City of Bowie v. MIE Properties, Inc.

In 1986, MIE Properties' predecessor covenanted with the City of Bowie (plaintiff) to limit its property's development to fourteen specified uses as part of a planned science-and-technology office park; the covenant did not specify a duration. In 2001, MIE (defendant) leased space to a dance studio, prompting the city to sue in 2002 to enjoin that use; MIE counterclaimed that changed circumstances had defeated the covenant's purpose and rendered it unenforceable. The circuit court found no such changed circumstances and enjoined the dance studio; the Court of Special Appeals reversed, applying a "reasonable probability" rather than "theoretical possibility" standard for whether the covenant's purpose could still be achieved, and the City appealed.