Goode v. Village of Woodgreen Homeowners Ass'n
| Decision Date | 19 October 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-CA-00325-SCT,94-CA-00325-SCT |
| Citation | 662 So.2d 1064 |
| Parties | Karen GOODE and Paul Crimm d/b/a Happy Homes, Inc. v. VILLAGE OF WOODGREEN HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
James H. Herring, Herring Long & Ward, Canton, for appellants.
Bentley E. Conner, Canton, for appellee.
Before HAWKINS, C.J., and PITTMAN and BANKS, JJ.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The Village of Woodgreen Homeowners Association brought suit for injunctive relief against Karen Goode and Paul Crimm. The Association sought a permanent injunction to halt the further construction on Goode's residence until such time as construction proceeded in accordance with the building plans approved by the Architectural Control Committee of the Village of Woodgreen Homeowners Association. On November 17, 1993, a trial was held and Chancellor Ray Montgomery of the Chancery Court of Madison County granted a permanent injunction in favor of the Association. The court on January 7, 1994, entered an order that Crimm and Goode were permanently enjoined from further construction on Goode's residence until they complied with the protective covenants of the subdivision, including the submission and approval of appropriate plans and specifications by the Architectural Control Committee of the Village of Woodgreen Homeowners Association. On April 1, 1994, Goode and Crimm filed their Notice of Appeal to this Court.
The issues on appeal to this Court are as follows:
I. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN RULING THAT IT HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO GRANT THE REQUEST FOR A PERMANENT INJUNCTION TO STOP CONSTRUCTION OF THE GOODE HOME, BECAUSE THE CITY OF MADISON, MISSISSIPPI, HAD ISSUED ITS OWN WORK STOP ORDER HALTING CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOUSE; AND IN RENDERING AN INCOMPLETE OPINION THAT LEFT TO OTHERS THE RIGHT TO JUDICIALLY DETERMINE THE RIGHTS OF THE PARTIES.
II. DO THE PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE HOME BEING BUILT BY THE APPELLANT, KAREN GOODE, AS APPROVED BY THE ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE, OR THE HOME IN ITS PRESENT STATE OF CONSTRUCTION, VIOLATE THE DECLARATION OF COVENANTS AND RESTRICTIONS OF THE VILLAGE OF WOODGREEN.
III. WERE THE BROAD POWERS GIVEN TO THE ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE UNENFORCEABLE AS A MATTER
OF LAW, AND WAS THE ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE ARBITRARY AND UNREASONABLE IN FORCING KAREN GOODE TO HALT CONSTRUCTION OF HER HOME AND IN DEMANDING THAT SHE REBUILD THE ROOF ON HER HOME BEFORE THE HOUSE IS COMPLETED.
IV. WAS KAREN GOODE'S BUILDER, PAUL CRIMM, JUSTIFIED IN ATTEMPTING, DURING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE GOODE HOME, TO HARMONIZE THE CONFUSING AND INCONSISTENT PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS THAT WERE APPROVED BY THE ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE.
V. DID THE TRIAL COURT, IN ARRIVING AT ITS FINAL DECISION IN THE ACTION, ERR IN FAILING TO CONSIDER THE TESTIMONY OF PAUL CRIMM AND OTHERS GIVEN AT THE INITIAL HEARING HELD IN THIS ACTION WHEN THE TRIAL COURT REFUSED TO GRANT TO THE APPELLEE A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION HALTING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE GOODE HOME.
VI. WAS THE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION OF THE VILLAGE OF WOODGREEN GUILTY OF LACHES IN FAILING TO TAKE TIMELY ACTION TO ATTEMPT TO PREVENT THE APPELLANT FROM SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETING CONSTRUCTION OF HER HOME.
On the March 17, 1993, Karen Goode acquired title by special warranty deed to Lot 16, Part 1-A of the Village of Woodgreen Subdivision located within the City of Madison in Madison County, Mississippi. The deed contained language stating that Goode acknowledged and assumed all the obligations described in the protective covenants for the subdivision and that she specifically acknowledged the receipt of a copy of the protective covenants of the subdivision and of the bylaws of the Village of Woodgreen Property Owners Association. Goode also signed the deed acknowledging that she accepted the conditions of the deed and consented to the terms and conditions found in the protective covenants and bylaws of the Property Owners Association. The deed was subsequently filed in the Office of the Chancery Clerk of Madison County on March 31, 1993.
