Smith v. Huston
| Citation | 251 S.W.3d 808 |
| Decision Date | 20 March 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 2-07-117-CV.,2-07-117-CV. |
| Parties | Robert D. SMITH, Craig B. Lyon, Carl Walchshauser, the Frankie R. Putnam, Sr. Trust, Frank Putnam, Individually, the Clear Creek Air Estates Property Owners Association, Inc., Robert E. Adams, Appellants, v. Benjamin F. HUSTON, Mary E. Huston, Benjamin E. Huston, Diana A. Huston, Thomas Wessie Huston, Cristy R. Huston, and Diane Crawford, Appellees. and Benjamin F. Huston, Mary E. Huston, Benjamin E. Huston, Diana A. Huston, Thomas Wessie Huston, and Cristy R. Huston, Cross-Appellants, v. Robert D. Smith, Craig B. Lyon, Carl Walchshauser, the Frankie R. Putnam, Sr. Trust, Frank Putnam, Individually, the Clear Creek Air Estates Property Owners Association, Inc., Robert E. Adams, Cross-Appellees. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of Texas |
Richard H. Kelsey, Kelsey, Kelsey, Collister & Hickey, Denton, TX, for Appellant.
Marc S. Culp, Culp, Dyer & Halpern, LLP, Denton, TX, for Appellee.
Panel B: LIVINGSTON, WALKER, and McCOY, JJ.
This appeal involves a dispute over access to and fees associated with a shared airstrip servicing the Clear Creek Air Estates subdivision in Sanger, Texas. In two issues, appellants Robert B. Smith, Craig B. Lyon, Carl Walchshauser, The Frankie Putnam Sr. Trust, Frank Putnam individually, Robert Adams (collectively, the lot owners), and the Clear Creek Air Estates Property Owners Association, Inc. challenge the parts of the trial court's judgment (1) awarding breach of contract damages to appellees Benjamin F. Huston, Mary E. Huston, Benjamin E. Huston, Diana A. Huston, Thomas Wessie Huston, and Cristy R. Huston,1 (2) rendering declaratory judgment allowing the owner of the airstrip to collect annual fees as set forth in easement agreements giving the lot owners access to the airstrip, regardless of the reasonableness of those fees and without giving an accounting, and (3) awarding attorneys' fees to the Hustons under section 38.001 of the civil practice and remedies code.2 TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 38.001 (Vernon 1997). Appellees bring a cross-appeal in which they challenge the part of the trial court's judgment (1) rendering a declaratory judgment prohibiting the Hustons from denying the lot owners access to the airstrip if they have not paid all fees due under the easement agreements and (2) awarding attorneys' fees to the Hustons under section 37.009 of the civil practice and remedies code. Id. § 37.009 (Vernon 1997). We affirm.
Appellees Benjamin F. (Ben) and Mary E. Huston bought 324.625 acres of land in Sanger, Texas in 1978. They financed their purchase and subsequent development of the land with loans from First State Bank of Gainesville. Six years later, in November 1984, they filed a plat in the Denton County records, which divided the easternmost part of the property into lots for the purpose of creating a housing development adjacent to an airstrip located on their remaining undivided acreage. The development was to be known as Clear Creek Air Estates. The platted lots abutted the east side of the two hundred foot wide airstrip; all the land west of the airstrip remained undivided acreage. Ben and Mary also recorded covenants, conditions, and restrictions affecting the platted lots.
On July 8, 1985, Ben and Mary sold Lot 5, Block B. The conveyance included a "nonexclusive easement for aircraft for flight and taxiway purposes along, over and across" the airstrip, which was described in an exhibit attached to the deed. The following language was included in Exhibit A, immediately following the legal description of the airstrip:
Such easement is subject to the following:
(1) Rules and regulations as established and amended from time to time by the owner and/or manager of the airport, such airport situated on the 13.008 acre tract described above, and being known as Ironhead [A]irport;
(2) Grantee has no right to park aircraft or any other personal property upon said easement;
(3) Grantee has no right to construct buildings or any other structure upon the easement;
(4) Grantee shall be subject to charge of $200.00 per year for use of airport; Owner and/or Manager of airport shall have right to increase such charge at the rate of 10% annually after the year 1985. Grantee shall pay any such charge within 30 days from date of billing.
