Court Opinion

ID: 9883783
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:18:43.810053+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:30.544351
License: Public Domain

FORSBERG, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. The settlement stipulation does not prohibit the conduct enjoined. The stipulation expressly restricts the number of campsites allowed at the Whitebirch property, not the use of the property. A determination that the stipulation restricts the use of the property is contrary to the rule governing interpretation of restrictions on the free use of property. In Costley v. Caromin House Inc., 313 N.W.2d 21 (Minn.1981), the Minnesota Supreme Court stated:
Restrictive covenants are strictly construed against limitations on the use of property. * * * Since the law favors the unrestricted use of property, courts will not adopt a strained construction in favor of restrictions.
Id. at 26 (citing Mission Covenant Church v. Nelson, 253 Minn. 230, 233, 91 N.W.2d 440, 442 (1958)). Any doubts should be resolved in favor of the unrestricted use of property. Mission Covenant Church, 253 Minn. at 233, 91 N.W.2d at 442.
The language of the stipulation is permissive, providing that Whitebirch “may develop and sell not more than 750 campsites * * *.” If the parties intended to restrict the rate of occupancy, they could have provided for this in the stipulation. Instead, the parties limited the number of campsites from the proposed 3000 to 750. Whitebirch should thus be entitled to the full benefit of the 750 campsites 365 days of the year.