Washington State Grange v. Brandt
Court of Appeals of Washington
148 P.3d 1069 (2006)
A 1950 deed conveyed land to a Grange with a clause reverting the property to the original plot if it stopped being used for Grange purposes; when the Grange dissolved in 2004 and use ceased, the Washington State Grange (plaintiff), successor to the local chapter's interest, sued the Brandts (defendants), who had separately obtained a 2005 quitclaim deed from the original grantor's estate purporting to convey any reversionary interest to them. The trial court held the reversionary clause void under the rule against perpetuities, giving the Grange fee simple absolute, and the Brandts appealed.
Whether, when a deed creates a fee simple determinable coupled with an executory interest and that executory interest is voided, the fee simple determinable survives.