Mountain Air, LLC v. Sundowner Towers, LLC
Annotate this CaseMountain Air sued Sundowner for breach of a contract to purchase real estate. Defendants alleged that the contract was illegal for failure to comply with subdivision laws and that it was extinguished by novation when the parties entered into a later option agreement. The court ruled in favor of defendants on both defenses. When defendants moved for an award of attorney fees, the trial court denied the motion, holding that because of illegality the attorney fees clause in the initial contract could have no effect and that the attorney fees clause in the option agreement did not encompass defendants’ affirmative defense. The appeals court agreed that defendants may not be awarded attorney fees under the illegal contract, but held that the trial court erred when it interpreted the attorney fees clause of the option agreement to exclude defendants’ affirmative defense of novation. Because the novation defense sought to enforce the option agreement and defendants raised it “because of an alleged dispute . . . in connection with [the integration] provision,” the subject matter of the novation defense falls within the subject matter covered by the attorney fees clause.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.