Case Caption: Pavel v. Estates of Judith’s Fancy Owners’ Association, Inc.Case Number: S. Ct. Civ. No. 2018-0023Date: 06/18/2019Author: Cabret, Maria M. Citation: 2019 VI 23Summary: Considering the homeowners’ appeal from a memorandum opinion and order granting a homeowners association’s converted motion for summary judgment, in which the homeowners argue that the Superior Court erred in its interpretation of certain provisions of a Declaration establishing restrictive covenants which requires a twenty-foot building setback from any boundary line for plots in the development and that the court erred in failing to conclude that the doctrine of merger bars application of the Declaration’s setback provision to the boundary line between their two adjacent plots, the homeowners’ arguments are rejected. Because the Declaration unambiguously requires a twenty-foot setback from any boundary line, unless two or more adjacent plots are combined within one ownership and title—in which case the relevant boundary lines are the outer boundaries of the combined plots—the doctrine of merger is inapplicable. Since all of the benefits and burdens of the setback provision of the Declaration have not come into single ownership under the facts presented here, the doctrine of termination of servitudes by merger is not applicable to this case. And because the plain and unambiguous language of the Declaration provides for an exception to the twenty-foot building setback requirement for boundaries between adjacent plots only where the adjacent plots are combined in both ownership and title, the Superior Court’s judgment based on its memorandum opinion and order is affirmed.Attachment: Open Document or Opinion