Majers v. Shining Mountains
| Citation | 219 Mont. 366,43 St.Rep. 16,711 P.2d 1375 |
| Decision Date | 07 January 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-100,85-100 |
| Parties | Fred W. MAJERS, Cecila Majers, et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. The SHINING MOUNTAINS, a California limited partnership, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Montana |
Randy Dix, argued, Helena, Jones & Hoffman, Chester Lloyd Jones, argued, Virginia City, Landoe, Brown, Planalp, Kommers & Johnstone, Bozeman, for defendant and appellant.
Poore, Roth & Robinson, Urban L. Roth and Charles R. Anderson, argued, Butte, for plaintiffs and respondents.
Appellant, Shining Mountains, appeals an order of the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District, Madison County, granting plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment. The District Court held that Shining Mountains had an implied covenant to construct improvements indicated on a recorded plat. The order also stated the covenant could be enforced through specific performance. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
Shining Mountains acquired and subdivided a 7,000 acre ranch in Madison County between January and July, 1972. In order to sell the lots, they prepared and recorded subdivision plat maps which assigned a number to each lot and designated common areas and roadways. These plats were filed prior to the effective date of the Montana Subdivision and Platting Act in Secs. 76-3-501 et seq., MCA, and thus were not subject to its provisions. When Shining Mountains prepared the purchase and sale contracts, they specifically referred to the recorded plats. The purchase and sale contracts and protective covenants, also recorded by Shining Mountains, provided that Shining Mountains would form a non-profit corporation or similar entity to administer such things as the "overseeing and maintenance of all common areas." The agreements contained no statements on who would construct roads or common areas.
Plaintiffs and respondents are the purchasers and owners of some of the residential lots within this subdivision. They purchased lots from Shining Mountains between 1974 and 1978. They stated in affidavits that Shining Mountains personnel told them roads would be constructed and maintained by the sellers. They also stated that Shining Mountains personnel told them a dam would be constructed across the creek on the property to form a lake suitable for fishing and other recreation. Respondents apparently asked Shining Mountains to open and construct the designated roadways. Shining Mountains was unwilling to construct the roadways.
Respondents filed their complaint on February 17, 1984 alleging: (1) the existence of a common-law implied covenant to open and build roadways in Shining Mountains; and (2) Shining Mountains was estopped from denying this obligation because of representations made about the road construction. The complaint asked for a decree of specific performance or, alternatively, money damages. On April 2, 1984, Shining Mountains submitted a motion to dismiss contending that the first count failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. They argued that, as a matter of law, roadway easements reserved in subdivision plats do not create any implied obligation on the part of a subdivider to open and construct roads at its expense. Respondents conceded that this was a case of first impression in Montana. The District Court denied the motion to dismiss on May 4, 1984. In its answer, Shining Mountains repeated contentions from the motion to dismiss and raised several affirmative defenses including impossibility of performance for lack of an ascertainable standard and the statute of limitations.
Respondents submitted a motion for partial summary judgment on their implied covenant theory of recovery on July 2, 1984. At about the same time, Shining Mountains filed a motion to stay this proceeding on the grounds that related lawsuits brought four years earlier by other lot owners could afford full relief to all claimants. After briefs and oral argument by both parties, the District Court granted respondents' motion for partial summary judgment and denied Shining Mountains' motion to stay this action. On motion by Shining Mountains and after argument by both parties, the District Court certified its judgment as final pursuant to Rules 54(b) and 58 M.R.Civ.P. on November 7, 1984.
Shining Mountains raises three issues on appeal:
(1) Whether the District Court erred by granting partial summary judgment and ruling that reservation of easements for roadways in subdivision plats creates an implied common-law covenant by the lot seller to open and construct roadways at his expense.
(2) Whether the claims for relief are barred by applicable statutes of limitations.
(3) Whether the remedy of specific performance is available in this case.
Summary judgment is proper if "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Rule 56(c), M.R.Civ.P. This Court has consistently held that the moving party has the burden of showing a complete absence of any genuine fact issue material to the substantive principles which entitles him to judgment as a matter of law. This rule imposes a strict standard on the movant. Farmer's Ins. Exchange v. Janzer (Mont.1985), 697 P.2d 460, 461-462, 42 St.Rep. 337, 339. Once this burden is met, the burden shifts to the party opposing the motion, who must come forward with substantial evidence raising a factual issue. Farmer's Ins. Exchange, 697 P.2d at 462. When reviewing the summary judgment on appeal, this Court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment and affords that party the benefit of reasonable inferences from the offered proof. Mally v. Asanovich (1967), 149 Mont. 99, 423 P.2d 294.
Shining Mountains contends, in the first issue, no legal authority exists to hold that reservations of roadway easements in plats create an implied covenant in the seller to open and construct the roadways. The District Court relied on the reasoning in Beechler v. Winkel (1978), 59 Ohio App.2d 65, 392 N.E.2d 889, and noted that Sec. 76-3-304, MCA, which came into effect after the plats were filed, recognized the general principles involved.
In Beechler, 59 Ohio App.2d 65, 392 N.E.2d 889, the defendant subdivided farmland. When he submitted the plat for recording, the defendant signed an owner's certificate, required by the county, stating that roads would be constructed according to county specifications. Defendant testified he believed that the certificate obligated him to build roads to those specifications only if he wanted them to be public. He then built roads and sold lots. Testimony showed that the cost of building roads to the specifications would exceed the sale price of the lot in some cases. The evidence conflicted as to what oral representations the seller made to purchasers. No purchaser testified that he looked at the plat prior to buying the property. Beechler, 392 N.E.2d at 894, held that filing a plat which shows streets and selling lots with reference to the plat "creates easements and rights in the private owners." Beechler is distinguishable from the case at bar in that the defendant in Beechler agreed in writing to construct the roads and the writing was part of the recorded plat. Here, no writing exists to show such an agreement and the county did not require such a promise.
Other authorities, cited by respondents, support contentions that selling lots with reference to a map indicating streets creates private enforceable easements in the purchasers for use of those streets; purchasers may enforce a dedication of such streets; and selling lots shown to be on a street in a plat creates an implied covenant that the street exists. Respondents acknowledge that these authorities are not directly applicable.
Section 76-3-304, MCA, provides that the recording of a plat establishes the identity of the land shown and that the plat is incorporated into the instrument of conveyance when the land is conveyed with reference...
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