Real Property – Restrictive Covenants – Amendment – Homeowners’ Association President – Fiduciary Duty

Taddei v. Village Creek Property Owners Association, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-07-0215, 14 pp.) (Robert C. Hunter, J.) N.C. App. Full-text opinion.

Holding: Even though paragraph 33 of the Village Creek restrictive covenants says the covenants can only be amended to bring them into conformity with town ordinances or actions, paragraph 3 says the covenants are effective for 20 years with automatic 10-year renewals and that the covenants can be amended before any term. The covenants were properly amended pursuant to paragraph 3.

We affirm the trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment for defendants and partial summary judgment for plaintiffs.

Although defendant Renz had an economic stake in the covenant amendment he proposed, and although he was serving as president of the defendant-homeowners’ association at the time, Renz was open about his stake in the proposed amendment, and opposing viewpoints were also communicated to the homeowners. There is no indication that Renz breached his fiduciary duty to the homeowners’ association.