The Highlands, Inc. v. Hosac

• Decision Date: 24 April 1997
• Docket Number: No. 22930,22930
• Citation: 936 P.2d 1309,130 Idaho 67
• Parties: THE HIGHLANDS, INC., an Idaho corporation, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Steven W. HOSAC and Georgia L. Hosac, husband and wife, Defendants-Appellants. Boise, February 1997 Term
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 1309

936 P.2d 1309

130 Idaho 67

THE HIGHLANDS, INC., an Idaho corporation, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Steven W. HOSAC and Georgia L. Hosac, husband and wife, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 22930.

Supreme Court of Idaho,

Boise, February 1997 Term.

April 24, 1997.

Cosho, Humphrey, Greener & Welsh, Boise, for defendants-appellants. Frederic V. Shoemaker argued.

Eberle, Berlin, Kading, Turnbow & McKlveen, Boise, for plaintiff-respondent. Stephen A. Bradbury argued.

SILAK, Justice.

This is an appeal from a district court order issuing a permanent injunction requiring appellants to remove a 1,250-square-foot encroachment from the property of respondent, and ordering appellants to compensate respondent for the rental value of the property during the encroachment. We affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In October 1986, appellant Steven W. Hosac (Hosac) and Geoffery Smith formed The Highlands Development Corporation (HDC) to develop land in Boise, Idaho owned by respondent The Highlands, Inc. Hosac is a real estate developer and licensed surveyor and a civil engineer. Geoffery Smith is the son of Richard B. Smith, president of The Highlands, Inc.

In December 1986, The Highlands, Inc. and HDC entered into a real estate agreement whereby HDC purchased 22 acres for $328,680 for the development of the Hackberry No. 1 subdivision. The Highlands, Inc. was to receive two-thirds of the net sale proceeds from each lot in the subdivision. Because at the time of purchase boundary lines for the subdivision were preliminary, the agreement did not speak of a total acreage or a price per acre.

HDC intended to build three patio homes on the premiere lots in the Hackberry No. 1 subdivision. One of these homes was to be the future home of the Hosacs, and it would also serve as the model home for the subdivision.

In November 1987, The Highlands, Inc. executed a correction deed refining the boundaries of the subdivision and enlarging it from 21.421 acres to 21.841 acres. Eighty percent of this extra land became part of the Hosacs' homesite. No additional money or consideration was exchanged as a result of this transaction.

The preliminary map of Hackberry No. 1 containing 34 lots was later replatted to provide for additional lots. Specifically, Lots 33 and 34 were resubdivided into five smaller building lots and two access lots. One of these building lots, Lot 40, a promontory lot at the top of the Hackberry No. 1 subdivision, was chosen for the Hosacs' new home. However, after dividing Lots 33 and 34, Hosac discovered that there was not enough land to accommodate the house he wanted to build. Therefore, Hosac asked The Highlands, Inc. for an additional 0.113 acres of land adjoining Lot 40 so that his home would satisfy side yard and setback requirements. In August 1988, two weeks before construction on the Hosacs' home was to begin, The Highlands, Inc. executed a deed for the additional lands Hosac requested at no cost. The area of encroachment which is the subject of During the construction of the subdivision, The Highlands, Inc. permitted several physical encroachments by HDC and other homeowners in Hackberry No. 1 upon property owned by The Highlands, Inc. A sandstone rock wall, trees and shrubs with a sprinkler system and landscape lighting were placed on The Highlands, Inc.'s property adjacent to the entrance to the subdivision. Additionally, HDC removed excess dirt in developing the subdivision and placed it on a large area of The Highlands, Inc.'s property where the Hackberry No. 2 subdivision was proposed to be developed. Third, upon completion of the subdivision, The Highlands, Inc. permitted Hosac and other residents to plant trees and do additional landscaping along Hackberry Way, the main road into the subdivision.

this suit adjoins this additional strip of 0.113 acres. Construction on the Hosacs' home began on September 1, 1988.

Sometime between January and March 1989, Hosac and Geoffery Smith discovered that a portion of the Hosacs' driveway, as well as some surrounding landscaping for Lot 40, appeared to encroach onto The Highlands, Inc.'s property. Later measurements revealed the encroachment area to be 17 feet at its widest point, comprising a total of 1,250 square feet of the 442 acres of property owned by The Highlands, Inc. Hosac later made offers to purchase the encroachment area, but Hosac and The Highlands, Inc. were unable to agree upon the terms.

