A Santa Barbara Superior Court judge ruled July 30 that property owners adjacent to Montecito Country Club must pay for the costs of removing landscaping they installed without permission on an easement owned by the country club and restore the property to its previous condition. (Montecito Country Club, LLC vs. Kevin Root, et. al., Case No.: 21CV02227, July 30, 2024)
Judge Donna Geck found that the defendants Kevin and Jeannette Root did not receive permission from country club principal owner Ty Warner to relandscape and build on the easement. The plaintiff’s counsel established at trial that Warner was the only individual with the authority to approve the defendants’ landscape plans.
“By adding landscaping features on the easement, the defendants prevented Montecito Country Club from using the property for any future cart path or greenskeeper purposes,” says Leila Noël, partner with Cappello & Noël LLP, the firm representing Montecito Country Club. Co-counsel was firm associate Richard Lloyd.
According to Noël, Warner and other Club management personnel explicitly told the defendants they could not alter or build on the easement, but the Roots proceeded with their plans, which included removing an existing hedgerow and landscaping, installing a new hedge on the property line, re-grading the easement area by installing a retaining wall and importing soil, and landscaping within the easement.
The judge ruled that the easement was legally valid, giving the Club the right to continue using the area as it had for decades. She then issued a mandatory injunction directing the defendants to immediately restore the area to its original condition at their own expense.
The court indicated it reserves jurisdiction to monitor the progress of the court-mandated removal and restoration efforts until the work is completed.
