Court Opinion

ID: 9624494
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:05:05.670656+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:48.356869
License: Public Domain

ELLETT, Chief Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting):
The question presented by this appeal is this: can an owner of land adjoining land subject to restrictive covenants enforce those restrictions?
The plaintiff owns land in Plat E which was owned and developed by Northcrest Manor, Inc. Phenix Investment, Inc., another corporation, purchased the stock of Northcrest Manor and thereafter transferred certain land previously owned by Northcrest Manor, Inc. to a corporation called Northcrest Investment which developed the land and subdivided it as “North-crest Subdivision, Plat F.” In connection with the development the then owner filed a document in the office of the County Recorder of Salt Lake which so far as material hereto reads:
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:
THAT, WHEREAS, NORTHCREST INVESTMENT CORPORATION, is the owner of Northcrest Subdivision, Plat “F”, situated in Salt Lake County, State of Utah, and it desires and intends to sell and convey the same to purchasers for the purposes herein contemplated, and in order to restrict the use of said property and thereby enhance the value thereof, it hereby agrees with all who shall purchase said property, or any part thereof, that in consideration of such purchase and use thereof, said property shall be and is restricted in the following respects, to wit:
USE OF LAND: Each lot in said subdivision is hereby designated as a residential lot, and none of the said lots shall be improved, used or occupied for other than private, single family residence purposes, and no flat or apartment house shall be erected thereon, and no structure shall be erected or placed on any of said lots other than a one, two or three car garage not exceeding one story in height, and one single family dwelling not to exceed one story in height; .
*345The plaintiff owns no land in Plat F but does own a lot in Plat E which abuts against the defendants’ land in Plat F.
One James B. Cunningham made an affidavit which was filed with the trial court. The contents thereof were not disputed. The affidavit is as follows:
JAMES B. CUNNINGHAM, under oath, hereby deposes and states:
1. I am the president of the North-crest Investment Corporation, the developer of Plat “F” of the Northcrest Subdivision. I have been president of this corporation since the date of its incorporation.
2. That neither the Northcrest Investment Corporation nor myself personally participated and/or owned an interest in the development of Plat “E” of the Northcrest Subdivision.
3. When Northcrest Investment Corporation acquired the property identified as Northcrest Subdivision, Plat “F” there was no restrictive covenant encumbering the property.
4. I made the attached restrictive covenants applicable to the lots in Plat “F” Northcrest Subdivision, together with the buyers of such lots, by recording the same in the Office of the Salt Lake County Recorder on or about August 21, 1967.
5. The primary purpose and intent of the height restrictions contained within the attached covenant is to protect the view of the Salt Lake valley for those lots in Plat “F” on the uphill side of property subject to the restrictions. [Emphasis added.]
Whether or not a restrictive covenant applies to land is a matter of intent on the part of the one who imposes the restrictions.1 In this case it is clear that when the restrictions were placed upon Plat F by Mr. Cunningham, the president of Northcrest Investment Corporation, he did so to protect the view of owners on the uphill side of the land in that plat.
It is to be noticed that plaintiff does not claim that defendants’ land is subjected to any restrictions other than those set out by Northcrest Investment Corporation as above set forth. There is no claim that any prior restriction made by anyone other than Northcrest Investment, Inc. confers any right upon the plaintiff to object to the manner in which the defendants propose to build their home. At the time the restrictions were made to apply to “Northcrest Subdivision, Plat F” the Northcrest Investment Corporation did not own any of the land in Plat E in which plaintiff’s land is located.
I concur in the holding that the plaintiff is not estopped from bringing this suit because of any “collateral estoppel,” but I dissent from the order remanding the ease for trial. There are no disputed issues of fact shown in this case and I think the trial court correctly ruled that the plaintiff had no right to maintain the suit. I would affirm that ruling and award costs to the respondent.
WILKINS, J., concurs in the views expressed in the concurring in part and dissenting opinion of Mr. Chief Justice EL-' LETT.

. 20 Am.Jur.2d, Covenants etc., Sec. 292; see the annotation in 89 A.L.R. at page 812.