The appellee, the Village of Woodgreen Homeowners Association (hereinafter "Association"), is a nonprofit corporation which was created pursuant to the restrictive covenants adopted by the subdivision developer, Summertree Land Company, Ltd., on October 17, 1980, and recorded in the land records in the office of the Chancery Clerk of Madison County, Mississippi. These covenants have been amended, and the relevant restrictive covenants to this action were filed and recorded in the land records in Madison County on September 2, 1981. Both sets of covenants were referenced in Goode's deed. The amended covenants restated and declared the creation of an Architectural Control Committee ("Committee") and gave the Committee broad powers as shown by the following relevant excerpts:
SECTION 1. Review by Committee. No structure, whether a residence, accessory building, tennis court, swimming pool, fences, walls, exterior lighting, or other improvements, shall be constructed or maintained upon any site and no alteration or repainting to the exterior of a structure shall be made and no landscaping performed unless complete plans, specifications, and site plans therefore, showing the exterior design, height, building material and color scheme thereof, the location of the structure plotted horizontally and vertically, the location and size of driveways, the general plan of landscaping, fencing walls and windbreaks and the grading plan SECTION 2. Best Judgement. The Architectural Control Committee shall exercise its best judgment to see that all improvements, construction, landscaping and alterations on lands within the properties conform to and harmonize with existing surroundings and structures.
shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Architectural Control Committee, and a copy of such plans, specification, and lot plans as finally approved deposited with the Architectural Control Committee....
SECTION 3. Procedures. The Architectural Control Committee shall approve or disapprove all plans and requests within thirty (30) days after submission. In the event the Architectural Control Committee fails to take any action within thirty (30) days after requests have been submitted, approval will not be required, and this Article will be deemed to have been fully complied with and construction shall be in compliance with plans as submitted. The Architectural Control Committee shall adopt procedures and architectural guidelines which shall be approved by the Board of Directors of the Association.
....
SECTION 5. The Architectural Control Committee shall maintain written records of all applications submitted to it and of all actions it may have taken.
SECTION 6. The Architectural Control Committee shall not be liable in damage to any person submitting requests for approval or to any owner within the properties by reason of any action, failure to act, approval, disapproval or failure to approve or disapprove with regard to such requests. The Architectural Control Committee may refuse approval on any grounds, including purely aesthetic conditions. Any adverse ruling may be appealed to the Committee under its rules and regulations.
....
The following restrictions are imposed as a common scheme upon site and Common Areas for the benefit of each other site and Common Areas and may be enforced by any Owner of site or the Association:
....
13. All fences, decks, storage buildings, patios, storm doors and screens, sun control devices, swimming pools, garages and carports, driveways or parking pads, additional rooms, porches, greenhouses, air conditioning units, attic ventilators, chimneys and metal flues, dog houses, antennae, flag poles, retaining walls and any other structure or addition to a present structure shall be subject to the approval of the Architectural Control Committee.
The restrictive covenants also provide as follows:
Every person or entity who owns any site, including a builder, shall be a member of the Village of Woodgreen Property Owners Association and shall abide by its Articles of Incorporation and bylaws. Membership shall be appurtenant to and may not be separated from ownership of any site. The Village of Woodgreen Property Owners Association shall be governed by its Articles of Incorporation and bylaws.
Article VI of the restrictive covenants is reiterated verbatim in the bylaws of the Village of Woodgreen Property Owners Association.
On February 21, 1993, approximately one month before she purchased the lot, Goode submitted a set of house plans for approval to the Committee of the Association. This set of plans, dated March 1983, had been previously approved for construction in the Sherlock subdivision in the Village of Woodgreen. Sherlock subdivision is composed entirely of contemporary style homes, while Victoria Square, the subdivision where Goode's house is located, consists of only Victorian styled houses. According to Roger Dennis, property manager for the Association Goode had the plans redrawn and had Wayne Caldwell, her uncle and a civil engineer, redraw the foundation. At a Committee meeting held on March 30, 1993, Goode submitted the new set of plans redrawn as the first three sheets attached on top of the old plan. The new plans included the foundation sketch dated March 30, 1993, and stapled onto page 1, and new elevations demonstrating a steeper 10 to 12 roof pitch on the roof line of the garage and of the main part of the house, instead of the 8 to 12 roof pitch that was drawn on the original set of plans. Pages 1 through 3 of Goode's plan submitted on this occasion were dated March 15, 1993, while the remaining pages (4 through 11) of that plan were dated August 1983. Goode testified that she did not notice...
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