In May 1993, The Highlands, Inc. filed a complaint against the Hosacs seeking damages for the encroachment and a permanent injunction requiring the Hosacs to remove it. Following a bench trial in February 1996, the district court issued its memorandum decision finding that the Hosacs had not shown that The Highlands, Inc. waived its right to object to the encroachments, nor had they shown that The Highlands, Inc. was estopped to object. The district court thereafter issued an order requiring the Hosacs to remove the encroachments, and also awarded The Highlands, Inc. damages for the rental value of the property during the encroachment. The Hosacs appealed.

II. ISSUES ON APPEAL

1. Whether the district court's failure to address quasi-estoppel, the main theory of the Hosacs' case, requires remand for further proceedings by the trial court.

2. Whether the district court erred in concluding that the doctrine of quasi-estoppel did not prevent The Highlands, Inc. from demanding that the encroachment be removed.

The Highlands, Inc. raises the following additional issue on appeal:

1. Whether The Highlands, Inc. is entitled to recover its attorney fees on appeal pursuant to I.C. § 12-121.

III.

STANDARD OF REVIEW.

A trial court's findings of fact "which are supported by substantial and competent, although conflicting, evidence will not be set aside on appeal." Kootenai Elec. Co-op. v. Washington Water Power Co., 127 Idaho 432, 434, 901 P.2d 1333, 1335 (1995). This Court will liberally construe the lower court's findings of fact in favor of the judgment entered. Id. at 434-35, 901 P.2d at 1335-36. The credibility and weight given to the evidence is in the province of the trial judge as the trier of fact, and the findings made by the trial judge will not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. Id. at 435, 901 P.2d at 1336. With respect to the trial court's conclusions of law, this Court "is not bound by the legal conclusions of the district court and is free to draw its own conclusions from the facts presented." Id.

The theories of waiver and estoppel present mixed questions of law and fact. Independent Gas & Oil Company v. T.B. Smith Co., 51 Idaho 710, 724-25, 10 P.2d 317, 322 (1932). Because mixed questions of fact and law are primarily questions of law, we review them de novo. Doolittle v. Meridian Joint Sch. Dist., 128 Idaho 805, 811, 919 P.2d 334, 340 (1996).

IV. ANALYSIS

A. The District Court Made Sufficient Findings Of Fact And Conclusions Of Law With Respect To The Hosacs' Theory Of Quasi-Estoppel And Remand Is Therefore Not Required.

The Hosacs first argue that the district court failed to make findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect to the main theory of their case, quasi-estoppel, and that this asserted defect requires remand for further proceedings. In all actions tried to a court without a jury, the trial court is required to make specific findings of fact and conclusions of law which support its decision. I.R.C.P. 52(a); Pope v. Intermountain Gas Co., 103 Idaho 217, 225, 646 P.2d 988, 996 (1982). The purpose of I.R.C.P. 52(a) is to provide the appellate court with a clear understanding of the trial court's decision so that it may determine whether the trial court applied the proper law in reaching its ultimate judgment. Pope, 103 Idaho at 225, 646 P.2d at 996. The failure of the trial court to make specific findings and conclusions will be disregarded only where the answers are clear and obvious from the record. Smith v. Idaho State Univ. Fed. Credit Union, 114 Idaho 680, 684 n. 4, 760 P.2d 19, 23 n. 4 (1988).

The Hosacs argue that the district court's memorandum decision (which the court adopted as its findings of fact and conclusions of law in its order issuing the permanent injunction), is insufficient under I.R.C.P. 52(a) because it does not explicitly address the doctrine of quasi-estoppel. From the record, it is clear that the Hosacs' defenses to The Highlands, Inc.'s encroachment action were waiver and estoppel. These affirmative defenses were specifically pled in the Hosacs' answer to the complaint. Counsel for the Hosacs argued the applicability of the doctrine of quasi-estoppel in his opening and closing statements at trial.

With respect to the sufficiency of the district court's decision, although the district court did not use the precise words "quasi-estoppel," it made numerous findings of fact, and conclusions of law based on those findings, in support of its decision that the Hosacs had not proven that The Highlands, Inc. should be estopped from objecting to the encroachment. For example, in its decision the district court stated as follows:

The Defendants contend that Highlands Incorporated should be estopped to challenge the encroachment, or it has waived its right to object to it ...

The failure of Highlands Incorporated to object to these [earlier] encroachments does not constitute estoppel or waiver ...

The evidence shows that ... Highlands Incorporated at least tacitly approved these [earlier] encroachments in advance ... There were certainly reasons why it did so. These encroachments benefited Highlands Incorporated ...

In both of [the earlier instances of encroachment], Highlands Incorporated was asked if it would deed additional land to Highlands Development, and it agreed to do so. A landowner's agreement to give land at no cost when asked does not estop the landowner from objecting to the later taking of his land without being asked ...

By failing to object to all encroachments, a landowner does...