King v. Snyder

• Citation: 189 Cal.App.2d 482,11 Cal.Rptr. 328
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Decision Date: 27 February 1961
• Parties: Alvin KING, Albert Dixon and Frances Woods, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. William M. SNYDER, Elizabeth Ann Snyder, his wife, Agnes C. Snyder, Ethel Pocock and Phillip Pocock, her husband, Defendants and Appellants. Civ. 9855.

Page 328

11 Cal.Rptr. 328

189 Cal.App.2d 482

Alvin KING, Albert Dixon and Frances Woods, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. William M. SNYDER, Elizabeth Ann Snyder, his wife, Agnes C. Snyder, Ethel Pocock and Phillip Pocock, her husband, Defendants and Appellants.

Civ. 9855.

District Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

Feb. 27, 1961.

Wallace S. Myers, Robert P. Praetzel, Charles W. Pierce, San Anselmo, for appellants.

Bruce B. Bruchler, Lakeport, for respondents.

PEEK, Justice.

This is an appeal by the defendants from an adverse judgment in an action instituted by plaintiffs for damages and injunctive relief based upon the alleged violations by defendants of certain restrictive covenants as set forth in a grant deed from Paul I. A. Runge and Helen S. Runge to the Lake County Title and Abstract Company, of Lots 1 to 63 inclusive of Lakewood Park Subdivision No. 1. The provisions of that deed pertinent to the issues here raised are as follows:

'Subject to the following conditions, restrictions and reservations attached to this Grant, applying to all of the above described lands, and each and every part and parcel thereof, which shall, in each and every particular, be construed as running with the land;'

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'Fourth: No camping, or tents, or temporary living quarters, shall be allowed on said lands or any portion thereof, saving and excepting during the construction period of improvements thereon, and in no event to exceed sixty days.'

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'Sixth: All lots in said Subdivision shall be restricted in their use to residents purposes, saving and excepting that Lots 13, 14, 15, 28, 29, 30, 41, 42, 43, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62 and 63 may be used for either residents or for general business purposes.

'Seventh: This deed is made and accepted upon the conditions subsequent that in the event of the breach of any of the foregoing conditions, restrictions, or reservations by the Grantee or any person claiming unto him as to the whole or any part of said above described lands, then, and in that event, the said premises hereinabove conveyed (or any portion thereof with respect to which said breach shall have occurred) shall revert to and become the property of said Grantors, their successors, or assigns.

'In addition to the right of reversion, the Grantors, their successors, or assigns, shall have the right to prevent any such breach or abate the same by injunction or other lawful means. The waiver of, or failure to enforce, any breach of any of said conditions, restrictions, or reservations shall not be construed as a waiver of any subsequent breach.'

Plaintiffs King and Dixon took title to their lots by virtue of deeds which specifically were made subject to the conditions above set forth. The deed by which plaintiff Woods took title to his property was wholly silent as to such conditions. None of the deeds by which the defendants took title to their lots referred in any way to said provisions.

Plaintiffs, by their complaint, alleged that operation of a camp ground by defendants was in violation of said restrictive covenants relative to the use of the land, and prayed that such use be enjoined and that plaintiffs recover the damages caused them from the resulting depreciation of their property.

The trial court found that the restrictions were binding and that all purchasers of lots in the tract took title subject to said provisions. By its...