Miami



QUESTION TYPE 1: LAWYERING

1G. [Fall 2010 Students: Ignore the Zoning Issues Here]. Felice comes to you to see if there is any way she can continue to put up her holiday display. Discuss the factual and legal research you would need to do in order to advise her.

Elegant Estates is a subdivision located in Coral City. Managed by a homeowner’s association, it encompasses 85 residential 2-acre lots, each of which contains a four or five bedroom house.

About 15 years ago, Felice Navidad purchased a house in the middle of Elegant Estates. The following Christmas, she put up what she describes as “a whole lot of lights” on her house and on the trees in her yard. Encouraged by the praise of relatives who live nearby, Felice has added to the display each year, steadily increasing the amount of lights and inserting other holiday elements, including a crèche with over 30 animals on the front lawn and a huge Santa Claus on her roof. She and her relatives have developed traditions of getting together on the day after Thanksgiving to put up the display and again on New Year’s Day to take it down.

Felice’s display has attracted a lot of local attention, and, for at least the past five years, many Coral City residents have driven by Felice’s house on December evenings to see her holiday spread. The resulting traffic has apparently upset a number of her neighbors.

This past January, after Felice took down her lights, the president of the homeowner’s association visited her and asked her not to put them up again in the future. When she refused, the president called a meeting of the homeowners, and over Felice’s objections, a majority voted to amend the by-laws to prohibit holiday displays other than strings of lights totaling no more than 50 feet in length. The president then told her that if she put up her display this year, the association would do more than try to enforce its new by-law. It also would bring a nuisance suit and ask Coral City to enforce existing zoning regulations that prohibit external decorations on single-family houses that have not been approved by the city’s architectural board.

1J. [Fall 2010 Section E1: Focus on the Easement Issues Here. Section C1 might want to try the Takings issues as practice for Elements]. Your client, Annie Appleseed, has asked you to represent her in upcoming negotiations with the county of Eastchester regarding the following problem. About ten years ago, she purchased a large plot of land in Eastchester right next to the Eastchester County Airport. She recalls that her deed contains reference to a pre-existing easement held by the county to cross her property to get to the airport. At the time, she assumed it referred to a service road across her land. County vehicles occasionally employ the service road to get into the airport when the nearby highways are filled with traffic.

Because of the planes taking off overhead, Annie’s lot is unsuitable for residential development. Shortly after purchasing the lot, she planted apple trees on most of the available land. It took three years for the trees to start producing fruit. Just last year, for the first time, she was able to grow enough apples to report a profit on the orchard. However, last year the trees also grew tall enough so that some of the pilots using Eastchester County Airport became concerned that the trees might interfere with take-off and landing routes over the orchard.

The county contacted Annie and asked her to trim the trees. After doing some research, she decided that the price of trimming plus the resulting loss in apples simply made trimming too expensive for her. She informed the county that she did not intend to trim the trees. Subsequently, they wrote her a letter, claiming that if she did not trim the trees, they would sue claiming rights to cross her land by virtue of either the express easement or an implied easement. In the alternative, they threatened to pass an ordinance simply requiring her to trim the trees. You are scheduled to negotiate the matter with the county attorney next week. Discuss what legal and factual research you would do (and why) to prepare for the negotiation.

1K. Rita comes to you to see if there is any way she can get her ramps and elevator built and to see if she can bring some kind of discrimination action against Lance. Discuss what legal and factual research you would do (and why) in order to advise her.

Rita Rivera is a reporter for the national newspaper, USA Display. Recently, while investigating corruption in the construction industry, Rita was shot in the back by an unknown assailant. Although she survived, she lost the use of her legs and now uses a wheelchair to move around.

Rita owns a two-story house in a residential neighborhood of Serenity, a wealthy suburb located in a major metropolitan area. When she got out of the hospital after she was shot, Rita realized that her house was not wheelchair-accessible. She hired an architect who designed plans for ramps to lead up to the front and back doors and for an elevator to be located in a shaft attached to one side of the house. However, when she and the architect took the plans to the Serenity Zoning & Planning Office, an official told them that the ramps and the elevator shaft would violate the relevant setback requirements and that the proposed structures were “incompatible with the look and feel of the neighborhood.”

