Turner v. Caplan

In 1975, Robert E. Turner, III (defendant) acquired over 100 acres of land in Pittsylvania County. Turner established the land as a subdivision known as Windermere, and he recorded a declaration of protective covenants, restrictions, and conditions (the agreement). The agreement contained covenants that specified that all lots were to be used only for residential purposes, no nuisance was permitted on any lot, and raising or harboring livestock was prohibited on any lots except Lots Nos. 1–7. Turner sold most of Windermere’s lots but kept lots 4b, 5, 6, and 7 (the pasture). Turner would occasionally keep a horse on the pasture, dependent on the weather, since 2002. Michael and Carol Caplan and Grady and Martha Carrigan (the neighbors) (plaintiffs) lived on lots adjoining the pasture and did not approve of Turner’s horse being kept on the pasture. In 2002, the Caplans filed a complaint for injunctive relief in circuit court seeking to have Turner permanently enjoined from keeping a horse on the pasture. The court granted a motion by the Carrigans to intervene in the suit. The circuit court issued a permanent injunction forbidding Turner from keeping a horse on the pasture, finding that Turner violated the agreement by keeping a horse on the pasture because it was inconsistent with Turner’s intent to create an exclusively residential subdivision, it violated the prohibition on keeping livestock, and it constituted a nuisance. Turner appealed.