Rase v. Castle Mountain Ranch, Inc.
Supreme Court of Montana
631 P.2d 680 (Mont. 1981)
Cabin owners (plaintiffs) built substantial improvements on lakeside land owned by Tavenner, Inc., under a loosely enforced license agreement technically terminable at will, but Tavenner never actually intended to expel the cabin owners and treated the termination clause as a mere formality. When Tavenner sold the land to Louis Ward's Castle Mountain Ranch (defendant), Ward sent the cabin owners termination notices, and the cabin owners sought an injunction, quiet title, and easements; the trial court instead imposed a constructive trust on the cabin sites and improvements, and Ward appealed.
Whether a court may impose a constructive trust on a landowner as an equitable lien in favor of a possessor who made improvements to the land and reasonably expected to remain there based on permission from the landowner's predecessor in interest.