Fences, Not Driveways, Make Good Neighbors

November 2, 2012

A developer in Wylie purchased two adjoining tracts of land.  In 2004, he decided to sell  one of the properties to Capital One.  However, the city decided that both properties would have to be developed as one site, with a single access site on the Capitol One property.  The parties therefore entered into a cross-easement agreement, requiring Capital One to pave the internal drives that would link the access site to both of the properties.  However, Capital One finished its construction and obtained a certificate of occupancy without ever constructing the new approach.  The developer ended up building the driveway himself, and sued Capital One to pay for its cost.  After a bench trial, the trial court awarded the developer awarding approximately $22,000 in damages and another $100,000 for attorney fees.

The court of appeals reversed.   According to the appellate court, the cross-easement agreement required the parties to “keep and maintain” the driveway, but not to actually construct it.  The court also rejected the developer’s argument that Capital One had breached the agreement by failing to comply with a government regulation by not constructing the driveway, because there was no evidence the city had ever ordered Capital One to construct it.  The court also rejected the developer’s quantum meruit argument for failing to attack all grounds asserted in the bank’s summary judgment motion, and remanded to the district court for a determination of the bank’s attorney fees as the prevailing party under their contract.

Capital One, N.A. v. Haddock, No. 05-10-01028-CV