Case Title: Peet v. Melani

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: wyoming

Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Date: 1992-04-20T00:00:00Z

Document:
Peet v. Melani1992 WY 47829 P.2d 277Case Number: 91-250Decided: 04/20/1992Supreme Court of Wyoming
Charles L. 
PEET,

Appellant 
(Plaintiff),

v.

Alfred J. MELANI and 
Alfred J. Melani, as Trustee of the Alfred J. Melani and

 Elsie D. Melani Living 
Trust,

Appellees 
(Defendants).

 

Rehearing Denied May 26, 
1992.

Appeal from District 
Court, Teton County, D. Terry Rogers, J.

 

Lawrence B. 
Hartnett, Jackson, for appellant.

Peter F. Moyer, 
Jackson, for appellees.

 

Before 
URBIGKIT, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, MACY and GOLDEN, 
JJ.

CARDINE, 
Justice.

[¶1]      Charles L. Peet, 
appellant, sued his neighbor Alfred Melani, appellee, to enforce a restrictive 
covenant providing that "no house trailer, mobile home or other structure of a 
temporary character shall be placed upon any lot * * *." This appeal is from a 
summary judgment denying relief and dismissing Peet's 
complaint.

[¶2]      We 
affirm.

[¶3]      Appellant 
presents the following issue for our determination:

The trial court erred as 
a matter of law in its construction and interpretation of the intent of the 
Grantors as to the meaning and purpose of the restrictive covenants; or, in the 
alternative, the trial court erred in granting Appellee's motion for summary 
judgment without conducting an evidentiary hearing to determine, as a matter of 
law, whether entities other than "motor homes" were placed upon Appellee's 
property (i.e., mobile homes and house trailers) in violation of the restrictive 
covenants.

[¶4]      Both Peet and 
Melani own residences in the Wheeler Subdivision in Teton County, Wyoming, which 
are subject to the restrictive covenants. Melani was 78 years of age at the time 
of filing this suit. Occasionally friends or family passing through the Jackson 
area in their motor homes park at Melani's residence and visit. Following the 
death of his wife, friends and family visited him during the fourth of July week 
in 1990. They parked their motor homes on his property, but were not hooked up 
to water or sewer, nor were they attached to the ground. Peet and Melani 
exchanged angry words over one of Peet's visitors, a 73-year-old lady fishing 
the Hoback River from a bridge. Thereafter, Peet filed this 
lawsuit.

[¶5]      Restrictive 
covenants are not favored. They are strictly construed in favor of the free use 
of land. Kindler v. Anderson, 433 P.2d 268, 271 (Wyo. 1967). Such 
covenants will not be extended by implication to include anything not clearly 
expressed. Holtmeyer v. Roseman, 731 S.W.2d 484, 486 (Mo. App. 1987). A 
motor home is not a "house trailer, mobile home or other structure * * * placed 
upon [a] lot." The words in the covenant, "placed upon [a] lot" indicate that 
the drafters of the covenant intended something more permanent and of greater 
duration than temporary parking of a motor home while visiting a friend. See 
American Holidays, Inc. v. Foxtail Owners Ass'n, 821 P.2d 577, 579 (Wyo. 
1991); Dawson v. Meike, 508 P.2d 15, 18 (Wyo. 1973) (in interpreting 
covenants, court seeks to determine the intent of the parties). The summary 
judgment in favor of Melani is, therefore,

[¶6]      Affirmed.