Ute Park Summer Homes Ass'n v. Maxwell Land Grant Co., 8193

• Decision Date: 24 April 1967
• Docket Number: No. 8193,8193
• Citation: 77 N.M. 730,427 P.2d 249,1967 NMSC 86
• Parties: UTE PARK SUMMER HOMES ASSOCIATION, Incorporated, a corporation, W. F. Leslie, James Goldstein, and L. B. Heath, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The MAXWELL LAND GRANT COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

Page 249

427 P.2d 249

77 N.M. 730

UTE PARK SUMMER HOMES ASSOCIATION, Incorporated, a corporation, W. F. Leslie, James Goldstein, and L B. Heath, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The MAXWELL LAND GRANT COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 8193.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

April 24, 1967.

Rehearing Denied May 19, 1967.

Robert S. Skinner, Raton, for appellants

Wright & Kastler, Raton, for appellee.

OPINION

OMAN, Judge, Court of Appeals.

This is an appeal by plaintiffs from a summary judgment entered in favor of defendant and dismissing plaintiffs' complaint.

By their complaint the plaintiffs sought (1) to have defendant enjoined from transferring a tract of land without restraint or restriction upon the use to which it would be put, (2) to obtain a mandatory order directing the development of such lands by defendant, and (3) for a declaratory judgment as to the rights of the parties.

A summary judgment is properly granted, if the movant, on the basis of uncontroverted facts, is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Morris v. Miller & Smith Mfg. Co., 69 N.M. 238, 365 P.2d 664 (1961); Hubbard v. Mathis, 72 N.M. 270, 383 P.2d 240 (1963). In making the determination of whether or not facts are uncontroverted, and whether or not the uncontroverted facts establish a sufficient besis upon which to predicate a judgment as a matter of law, the pleadings, depositions and other matters presented and considered by the court must be viewed in the most favorable aspect they will bear in support of the right to a trial on the issues. Gonzales v. Gackle Drilling Co., 70 N.M. 131, 371 P.2d 605 (1962). All reasonable inferences must be construed in favor of the party against whom the summary judgment is sought. Agnew v. Libby, 53 N.M. 56, 201 P.2d 775 (1949).

Even though the basic facts be undisputed, if equally logical but conflicting inferences may be drawn from these facts, and if any of these inferences would preclude a granting of a judgment as a matter of law, then the motion for a summary judgment must be denied. Hewitt-Robins, Inc., etc. v. Lea County Sand & Gravel, Inc., 70 N.M. 144, 371 P.2d 795 (1962). However, after considering the facts in the light of these rules of construction, if the undisputed facts, as a matter of law, will support a judgment in favor of the moving party, then the summary judgment should be granted, even though there may be a dispute in the facts on other immaterial issues. Morris v. Miller & Smith Mfg. Co., supra; Hubbard v. Mathis, supra; Shipman v. Macco Corp., 74 N.M. 174, 392 P.2d 9 (1964).

The facts important to a decision in this case are that the defendant, a Dutch corporation, owned a large area of land in Cimarron Canyon, Colfax County, New Mexico. In 1946, by a written power of attorney, it appointed a Mr. van Lint,

'* * * as its manager and attorney in fact for it and in its name to act generally as the manager and attorney in fact for The Maxwell Land Grand Company in the United States of America in the transaction of all of its business and in the control and management of all its property of every kind or character located within the United States of America; * * *'

Insofar as the management, control, sale and conveyance of real estate, or any right or interest therein, was concerned, the only limitation thereon was that van Lint did not, without special authorization from the board of directors of defendant, have the power or authority to execute ordinary deeds of conveyance and contracts for sale and conveyance.

In 1947 and 1948 he prepared a plat of a tract consisting of approximately 160 acres in Cimarron Canyon at Ute Park. This plat was designated as 'The Maxwell Land Grant Company, Ute Park Cabinsite Area.' The plat showed the area divided into a large number of lots, showed the location of the lot lines and lot numbers, the existing roads and proposed roads, the Cimarron River, and many other objects and places thereon, and, as a part of the platted area, showed an open area of approximately 27 acres which was labeled 'Golf Course.' Near the one end of this area a small area was marked and labeled, 'Clubhouse.' Another small area in this same vicinity was labeled 'Tennis Courts.'

