Opinion ID: 2506221
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Christy Dyer's signature, acting in her individual capacity, on the subdivision plat is sufficient to bind co-owners, Dan Dyer and Christy Dyer as trustee for the Trust, because the recorded plat was ratified by the actions of the other co-owners.

Text: The 1996 plat contains only the signature of Christy Dyer although Dan and Christy Dyer and the Trust are the title holders to the R-lots. The Dyers argue that Christy Dyer lacked the authority to dedicate the R-lots through the 1996 plat without Dan Dyer's signature or the signature of Christy Dyer as trustee of the Trust. A dedication is only valid if it is made by someone who owns the land without qualification. See generally 23 Am.Jur. 2D Dedication § 15. However, co-owners of property may make a binding dedication without the consent of all owners if one of the owners is legally authorized to act on behalf of the other owners or if the other owners consent. Id. This Court has not specifically addressed whether all owners must sign a dedication. However, we have required signatures in the context of whether a covenant is binding on real property. Birdwood Subdivision Homeowners' Ass'n, Inc. v. Bulotti Const., Inc., 145 Idaho 17, 21, 175 P.3d 179, 183 (2007). If signatures are required of all co-owners of property in order to make the land bound by a covenant, it logically follows that signatures of all the land owners would be required for a valid dedication to occur. It is axiomatic that one person cannot unilaterally restrict the use of another's land simply by drafting and recording restrictive covenants allegedly applicable to that land. Id. at 21, 175 P.3d at 183. In Birdwood, the Birdwood subdivision plat and covenants were signed and recorded in 1981 by the property owner's children. The question presented to this Court was whether the covenants were binding on the land if the land owner did not sign the 1981 covenants. This Court held that covenants recorded in 1981, but not signed by the owner of the property, did not bind the covenants to the land despite the fact that the owner sold the land subject to covenants and restrictions. Id. More specifically, the warranty deeds signed by the owner with reference to a platted subdivision may have ratified the plat but did not expressly bind the land to the unsigned 1981 covenants because the language was simply generic ... [and] typically included in warranty deeds to create exceptions to the covenants of the warranty deeds. Id. Although a non-signing owner may subsequently ratify covenants and thereby bind the land, the Court found no ratification of the covenants in Birdwood. See Id. The Court found it significant that the ratification of the plat through references in the deeds did not show that [the owner also] ratified the Covenants. Id. In the present case the land was owned by Christy Dyer, Dan Dyer and the Trust. Only Christy Dyer, acting in her individual capacity, signed the plat and Dan Dyer and Christy Dyer as trustee for the Trust did not sign the 1996 plat. However, the record reflects that parcels were sold with signatures from Dan Dyer, Christy Dyer and Christy Dyer as trustee with the following language: Saddlehorn Ranch, Teton County, Idaho, as per the recorded plat thereof.  (Emphasis added). The preceding language does not qualify as the generic language used in Birdwood. Further, the reference uses the subdivision's lot and block configuration as the legal description to the parcels. By signing deeds and selling lots with reference to the plat Dan Dyer ratified the 1996 plat. Further, Christy Dyer as trustee had full knowledge of the plat and ratified the plat when she signed, in her capacity as trustee, the deeds and sold lots with reference to the plat. This Court holds that Christy Dyer, acting in her individual capacity, did not have the authority to unilaterally bind all the land owners to any dedication through the 1996 plat. However, the other owners, Dan Dyer and the Trust, ratified the 1996 plat by subsequently signing deeds and selling parcels of land with reference to the recorded plat thereof.