July 2014
D i g e s t
The Official Publication of the Kiawah Island Community Association
Judge Rules on Beach Parcel 13 Common Property Dispute
KRA claimed they did not intend to transfer the property to KICA and
requested that the board sign a corrective deed allowing ownership to revert
to KRA. This request has been made to multiple KICA boards dating back
to 2007, but in every instance, the board and its legal team have concluded
that regardless of whether the property was supposed to be transferred, it
was unambiguously conveyed as common property and the board had no
authority to execute a corrective deed. The only mechanism for transferring
ownership of common property is a 75% vote of the membership.
On Wednesday, June 4, Charleston County Master-in-Equity Mikell
R. Scarborough issued his Final Order in a lawsuit in which KICA
was the defendant. The judge denied the plaintiff’s claims and ruled
in favor of KICA.
Background
In March 2013, the Kiawah Island Community Association (KICA)
was served with a complaint whereby Kiawah Resort Associates (KRA)
sought judicial reformation of a deed to 4.62 acres of land conveyed to the
association in December 1995. Because this property is landlocked and
surrounded by land owned by KRA, KICA has not had access or the ability
to develop it. The judge's ruling does not alter that fact.
Despite significant testimony as to what the various parties intended, the
judge ultimately concluded that KICA’s position since 2007 was correct.
In his order, Judge Scarborough declared, “The court finds that whatever
evidence exists of KRA’s intent not to convey the Beachfront Strip to KICA
is only relevant to the extent that the court finds the deed and agreement
for conveyance to be ambiguous.” He further concluded, “As such, the deed
unambiguously shows that KRA conveyed the Subject Property as part
of the Beachfront Strip to KICA as Common Property and no evidence
within the Beachfront Deed itself infers a contrary intent.” Within the order,
the judge also determined that he should examine only the intent of the
immediate parties to the deed, KRA and KICA, and further concluded that
the Town of Kiawah Island’s intent in the 1994 development agreement was
not relevant to his analysis.
Conclusion
The board takes its fiduciary responsibility to the membership very
seriously, and from time-to-time it is faced with legal action. Litigation is
rarely a first option to resolve differences, but when it is necessary, KICA
retains excellent legal counsel and works diligently and effectively to
defend the interests of the community.
Letter from the COO: KICA Communications
To all of our eDigest readers,
I hope you are gearing up for
a great Fourth of July holiday
with friends and loved ones.
To those of you reading
this in the traditional print
version, I hope you, your
friends and loved ones had a
great Fourth of July.
Any time I’m asked to write
something for Digest, the
first question I consider is,
when will our members
actually read the content? The
answer, and the timeliness of
our communication, usually depends on the format in which you
receive it. With that in mind, I’d encourage you to consider signing
up for eDigest. On average, you’ll receive each issue about 1-2 weeks
prior to the print version arriving in your mailbox. Not only that,
the eDigest is interactive, letting you search the issue, click on web/
email links, print at home, download to your computer, zoom,
etc. The publication itself is the same as its printed counterpart,
only it’s delivered electronically the same day we give our printer
approval to produce the hard copy. To subscribe, just contact our
Communications team ([email protected] or 843-768-9194).
Whether print or electronic, Digest is just one way of receiving
information from KICA. I thought I’d dedicate the rest of this space
to sharing information on numerous other communications channels
available to KICA members, some of which have been introduced in
recent months.
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