Joseph F. Alessi v. Bowen Court Condominium et al.

Summary

The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Bowen Court Condominium and its association president in a dispute over whether a successor following foreclosure retained an unlimited right to withdraw real estate from the condominium. The Court held that the right was subject to the ten-year limitation in the condominium declaration and expired no later than January 11, 1999, after which the unexercised development rights passed to the unit owners' association. The Court affirmed on grounds somewhat different from those relied upon by the trial justice.

Holdings

1. A person taking title to withdrawable real estate after foreclosure receives only the time-restricted right that the predecessor was capable of transferring; the statutory right to request exclusion does not create a perpetual right extending beyond the declaration's stated deadline.
2. Foreclosure does not transmute withdrawable real estate into fee-simple title free of the condominium's time limitation.
3. Summary judgment for the defendants was proper because the material facts were undisputed and the withdrawal right had expired before the plaintiff requested exclusion.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a successor in title after foreclosure retains a perpetual statutory right under R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-2.18(i) to require exclusion of withdrawable real estate from a condominium after the declarant's time-limited withdrawal right has expired.
2. Whether the foreclosure transformed the withdrawable real estate into a fee-simple interest that could be excluded from the condominium at any time.
3. Whether the Superior Court properly granted summary judgment to the condominium association on the quiet-title and declaratory-relief claim.

Disposition

affirmed