Shader v. Hampton Improvement Ass'n
Annotate this CasePetitioners purchased real property comprised of two lots in a community of single family homes in Hampton. Petitioners later purported to subdivide their property to create an additional undeveloped parcel, which Petitioners offered for sale as separate and buildable. The Hampton Improvement Association (HIA) responded that the restrictive covenants prohibited property owners from erecting more than one house per deeded lot. Petitioners filed a complaint for declaratory relief seeking a declaration that their property consisted of two separate buildable lots and that the restrictive covenants did not prohibit the building of a home on the second lot. The circuit court denied relief. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed, concluding that the circuit court (1) correctly denied the Shaders’s attempted use of offensive non-collateral estoppel, and (2) properly found that the restriction prohibiting the construction of more than one dwelling on a single lot was not abandoned by the HIA. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in determining that (1) the HIA was barred from relitigating the enforcement of the restrictive covenants due to a prior judgment entered against the HIA, and (2) the HIA did waive by abandonment the restrictions allowing the construction of numerous buildings.
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