In 1987, Ben and Mary defaulted on their loans to the bank. Instead of accelerating the loans and foreclosing on the property, the bank allowed them to execute a deed in lieu of foreclosure. In the deed to the bank, which was recorded in the Denton County real property records, Ben and Mary conveyed 232.136 acres from their original 324.625 acre purchase; the conveyance included all the platted lots east of the airstrip except those that Ben and Mary had already sold to third parties. Ben and Mary reserved to themselves four tracts of the westernmost, undivided acreage, including the land on which the airstrip is located. They also agreed to enter into a maintenance agreement with the bank pursuant to which Ben and Mary would maintain the bank's land and the airstrip.
Several years later, the bank filed suit against Ben and Mary, claiming that Ben and Mary were obligated to grant the bank and its transferees access to and use of the airstrip. They eventually entered into a Compromise Settlement Agreement, which was incorporated into an agreed judgment dated April 18, 1991.
As part of the Settlement Agreement, Ben and Mary and the bank agreed to form the Clear Creek Air Estates Property Owners' Association.3 The Association was to lease the airstrip from Ben and Mary for an initial ten year period with an option to renew the lease for an additional ten years. The Settlement Agreement also provided that the Association would enter into a maintenance agreement with the party of its choice, effective upon expiration of the maintenance agreement that Ben and Mary and the bank had agreed to in the deed in lieu of foreclosure. The Settlement Agreement further provided that Ben and Mary would continue to maintain the airstrip pursuant to the maintenance agreement referenced in the deed in lieu of foreclosure until that maintenance agreement expired.4
The Settlement Agreement set forth other rights and duties of the Association as well, including the rights and duties to provide for "rules and regulations concerning the use of the airstrip and contiguous land," to "[e]stablish the terms and conditions for granting use of the airstrip to members," and to join with the bank, Ben and Mary, or all three whenever necessary "in the preparation, ... filing and recording of restrictions consistent with the existing restrictions" previously recorded by Ben and Mary on any land abutting the airstrip. The Settlement Agreement also provided for two classes of members in the Association: those who owned lots adjacent to the airstrip and those who owned lots that do not abut the airstrip.
Regarding access to the airstrip, Ben and Mary and the bank agreed that the bank would pay Ben and Mary $2,500 cash for an easement allowing Lot 1, Block B access to and use of the airstrip. Ben and Mary also agreed to convey like easements in favor of Lots 2-4, 7-8, and 10-11, Block B at the request of the purchaser upon the sale of any of those lots in exchange for the payment of $5,000. In addition, the purchaser of the lots would receive membership in the Association automatically upon closing. The Settlement Agreement sets forth a process by which owners of lots that are not adjacent to the airstrip may purchase access easements from the Association for $2,000, $1,000 of which would be payable to Ben and Mary or "the then owner" of the airstrip. The Settlement Agreement also provides that "[n]o further payments shall be due to [Ben and Mary] in connection with the use of the airstrip or extension thereof or taxiways or access point." The Settlement Agreement concluded by stating that if the Association failed to maintain good standing, dissolved, terminated, or failed to maintain the lease of the airstrip in good standing, any lot owners who paid for access easements "shall continue to have such access, and no further easement, right-of-way, right or grant shall be necessary to allow them such access."
On April 19, 1991, the day after the date of the agreed judgment, Ben and Mary conveyed the Lot 1 access easement to the bank. This document is recorded in the Denton County real property records. In the document, Ben and Mary convey "a nonexclusive easement for aircraft for flight and taxiway purposes along, over and across" the airstrip. Immediately following the legal description are the same "subject to" conditions included in the 1985 Lot 5 access easement, including the language imposing a $200 per year charge payable to the "Owner and/or Manager" of the airport for "use of [the] airport." In accordance with the Settlement Agreement, the bank incorporated the Association, and the bank's representative, as attorney in fact for the Association, entered into the lease with Ben and Mary as contemplated by the Settlement Agreement.5 The lease allowed the Association to "occupy and use [the airstrip] as a landing strip for aircraft landing and takeoff, taxiing, and related purposes" pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the Association. The lease term was for ten years, beginning June 1, 1991 and ending May 31, 2000; it also provided that the Association could extend the lease for an additional ten years by giving written notice no later than April 2, 2000. The Association agreed to surrender possession of the airstrip to Ben and Mary upon expiration of the lease term. During the lease term, the Association was to be solely responsible for maintenance of the airstrip.
Although the Association entered into the lease with Ben and Mary, it never took possession of the airstrip pursuant to the lease, it never...
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