Aspen Grove Condo. Assn. v. CNL Income Northstar
Annotate this CaseThe issue this case presented for the Court of Appeal's review centered on a water retention basin that was dug in 2004 as part of an expansion project for ski resort Northstar Village. The resort was owned by CNL Income Northstar LLC and operated by Trimont Land Company. Downhill from the retention basin are 180 condominium units owned by Aspen Grove Condominium Association. Water from the retention basin began to overflow and seep onto Aspen Grove’s property starting in December 2004 despite remediation efforts. After several years of attempts to solve the water problems with the retention basin, CNL communicated to Aspen Grove in 2008 that it would not perform any further remedial modification or remove the retention basin. Aspen Grove responded by suing various entities involved in the Northstar Village expansion project, including CNL. The first phase of the bifurcated trial resulted in the trial court’s granting a permanent injunction that required CNL to remove the retention basin. The Court of Appeal addressed only the first phase of the bifurcated trial, in which CNL challenged the mandatory injunction, arguing: (1) the trial court erred in admitting evidence of damage to the trees on Aspen Grove’s property; (2) the trial court should have excluded evidence gathered after the discovery cutoff date; (3) Aspen Grove was not entitled to a mandatory injunction because it has an adequate remedy at law in the form of monetary damages and the option of building a trench on its own property to divert the water overflowing from the retention basin; and (4) the mandatory injunction was overbroad in requiring removal of the retention basin. Upon review of the matter, the Court concluded CNL did not preserve its evidentiary arguments because CNL did not include them as issues for appeal when designating a partial reporter’s transcript. The trial court did not err in concluding Aspen Grove had no adequate remedy at law because only removal of the retention basin would alleviate the continuing damage to Aspen Grove’s property. "To hold otherwise would grant a private property owner the right to condemn his or her neighbor’s property by limiting the legal remedy for continuing trespass to monetary compensation. The trial court’s injunctive relief, rather than being overbroad, rests on credible evidence that removal of the retention basin would prevent irreparable harm to Aspen Grove’s property. As a result, we affirm."
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.