turkey Lake Road from their home located on the unsold portion of their land.

Under the terms of the easement agreement, Sand Lake Joint Ventures granted the Ogilvies[2] a non-exclusive perpetual easement for pedestrian and vehicular ingress and egress over a permanent access road that Sand Lake would build on its property. Further, under the agreement, *119 Sand Lake Joint Ventures agreed to install an electronic gate ["rear gate"] on the permanent access road at the entrance to the Ogilvies' property.[3]

Sandlake installed a second entrance gate ["the front gate"] across the permanent access road at the point where it intersected with Turkey Lake Road, which went into operation in 2006. It also placed speed bumps across the permanent access road on either side of the gate.

Sandlake provided the several owners having an easement right over its access road, including the Ogilvies, several means to pass through the front gate. The Ogilvies could open the gate by using a single button remote provided to them by Sandlake, by entering a personal access code into the gate's key pad, or by calling Sandlake's office during office hours. Further, the Ogilvies could call their own cell phone number from the gate, and then "buzz" themselves in by pressing nine. If the Ogilvies wanted to admit a guest or delivery person, they could either provide that person with their personal access code or have the person call from the gate, and then press nine to "buzz" them in. The gate automatically opens for exiting vehicles.

On June 22, 2005, the Ogilvies sued,[4] seeking a determination that the gate and speed bumps violated the terms of the Easement Agreement and interfered with their right of egress and ingress under that agreement. Thereafter, the Ogilvies filed a motion for a temporary injunction to require Sandlake to remove the speed bumps from the access road and to render the gate non-operational.

Sandlake responded that the Ogilvies could not show that it had a substantial likelihood of success on the merits because the easement agreement did not prohibit the installation of a gate at the entrance to the permanent access road, and the Ogilvies could not show that the gate constituted an unreasonable interference with their right of passage.

After an evidentiary hearing was held on the temporary injunction motion, the trial court entered the temporary injunction, which required Sandlake to leave the gate open and remove the speed bumps located on either side of the gate. The trial court's decision to enjoin operation of the gate appears to have been based on its conclusion that the Easement Agreement expressly gave the Ogilvies the right to have an easement constructed according to the site plan referred to in the easement, which did not include a front gate. Having reached this conclusion, the trial court decided not to address the question whether the gate unreasonably interfered with the Ogilvies' right of passage over the easement.

On appeal, Sandlake takes issue only with the portion of the temporary injunction order that required it to leave the gate open. It does not appeal the portion of the order requiring removal of the speed bumps.

In determining whether an easement agreement conveys a particular right, rules of contract interpretation apply. Am. Quick Sign, Inc., v. Reinhardt, 899 So.2d 461, 465 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005). Thus, the rule is that "in reviewing the documents creating an easement, if the *120 language is clear, concise, and unambiguous" effect must be given "to the terms as stated without resort to other rules of construction to ascertain their meaning." Id. However, if terms of the agreement are ambiguous, the court may consider extrinsic evidence in determining "the intent of the parties at the time the document establishing the easement was created." Id. The language of a provision is ambiguous when it is fairly interpreted as having more than one meaning.

Two Florida cases address situations similar to the one present. In BHB Development v. Bonefish Yacht Club Homeowners Ass'n, 691 So.2d 1174 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997), a homeowners' association obtained a private right-of-way easement for ingress and egress over a portion of BHB Development's property. BHB later erected a locked gate across the easement for security reasons, and offered keys to the members of the homeowners' association. Id. at 1175-76.

The issue in the case was whether BHB had the right to erect the gate. The Third District Court stated the general rule as follows:

[T]he grant of a way without reservation of the right to maintain gates does not necessarily preclude the owner of the land from doing so, and unless it is expressly stipulated that the way shall be an open one, or it appears from the terms of the grant or the circumstances that such was the intention, the owner of the servient estate may erect gates across the way, if they are constructed so as not to interfere unreasonably with the right of passage. (Emphasis added.)

Id. at 1176 (quoting 20 FLA. JUR. 2d Easements § 36 (1980)). Thus, under BHB Development, analysis of whether a gate may be erected over an easement begins with a determination of whether the terms of the easement expressly give the servient estate owner the right to erect a gate, or expressly or implicitly provide that the pathway will be an open one. If the easement agreement does not address the issue, whether or not a gate may be erected depends on whether the gate would unreasonably interfere with the easement holder's right of passage.

In BHB Development, the easement did not reserve to BHB the right to maintain a locked gate, nor did it expressly or implicitly provide that the way had to be an open one. Id. The homeowners' association had proffered evidence that the gate would be inconvenient for two reasons. First, it would require guests and lessees to carry a key or access code to enter and exit the easement.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
951 So. 2d 117, 2007 WL 776605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sandlake-residences-llc-v-ogilvie-fladistctapp-2007.