Rick v. West

34 Misc. 2d 1002, 228 N.Y.S.2d 195 (1962)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Chester owned 62 acres of vacant land, which he subdivided in 1946. Chester filed a declaration of covenants restricting the land to single-family dwellings. In 1956, West (D) purchased a half acre lot from Chester and built a home on the land. After D purchased the lot, Chester attempted to sell forty-five acres for industrial use conditioned upon rezoning the tract of land. The town board rezoned the 45 acres but D refused to release the covenant, and the sale fell through. Unable to sell more lots Chester then sold the subdivision to Rick (P). P attempted to sell fifteen acres for the construction of a hospital. D again refused to release the covenant. P sued, claiming that the original covenant was no longer enforceable due to change of conditions. The trial court held for D; there was no evidence of any substantial change in the general neighborhood and not change at all within P’s tract.