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 The Flagg Mountain "hut". Photo by Sheela McLean Hut on Trial
Mazama dispute continues
A dispute over visual blight from the so-called “hut” atop Flagg Mountain in Mazama will be heard August 12 in Okanogan County Superior Court in a non-jury trial. A court-ordered settlement conference will be held July 8 to determine if the parties can settle their differences prior to trial.
Okanogan County Superior Court Judge Christopher Culp refused a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the case requested by defendants Tom and Jeannie Kundig, James Dow and Ben Rand. They argued that plaintiffs Steve and Kristin Devin of Mazama have no standing to sue.
The question of the Devins’ standing hinged on whether it was the intent of the original property owners, which included the Devins, to also make the Devins third-party beneficiaries of the covenants the owners enacted; the Devins owned land on the valley floor at the time. They no longer own land on Flagg Mountain.
The judge ruled against the defendant’s motion to dismiss the case by stating that “a genuine issue of material fact exists about whether the original group intended that the Devins be a third party beneficiary by virtue of their specific property ownership in direct line of sight to Flagg Mountain.”
The Devins are the only remaining plaintiffs in the case, which originally was brought by several of the original Flagg Mountain property owners. The hut was designed by Kundig, an internationally renowned Seattle architect who also designed the Rolling Huts in Mazama.
1/22/2014
Solveig Torvik
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