Markers were placed on the ground corresponding with the lot numbers shown or the plat. This plat was never recorded, but copies thereof were distributed and used in connection with the sale of lots. The lots were located by the numbers on the plat and by the corresponding numbers on the markers. The area designated on the plat as 'golf course' was referred to by those who showed the lots, on behalf of defendant, to prospective purchasers, as a place where a golf course would be constructed, as a playground, or as a recreation area.

When a purchaser selected a lot by number, a record of such was kept on a copy of the plat, this lot was then surveyed and a deed was prepared describing the property by metes and bounds, without reference to the plat. The deed was forwarded to the kingdom of Holland for execution by defendant. The deed contained certain covenants, reservations and restrictions, but it made no reference to the plat or to any interest in the 'golf course.'

Some time after the lots had been sold, including the small 'clubhouse' area and a small portion of the 'golf course' in the vicinity of the 'tennis courts,' the defendant admittedly undertook to sell the 'golf course' area without restriction as to its use. No cludhouse, golf course or tennis courts have been constructed by defendant or by anyone else. No use by the public or by the lot owners has been made of this area for any of the purposes stated on the plat, or in the sales representations.

The plaintiffs, a corporation representing a large number of the lot owners and some individual lot owners, then filed a complaint seeking relief as above stated. The lot owners are either purchasers of lots from the defendant, or are successors in interest of purchasers from defendant.

Assuming the truth of the facts as stated, and indulging all reasonable inferences deducible therefrom, which the trial court was obliged to do in ruling on the motion for summary judgment, the question presented is whether or not some legal right in, or relative to the use of, the 'golf course' area, which right is properly enforceable by the plaintiffs, came into existence by the use of the plat and the representations by the defendant's agents in accomplishing the sales of the lots, and which legally enforceable right is still in existence.

We are of the opinion that the stated facts, if found to be true, would support a right in the lot owners, which is enforceable by plaintiffs, and that the summary judgment was improperly entered.

The defendant points out, and correctly so, that plaintiffs at one point appear to rely upon a common law dedication to public use of the 'golf course' area and that there has been no public acceptance or user of the premises involved. We do not predicate our decision upon a dedication to public use, but rather upon private rights of the lot owners to have the 'golf course' area continue in existence as it was at the time the sales were made upon the basis of the plat and the representations made in relation to the use to which this area would be applied.

We consider our decision in Cree Meadows, Inc. (NSL) v. Palmer, 68 N.M. 479, 362 P.2d 1007 (1961), to be largely determinative of the questions here involved. In that case it is true there was a recording of the plat, and that there was a contention that the 'golf course' area in that case was dedicated to the public. However, relative to the dedication and nature of the rights upheld, we stated:

'Although it is contended by defendants that there was some type of dedication, either common law or otherwise, of the golf course, we do not deem it necessary to so decide. The fee of the golf course area is owned by the plaintiff, but plaintiff's use thereof must be subordinated to the extent of the easement in favor of the owners of any of the property in the subdivision. The issue of the right of the public to use the area is not before us and we express no opinion.'

Just as in the Cree Meadows case, a reference to the plat in the present case demonstrates that the 'golf course' area is obviously 'an essential constituent and integral part of the larger enterprise,' namely, the Ute Park cabinsite area, which is platted in detail.

Concerning the proper rule to be applied in cases like this, the nature of the rights protected, and the means whereby, or the theories upon which, it is held these rights come into existence, we further stated in the Cree Meadows case:

'* * * The proper rule is that, entirely independent of any public right that may exist by reason of a dedication, private rights to the use of a park are created by implied grant, implied covenant, or estoppel. It makes very little difference upon which of the above theories the holding is based. It is obvious from the record in this cause that the Cree Meadows golf course is a place equivalent to a park or other open area, and the right to have the same continue in existence at it was at the time * * * (of and after) sales were made is a valuable one and must be protected by the courts. * * *' As shown by the first quotation above from that case, the right, or easement, is in the owners of any of the property in the subdivision, or cabinsite area as it is denominated in the present case.

In addition to the Cree Meadows case, see the following cases which, though varying in some particulars on their facts from the present case, nevertheless have held, or support the rule, that where land is sold with reference...