Esfahani v. Steelwood Prop. Owners' Ass'n, Inc.
| Decision Date | 10 August 2018 |
| Docket Number | 2170455 |
| Citation | 271 So.3d 839 |
| Parties | Shahin Shawn ESFAHANI v. STEELWOOD PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATION, INC. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
Michael C. Niemeyer of Hand Arendall Harrison Sale LLC, Fairhope; and Edward T. Rowe of Hand Arendall Harrison Sale LLC, Mobile, for appellant.
James B. Pittman, Jr., and Jon C. Archer II of James B. Pittman, Jr., P.C., Daphne, for appellee.
Shahin Shawn Esfahani appeals from a judgment of the Baldwin Circuit Court ("the trial court") in favor of Steelwood Property Owners' Association, Inc. ("the Association"), regarding a decision of the Association's Architectural Review Board ("the ARB") to deny approval of certain palm trees that Esfahani planted on his property. We affirm the judgment in part and reverse it in part.
Steelwood is a residential subdivision in Baldwin County. In 2012, Esfahani acquired a fee-simple interest in real property located within Steelwood via a warranty deed that incorporated by reference, among other things, a number of restrictive covenants and the Association's bylaws. The restrictions set out in Steelwood's "declaration of rights, covenants, restrictions, affirmative obligations and conditions" ("Steelwood's declaration") that are pertinent to this appeal provide:
In 2013, Esfahani installed palm trees on his property, some in planters near his swimming pool and some planted in the ground. In October 2014, the Association filed a complaint in the trial court alleging that Esfahani had failed to obtain the ARB's approval before installing the palm trees, that the ARB had denied approval of some the palm trees after Esfahani submitted a landscaping plan for approval, and that Esfahani had subsequently refused to remove the palm trees that the ARB had not approved. The Association sought a declaratory judgment, requested preliminary and permanent injunctions to require removal of "all landscaping or architectural ornaments" that violated the restrictive covenants and to prevent additional landscaping without the ARB's approval, and asserted a count for "breach of covenants/constructive trust/association lien" against Esfahani. Esfahani answered the Association's complaint and asserted various affirmative defenses.
A trial at which ore tenus evidence was received was conducted on May 30, 2017. The Association called Richard Miller to testify. Miller had been a principal in the entity that developed Steelwood and, at the time of the trial, was a member of the Association's board of directors and served on the ARB. He also lived adjacent to Esfahani. Miller testified that Esfahani had purchased his Steelwood property after the previous owners' house burned; he said a "very small" portion of the existing landscaping was also burned during that fire.
Miller testified that he had seen the palm trees at issue when they were delivered to Esfahani's property and that he had informed Esfahani that the ARB was unlikely to approve their installation. Miller said that Esfahani had indicated that he would "he[e]l them in," which Miller "took ... to mean just to get them in the ground so they wouldn't be sitting out exposed but not planted to the degree that you would if you were doing it on a permanent basis." Miller said that Esfahani had not submitted a landscaping plan to the ARB before their conversation regarding the palm trees and that he had informed Esfahani that the ARB would need to review a plan.
Miller testified regarding a number of letters in which the ARB had informed Esfahani of, among other things, the need to obtain the ARB's approval of his landscaping plan, which, the letters indicate, Esfahani eventually submitted. The ARB approved aspects of Esfahani's landscaping plan but determined that Esfahani's palm trees, other than some that had been installed around his swimming pool, violated Steelwood's restrictive covenants. Miller explained during cross-examination that the ARB had approved the palm trees that were installed near Esfahani's pool "because they were, in fact, in planters and not in the yard itself[,] and we wanted to work with [Esfahani] on that."
In one of the letters, the ARB also requested that Esfahani submit a "landscape buffer" plan that would depict landscaping designed to shield certain of Esfahani's proposed landscaping features from public view. The ARB eventually directed Esfahani to remove his palm trees, other than those that had been installed near his swimming pool, but Esfahani did not do so. Miller said that there were no other palm trees like Esfahani's in Steelwood.
Miller testified that Esfahani had also installed certain decorative items, such as sculptures and fountains, and that, although a landscaping buffer had eventually been installed, it was not of sufficient height to block the decorative items from view. He asked that the trial court order Esfahani to remove the decorative items until the landscaping buffer had grown sufficiently tall, which, he estimated, would be approximately 10 feet high, or to alternatively order Esfahani to install a landscaping buffer of sufficient height.
Miller was cross-examined extensively. Miller testified that Esfahani had "obviously" misunderstood what sort of landscaping plan he was required to submit to the ARB for approval. He also admitted that Steelwood's restrictive covenants did not specifically prohibit palm trees, or any particular species of tree for that matter. He further admitted that the restrictive covenants did not require that plants installed within Steelwood be "indigenous," although that descriptor had been used in at least one letter from the ARB to explain why Esfahani's palm trees were prohibited. Miller said that using that descriptor was "a poor choice of words in this correspondence."
Miller opined that Esfahani's palm trees did not "blend harmoniously with the natural landscape on the adjoining lots and so on." He admitted that there was no specific document that defined what plants would be harmonious. He was asked about other palm plants in Steelwood, which had apparently been approved by the ARB, and, in at least one instance, he indicated that those plants were harmonious because the ARB had decided they were.
During redirect examination, Miller said that the ARB's intent had been to differentiate between shrubs or bushes and trees. Regarding Esfahani's landscaping, Miller also admitted: "They've got a gorgeous -- everything they've done is magnificent." During redirect examination, he said that Esfahani's palm trees were "[b]eautiful."
At the close of the Association's case-in-chief, Esfahani orally moved for a judgment as a matter of law, which the trial court denied. Esfahani called Deborah Newberry as a witness. Newberry said that she had served on the Association's board of directors from the latter part of 2010 through the beginning of 2013 and had been president of the board for a substantial portion of that time. She testified that, during that time, she had attempted to appoint herself to the ARB but had been informed by Miller that she lacked authority to do so.
Regarding her Steelwood residence, Newberry said that the ARB had approved the landscaping plan for that property. When asked by Esfahani's attorney whether the plan had included "[a] palm of some kind," Newberry testified: "I checked yesterday[,] and we have five in our yard." During cross-examination,...
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