Scira

In this action, plaintiff Bishop Creek Lodge (Bishop Creek) seeks to enforce a restrictive covenant against its neighbors, Ronald S. and Donna Scira. Alternatively, in the event the covenant is not enforceable, Bishop Creek seeks damages for breach of contract and/or fraud from Charles and Joyce Hernandez, who sold it the real property to which the right to enforce the covenant allegedly attached, as well as from the Sciras as the Hernandezes’ conspirators.

The action has been before this court before; it gave rise to our partially published opinion in Bishop Creek Lodge v. Scira (1996) 46 Cal.App.4th 1721 [ 54 Cal.Rptr.2d 745 ]. At that time, we reversed a jury verdict in favor of Bishop Creek on its causes of action for breach of contract and for fraud. In the unpublished portion of our opinion, we also strongly suggested that on remand the trial court should try the equitable issues first before it submitted the legal issues to a jury.

The trial court dutifully followed our suggestion. After a bench trial on the equitable issues, it ruled that Bishop Creek was not entitled to equitable relief. It explained that the Hernandezes had divested themselves of the covenant…