Will v. MILL CONDOMINIUM OWNERS'ASS'N

2006 VT 36, 898 A.2d 1264
CourtSupreme Court of Vermont
DecidedApril 28, 2006
Docket05-019
StatusPublished

This text of 2006 VT 36 (Will v. MILL CONDOMINIUM OWNERS'ASS'N) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Will v. MILL CONDOMINIUM OWNERS'ASS'N, 2006 VT 36, 898 A.2d 1264 (Vt. 2006).

Opinion

898 A.2d 1264 (2006)
2006 VT 36

Anne M. WILL
v.
MILL CONDOMINIUM OWNERS' ASSOCIATION, et al.

No. 05-019.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

April 28, 2006.

*1265 Stephen S. Ankuda of Parker & Ankuda, P.C., Springfield, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Jennifer G. Mihalich of Lynn, Thomas & Mihalich, P.C., Burlington, for Defendants-Appellees Mill Condominium Owners' Association, Inc., Graham, and McMillen.

Robert Reis and Matthew D. Anderson of Reis, Urso & Ewald, LLP, Rutland, for Defendant-Appellee Nitka.

T. Darrah Moore of Birmingham & Moore, P.C., Ludlow, for Defendants-Appellees Seiple.

Present: REIBER, C.J., DOOLEY, JOHNSON, SKOGLUND and BURGESS, JJ.

JOHNSON, J.

¶ 1. Plaintiff Anne M. Will, owner of a unit in the Mill Condominiums, challenges the trial court's decision denying her claims for damages, attorneys' fees, and costs resulting from the commercially unreasonable foreclosure sale of Will's condominium by defendant Mill Condominium *1266 Owners' Association. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

¶ 2. This is the second time this case has come before us on appeal. The facts underlying the conflict between Will and the defendants are recited in our first decision, Will v. Mill Condo. Owners' Ass'n, 2004 VT 22, 176 Vt. 380, 848 A.2d 336 ("Will I"). In brief, Will failed to pay her condominium dues for a period of time; in response, the Association foreclosed and sold Will's condominium. The Association sold the condominium to defendants Allen and Linda Seiple for $3,510.10, although the condominium was valued at approximately $70,000.

¶ 3. In turn, Will sued the Association, the Association's attorney (Martin Nitka), and the Seiples, challenging the validity of the foreclosure sale and seeking its rescission. When the trial court indicated that it considered the sale valid and would not order rescission, Will amended her complaint to add claims for money damages based on various theories including breach of contract, mutual mistake, unjust enrichment, inadequacy of consideration, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of the duty to sell the condominium in a commercially reasonable manner. Upon motions for summary judgment, the trial court ruled in favor of the Association, attorney Nitka, and the Seiples, concluding that the foreclosure sale was valid and Will was not entitled to damages on any of her additional claims. Specifically, with regard to the Association and attorney Nitka, the court determined: (1) there was no breach of a contractual duty in connection with the foreclosure sale; (2) the sale contract could not be invalidated on grounds of mutual mistake or inadequate consideration; and (3) neither the Association nor attorney Nitka owed Will a fiduciary duty in connection with the foreclosure sale or a duty to conduct the sale in a commercially reasonable manner. With regard to the Seiples, the court concluded: (1) there could be no contract-based cause of action against them because there was no contract between Will and the Seiples; and (2) Will had no claim for unjust enrichment against the Seiples because they had paid for the condominium.

¶ 4. Thus, one of the central findings supporting summary judgment in favor of the Association and attorney Nitka was that they did not owe Will any duty to sell the condominium in a commercially reasonable manner. Will contested this conclusion on appeal, and this was the argument on which she prevailed.[1] We held that a standard of commercial reasonableness applied to the foreclosure sale, and that the Association and attorney Nitka (as the agent of the Association) had failed to meet that standard in this case. Will I, 2004 VT 22, ¶¶ 15-18, 176 Vt. 380, 848 A.2d 336. Accordingly, we reversed and remanded.

