Grange v. Korff
Iowa Supreme Court
79 N.W.2d 743 (1956)
Korff (defendant) bought a subdivision lot subject to a deed restriction limiting use to residential purposes, then sought to build an auto trailer court; other lot owners (plaintiffs) sued to enforce the covenant and enjoin the construction. Korff argued the neighborhood's character had changed enough to void the restriction, pointing to sewage occasionally leaking and smelling near his lot from other owners' pipes, one owner raising and selling dogs, and the abandonment of an adjacent railroad line. The trial court upheld the covenant.
Whether a real covenant may be terminated where the neighborhood's character has changed such that the benefit or purpose of the covenant's condition is no longer realized or fulfilled.