Appeal from the District Court of Laramie County The Honorable Thomas T.C. Campbell, Judge
The opinion of the court was delivered by: Kite, Chief Justice.
Before KITE, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, VOIGT, and BURKE, JJ.
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in Pacific Reporter Third. Readers are requested to notify the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court Building, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002, of typographical or other formal errors so correction may be made before final publication in the permanent volume.
[¶1] The district court ruled subdivision covenants recorded before the developer acquired legal title to the property were enforceable as equitable servitudes. Plaintiffs Terry Cash, Richard J. Maturi, Craig and Rhonda McCune, Rich Nelson and Rebecca Hilliker (referred to collectively as "Cash") own property in the subdivision and claim the district court erred in reaching that decision.
[¶3] Cash states the issues on appeal as follows:
Did the district court err when it held that Subdivider held an equitable interest in land through an alleged oral agreement such that when he recorded a Declaration of Protective Covenants (DPC) on a subdivision he owned at the time, the DPC was also effective and encumbered the land that was the subject of the alleged oral agreement to which Subdivider had no legal title and had not been platted as a subdivision?
Did the DPC which the Subdivider recorded apply to the lands of Granite Springs Retreat, Second Filing when the land was not platted as a subdivision at the time the DPC was recorded and there is no indication in any document that the DPC encumbered these unplatted lands before or after platting?
Did the Plaintiffs have notice that the DPC encumbered their land at the time of purchasing their respective tracts?
Are the Plaintiffs estopped by laches from raising their claims when although they had notice of an Amended DPC which was later invalidated by the district court in a separate action, their previous compliance with a covenant scheme was based on the invalidated Amended DPC and the homeowners association itself took the position for a substantial period of time that the DPC was not applicable to the Granite Springs Retreat, Second Filing?
The defendants, including Granite Springs Retreat Association, Inc. (GSRA) and many individual lot owners (referred to collectively as "GSRA"), phrase the issue more generally:
Did the district court correctly conclude that the Granite Springs Retreat Declaration of Protective Covenants are enforceable against all Granite Springs Retreat lots as equitable ...