Riverview Cmty. Grp. v. Spencer & Livingston (Majority, Dissent and Concurrence/Dissent)
Annotate this CaseIn the 1980s, Charles Spencer and George Livingston formed a partnership to develop and sell property in rural Lincoln County near the confluence of Lake Roosevelt and the Spokane River. Over the next 20 years, the partnership and its successors built the Deer Meadows Golf Course Complex (including a golf course, restaurant, hotel, store, and club), platted several nearby parcels of property into subdivisions, and sold lots to private land owners for homes and vacation properties. A plat identifying the golf course was recorded. A local newspaper quoted Spencer as saying he built the golf course complex "so it would help sell the residential lots around here," and the lots were advertised accordingly. Ownership of the unsold lots and the golf course changed forms and hands over time. After Spencer passed away and after most of the lots were sold, Livingston closed down the golf course complex and began the process of platting the course into new residential lots. Many of those who had bought homes in the various subdivisions developed by Spencer and Livingston believed they had been promised that the golf course complex would remain a permanent fixture of their community, and relied on that promise when they made the decision to purchase their respective homes. Some of those homeowners formed the Riverview Community Group, which filed this lawsuit seeking to bar the defendants from selling off the former golf course as individual homes. Riverview sought to impose an equitable servitude on the golf course property that would limit its use to a golf course or, if that was untenable, for other equitable relief. It also sought injunctive relief. The trial judge issued a memorandum decision granting the Livingstons' motion under CR 12(b )(7) for failure to join indispensable parties. The following month, the trial court issued an order stating that "the legal issue of whether an equitable servitude can be created by implication is a question of first impression in the State of Washington" and granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants to expedite review. The Court of Appeals largely reversed the trial court's legal rulings, finding that Riverview had organizational standing and the individual property owners were not essential parties, and concluding that Washington recognized equitable covenants. However, it affirmed summary judgment on the grounds that it would be "irrational to require the defendants to rebuild and operate a failing business." The Washington Supreme Court granted Riverview's petition for review, affirming most of the Court of Appeals' legal rulings but finding dismissal was based on facts not found in the record. The Court therefore affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.
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