Opinion ID: 2356025
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Doctrine of Stranger to the Deed

Text: [¶ 7] When, as in this case, the facts are undisputed, we review the trial court's entry of a summary judgment for errors of law. Beane v. Me. Ins. Guar. Ass'n, 2007 ME 40, ¶ 9, 916 A.2d 204, 207. [¶ 8] Maine case law has recognized the doctrine that a reservation to a stranger, meaning an individual who is not a party to the transaction, cannot by its own force pass rights to the stranger. See Anchors v. Manter, 1998 ME 152, ¶ 7, 714 A.2d 134, 137; Tripp v. Huff, 606 A.2d 792, 793 (Me.1992); Town of Manchester v. Augusta Country Club, 477 A.2d 1124, 1130-31 (Me.1984); Fitanides v. Holman, 310 A.2d 65, 67 (Me.1973). If the stranger to the deed doctrine prevents a restrictive covenant from being enforced, it does so by making the covenant unenforceable at its creation. Therefore, we must look at the relationship of the parties at the time that the covenant was created. The deed to Lot B in which the covenant was created in this case is the deed from Lawrence Scahill, as trustee of the Anne W. Weld Nominee Trust, to Kathleen Golob-Jones and George Jones, dated October 13, 1992. At the point when Lawrence Scahill sold Lot B to the Joneses with the restrictive covenant that benefited Lot A, he was also the owner of a life estate, in the adjacent Lot A, the life estate being on the life of Anne W. Weld. On October 13, 1992, Anne was still alive. The restrictive covenant, therefore, was not created in favor of a stranger to the deed, but directly benefited a party to the deed. [¶ 9] It is of no consequence to the application of the doctrine that at the time the restrictive covenant was created, Lawrence Scahill's interest in Lot A was a life estate measured by the life of Anne, and that Anne has since died. The doctrine looks only to the creation of the restrictive covenant to determine whether it was validly created. In this case, the restrictive covenant was validly created. The plain language of the restrictive covenant makes clear that the covenant was created to benefit Lot A, in which Scahill had a life estate interest measured by the life of Anne, was intended to run with the land, and was meant to bind subsequent owners of Lot B. Accordingly, the stranger to the deed doctrine does not apply in this case.