Needing an accessible place to stay until she sorted out the zoning issues, Rita called a local apartment complex that was advertising available units. Lance Lord, the owner and manager, told her that a ground floor two-bedroom apartment was available, so Rita arranged to see it. When she arrived, Lance seemed much less friendly to Rita than he had been on the phone. He showed her the apartment, but said that another applicant had come by since Rita had called. He explained that he would feel compelled to give the apartment to that applicant first. Rita asked to fill out an application anyway. When Lance saw her completed form, he burst out, “You’re that nosy reporter that got herself shot. I don’t need any reporters nosing around my complex. I won’t rent to you at all.” Rita left, very upset.

1L. [Fall 2010 Section E1: Focus on the Easement & Nuisance Issues Here. Section C1 might want to try the Takings issues as practice for Elements]. Discuss the factual and legal research you would need to do to advise Jason if he presents you with the following information:

Shroyeracre is a one-acre parcel of beachfront property located in the city of Fullerton containing a four-bedroom house. Jason purchased Shroyeracre from Rosalie in 1997 and has used it as his family’s primary residence ever since. Directly inland from Shroyeracre is Hogue-acre, a 10-acre parcel. When Jason purchased Shroyeracre, Hogue-acre was undeveloped and was owned by Daniel, an old friend of Rosalie. Rosalie told Jason prior to the closing that she had given Daniel an easement to cross along one edge of Shroyeracre to have access to the beach. Between 1997 and 1999, Jason occasionally saw Daniel use the easement.

In 1999, the city of Fullerton purchased Hogue-acre from Daniel. It constructed a large youth center on the property that included a building with TV rooms, game rooms and a large dance hall, plus basketball courts, tennis courts, etc. Late in 2000, the youth center opened for business. Since then, Jason thinks there are “at least a hundred” teenagers at the center every evening and most of the day on weekends and school holidays. At least once a week, the center sponsors dances and even more teenagers are present.

Jason has a number of objections to the center. The dances are “wild and crazy” and disturb the sleep of Jason and his family. If the weather is warm, groups of teenagers cross the easement to use the beach, making noise, leaving garbage on and adjacent to the easement, and sometimes trespassing onto other parts of Shroyeracre. Teenagers on the easement and hanging out just inside the common property line have reduced the privacy of Jason’s family significantly. Jason would like to be able to continue living on Shroyeracre because he likes the location and he is concerned that if he tries to sell it, a buyer would not be willing to pay anywhere close to the purchase price because of the youth center.

1M. Discuss the factual and legal research you would need to do to advise the Vestors based on the following information:

Savion Vestor and his wife Marian have come to you for advice regarding a large undeveloped parcel of lakefront property that they wish to purchase. They would like to build a summer house on the lot and Savion thinks that he would like to develop much of the parcel for summer homes, but Marian thinks the lot might prove more valuable in the long run if it were left undeveloped for a time.

The parcel is located in a large rural county and there are no state or local restrictions on developing it. The parcel is currently owned by a Mrs. Alice Alderly, who told the Vestors that it had been in her family for several generations. If the sale goes through, she intends to retain a two-acre lot that contains her residence. A map of the parcel and the surrounding area is located on the next page.

As the map indicates, the parcel is located a short distance south of the main highway, separated from the highway along its entire northern edge by land belonging to third parties. The parcel is connected to the highway by a wide private driveway that crosses through some of the third party land and then runs along the western edge of the parcel, ending in a cul-de-sac close to the northwest corner of the lake. On the parcel, near the cul-de-sac, are three small two-room cabins. The Vestors say they show no signs of habitation but look like they were designed for people to change clothes and go swimming; they have hooks on the wall and outdoor showers.

The parcel is bordered on the south by the northern edge of the lake. The southeastern corner of the property is bordered by Lake Road, a narrow public road that comes from the south, follows the eastern edge of the lake, then veers off to the northeast winding through some hills that are east of the parcel and connecting to the main highway about 3 miles further east. Mrs. Alderly said Lake Road is rarely used except by the owners of the three large expensive houses on the south side of the lake and their guests. The Vestors would like to build their own house near the northeast corner of the lake with access to Lake Road.

MAP FOR QUESTION IM

(NOT TO SCALE)

[pic]

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MAIN HIGHWAY

TO BE

RETAINED BY MRS. A

OWNED BY THIRD PARTIES

LAKE

PARCEL TO BE PURCHASED

CABINS

SITE FOR HOUSE

LAKE ROAD

DR

I

VEWAY

EXPENSIVE HOMES

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