DEBORAH CAULK, APPELLANT,
v.
ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, ETC., ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 5th DCA | 1995-10-20
No. 94-2399
GOSHORN and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.
661 So. 2d 932 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1995) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Deborah Caulk appeals the denial of her request to receive a portion of condemnation proceeds for property she conveyed in 1978. She claimed a reserved interest based on language in her deed reserving rights to eminent domain proceeds, but the court held that the covenant was personal to the original grantee and did not run with the land.


Holding

The covenant does not run with the land because it does not touch and concern the land itself but rather concerns only intangible personal property (cash proceeds), and the deed language indicates no intent that the covenant run with the land to bind heirs and assigns.


Headnotes

[1] A covenant in a deed that reserves rights to condemnation proceeds is a personal covenant, not a real covenant running with the land, if it does not touch and concern the…

[2] A covenant touches and concerns the land when it relates to the use, occupation, or enjoyment of the property conveyed.

Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“[QUOTE REDACTED — failed verbatim audit (paraphrase, not verbatim). See original_text for the text as originally displayed.]”

Establishes the legal test distinguishing covenants that run with the land from personal covenants

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

In 1978, Caulk and her husband conveyed land to R.T. Hibbard via a deed that reserved to the grantor all rights to condemnation or eminent domain proc…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PETERSON, Chief Judge.

PETERSON, Chief Judge.

Deborah Caulk (Caulk) appeals the denial of her request for apportionment of a condemnation award for real property. She claims that she reserved an interest in the real property because she reserved the right to condemnation proceeds when she executed a deed conveying the real property. We disagree and affirm.

In 1978 Caulk and her now-deceased husband conveyed a parcel of land to R.T. Hib-bard. The deed of conveyance included the following language:

The grantor reserves and retains all rights, title, and interest in and to any and all proceeds arising out of eminent domain, condemnation, or similar proceedings relative to the East 80 feet or any part thereof, of subject property by any government authority or public utility, upon the provision and understanding that such proceeds shall be paid in full to the grantor directly from the respective governmental [sic] authority and the same shall be additional consideration for the execution of this Warranty Deed.

In the event that the governmental authority acquires the additional right of way and should fence this property in, the entire proceeds from the said governmental authority would be disbursed to the Grantee herein.

In 1985, Hibbard sold the land to Hibbard Oil Co. In 1986, Hibbard Oil sold the land to appellee Amoco Oil Company. Neither of the latter two deeds contain the above language. In 1990, Orange County filed suit against Amoco seeking condemnation of a portion of the property.

In April 1993, Caulk noticed street improvements around the land she and her husband had conveyed to Hibbard, learned that the condemnation action was pending, and moved to intervene. She claimed a part interest in the proceeds of the condemnation based on the language in her 1978 deed.

The trial court allowed Caulk to intervene, but denied her request for apportionment because, among other reasons, the covenant in the deed had been a personal one between Caulk and Hibbard.

Covenants are divisible into two major classes: (1) real covenants which run with the land and bind the heirs and assigns of the covenantor, and (2) personal covenants which bind only the covenantor personally. 19 Fla.Jur.2d, Heeds § 173 (1980). A cove nant running with the land differs from a personal covenant in that the former concerns the enjoyment of the property conveyed. Maulé Industries, Inc. v. Sheffield Steel Products, Inc., 105 So. 2d 798 (Fla. 3d DCA 1958). A personal covenant is collateral to or is not immediately concerned with the property granted. Id. A covenant must have a relation to the land or the interest conveyed in order that a covenant may run with the land. Hagan v. Sabal Palms, Inc., 186 So. 2d 302, 310 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966). The thing required to be done must be something which touches the land, interest, or estate and the occupation, use, or enjoyment of it. Id.

The covenant in Caulk’s deed to Hib-bard is incapable of running with the land. Although the covenant “concerns” the land, it does so only tangentially. Unlike covenants respecting mineral rights and crops, for example, which directly impact the use of the land, the covenant in the instant ease has no effect whatever on the land. The only thing the covenant in the instant case really “touches” and “concerns” is the intangible personal property, namely cash, that may be paid by a condemnor. Further, even if this covenant could run with the land, nothing in the deed suggests it was intended to do so. Rather, the language suggests the opposite. First, the language does not indicate that the obligation is to run with the land, nor does it state that it is binding on heirs and assigns. Second, it refers to the “grantee herein ”, i.e., Hibbard (emphasis added). Third, the alternative provisions in the covenant sound personal. Under one scenario Caulk was to receive condemnation proceeds, but, under another, Hibbard, the “grantee herein”, would receive the proceeds. If this covenant were running with the land, the incongruous result would be that any subsequent purchaser, whose land was fenced in by the government, would have to pay the proceeds of the condemnation to Hibbard.

Because Caulk has not shown that the covenant touches and concerns the land, or that the covenant was intended to run with the land, the court’s order is affirmed.

AFFIRMED.

GOSHORN and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw