Waters v. Collins

• Decision Date: 05 December 1895
• Parties: WATERS v. COLLINS.
• Court: New Jersey Court of Chancery

70 A. 984

WATERS

v. COLLINS.

Court of Chancery of New Jersey.

Dec. 5, 1895.

Suit by Talcott P. Waters against Daniel L. Collins. Decree for complainant.

Harry Wootton, for complainant.

C. L. Cole, for defendant.

REED, V. C. This bill is filed by Mr. Waters to restrain Mr. Collins from erecting a structure on his lot, within 20 feet of Montpelier avenue, Atlantic City. The complainant and the defendant both own lots fronting upon this avenue. The title of both lots are derived from the Chelsea Beach Company. This company was organized on July 24, 1883, for the purpose of buying and selling real estate; and at that date they bought a large tract of land, which they plotted into streets and lots, of which lots they had sold a large number. The complainant's lot was sold by the company to Amelia Burnham on June 24, 1887. She sold it to Ann A. Bell and Louis P. Scott on January 4, 1895. They sold it to complainant on February 13, 1895. The lot of Collins, the defendant, was sold by the company to Mary A. Riddle on March 10, 1887. She sold it to Enoch B. Skull on June 9, 1887, and he sold it to the defendant August 8, 1895. The deed from the Chelsea Beach Company to Amelia Burnham contained certain restrictions and covenants. Among them was this: "That no building shall at any time be erected within twenty feet of the front property line of any street or avenue, except on Atlantic avenue; nor within five feet of the side lines of such lot, except where a party may own two or more contiguous lots; then, a building may be erected on any part of the lot or lots, the owner thereof may desire, without regard to the intervening line or lines; provided the same is not built within five feet of the outside line of said lots, nor within twenty feet of the front property line thereof; and also that no building of less value than five hundred dollars shall be erected thereon." There are other restrictions in regard to the kind of buildings that shall be erected, and how they shall be used. Then follows the agreement that the several covenants above specified shall attach to and run with the land, and shall be lawful, not only for the said Chelsea Beach Company and its successors, but also for the owner or owners of any lot or lots adjoining in the neighborhood of the premises hereby granted, deriving title from or through the said Chelsea Beach Company, to institute and prosecute any proceedings at law or equity against the person or persons violating, or threatening to violate, the same. These restrictions were incorporated in all the deeds constituting the line of title from the Chelsea Beach Company down to the complainant. The same restriction and covenants were contained in the deed from the Chelsea Beach Company to Mary A. Riddle, but not included in the deed from Skull to the defendant. The lot of the defendant is plotted on the northeast corner of Atlantic and Montpelier avenues. It lies 50 feet on the former avenue, and 113 feet on the latter avenue. The lot of complainant also faces the north side of Montpelier avenue, and is the second lot south of complainant's lot, on the same side of the avenue. The defendant has begun the erection of a building on his corner lot, which building will stand a distance of 7 feet only from the north side of Montpelier avenue. The complainant insists that, by force of the restriction already mentioned, the defendant must set his proposed building back at least 20 feet from the north side of Montpelier avenue. If this proposed erection is violative of the restriction contained in the respective deeds from the Chelsea Beach Company to the grantors of the complainant and defendant, there can be no question but that the complainant has the right to invoke the action of this court to restrain the defendant from continuing the erection of his proposed structure. This is not denied. The right of the complainant, however, to invoke the aid of this court in the present instance is, in the first place,...