Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani attorneys Solomon Krotzer and Jill Ormond, Managing Partner of the firm’s Phoenix office, obtained summary judgment on all claims for an Arizona nonprofit corporation in a hard-fought real estate and contract case in the Superior Court of Arizona, Pinal County.
The lawsuit was one of several related actions arising from a years-long dispute over commercial use of properties in a rural Arizona community governed by covenants, conditions, and restrictions recorded in 1973. The plaintiffs, owners of properties in the community, alleged breach of contract and tortious interference with contract, and sought injunctive relief and specific performance. They contended the nonprofit had a mandatory contractual duty to enforce the community’s use restrictions against other property owners, and they asked the court to compel enforcement by court order.
After more than two years of litigation, including extensive motion practice, competing summary judgment motions, and a lengthy in-person oral argument, the court agreed with the defense: the recorded declaration made enforcement of the covenants discretionary, not mandatory. Because the governing instruments used permissive rather than obligatory language, there was no contractual duty to enforce, no breach, and no basis for specific performance. The court also found no evidence that the nonprofit induced any violation or interfered with any owner’s independent enforcement rights, and it dismissed the remaining injunctive relief claim as moot.
The court granted the nonprofit’s motion for summary judgment in full, resolving every count in the client’s favor, and denied the plaintiffs’ competing motion for summary judgment. The decision concludes the years-long litigation, fully resolving the dispute in the client’s favor.