¶ 5. Following remand, Will filed a proposed order with the trial court seeking to vacate the foreclosure deed and to set the matter for trial on Will's claim for damages. Will then filed a motion for damages, costs, and attorneys' fees. The trial court vacated the foreclosure immediately and initially indicated that it would hold further proceedings on the claims for damages, attorneys' fees, and costs. Ultimately, however, the trial court denied Will's damages claim, concluding that a trial on damages would exceed the scope of our remand, and also noting that the specific damages claim Will asserted on remand had not been pursued previously. The trial court further denied the claim for *1267 attorneys' fees, concluding that fees were not available under the statutory section Will had invoked. Finally, the trial court denied Will's claim for costs because she had not provided an adequate accounting. Will challenges these rulings in her appeal. The trial court denied Will's damages claim and attorneys' fees as a matter of law; therefore, our review is de novo. Concord Gen. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Madore, 2005 VT 70, ¶ 8, 178 Vt. 281, 882 A.2d 1152. We review the denial of costs for abuse of discretion. Jordan v. Nissan N. Am., Inc., 2004 VT 27, ¶ 16, 176 Vt. 465, 853 A.2d 40.

¶ 6. We first examine whether Will should have been allowed to pursue a claim for damages against the Association and attorney Nitka for breach of the duty to sell the condominium in a commercially reasonable manner. Will claimed damages in the amount of $79,500 for lost use of her condominium, $5,000 for the cost of removing property and storage, $3,500 for replacement of personal property, $1,200 to clean and repair the unit, and $12,500 for lost personal time. We express no view on the merits of these claimed damages, but conclude that Will should at least be allowed to present them to the trial court in the first instance.

¶ 7. The trial court gave three related reasons for concluding that Will could not pursue her damages claim. First, the trial court determined that rescission and money damages were alternative and mutually exclusive remedies. The trial court did not cite authority in support of this proposition, and defendants offer none in their appellate briefing.[2] In fact, while a plaintiff is generally not permitted to recover twice for the same injury, in this case, Will's claim for rescission and her claim for money damages are directed at distinct harms. See Gokey v. Bessette, 154 Vt. 560, 565-66, 580 A.2d 488, 492 (1990) (noting general bar on double recovery but concluding that bar did not apply where recovery was for two distinct harms). It is true that Will cannot have the foreclosure sale rescinded and also recover the fair market value of the property, as she would be recovering twice for the same harm (loss of ownership of the condominium); however, that is not what Will seeks here. Rather, she seeks to be compensated for damages resulting from her loss of use of the condominium for an extended period of time—a harm distinct from loss of ownership. See, e.g., Coty v. Ramsey Assocs., 149 Vt. 451, 464, 546 A.2d 196, 205 (1988) (affirming award of damages, including lost rental income, for loss of use of property in nuisance action).

¶ 8. Second, the trial court concluded that this Court had implicitly confirmed that rescission and damages were mutually exclusive remedies by the phrasing of our mandate in Will I: "Summary judgment is vacated, and the case remanded to the trial court for entry of judgment voiding foreclosure sale of appellant's condominium unit." 2004 VT 22, 176 Vt. 380, 848 A.2d 336.

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Related

Gokey v. Bessette
580 A.2d 488 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1990)
Coty v. Ramsey Associates, Inc.
573 A.2d 694 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1990)
In Re UNUM Life Insurance Co. of America
647 A.2d 708 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1994)
Jordan v. Nissan North America, Inc.
2004 VT 27 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2004)
Concord General Mutual Insurance v. Madore
2005 VT 70 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2005)
Bissonnette v. Wylie
711 A.2d 1161 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1998)
Coty v. Ramsey Associates, Inc.
546 A.2d 196 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1988)
Trombetta v. Champlain Valley Fruit Co.
94 A.2d 797 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1953)
DeKoeyer v. DeKoeyer
507 A.2d 962 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1986)
Kirchner v. Giebink
584 A.2d 1120 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1990)
Will v. Mill Condominium Owners' Ass'n
2004 VT 22 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2004)
Will v. Mill Condominium Owners' Ass'n
2006 VT 36 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
2006 VT 36, 898 A.2d 1264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/will-v-mill-condominium-ownersassn-vt-2006.