OPINION BY STEVENS, J.:
This is an appeal from the declaratory judgment entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment seeking determination as to their respective interests in real property. Specifically, the court determined that Appellants/Plaintiffs Judson and Ruth Wagner ("the Wagners") did not, as they contended, have a fee simple absolute ownership interest in their properties situated in the Landisville Camp Meeting, a spiritual community run by Appellee/Defendant Association of the same name. ("LCMA"). We affirm.
The trial court's Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) Opinion has provided an apt factual and procedural history of the case as follows:
Trial Court Opinion dated 3/4/10 at 1-2.
The court rejected the Wagners' argument that a debased fee could not be found in the absence of deed language explicitly limiting ownership or providing for a right of re-entry in the LCMA. Interpreting the Wagners' deeds in light of the estates conveyed earlier in the respective chains of title, the court found dispositive the fact that predecessor deeds' habendum language
On appeal, the Wagners raise three issues for our review:
Brief for Appellants at 4.
When faced with a motion for summary judgment, the non-moving party must adduce sufficient evidence on an issue essential to his case and on which he bears the burden of proof such that a jury could return a verdict in his favor. Failure to adduce this evidence establishes that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Ertel v. Patriot-News Co., 544 Pa. 93, 101-102, 674 A.2d 1038, 1042 (1996), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1008, 117 S.Ct. 512, 136 L.Ed.2d 401 (1996). "[W]e view the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and resolve all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact in its favor." Juniata Valley Bank v. Martin Oil Co., 736 A.2d 650, 655 (Pa.Super.1999). Like the trial court,
Herr, 957 A.2d at 1284-1285 (Pa.Super.2008).
The Wagners' issues coalesce to charge error with the lower court's reliance on surrounding circumstances, namely, the Wagners' chain of title, to determine both the meaning of the "Under and Subject to" clause in their deeds and the effect such clause had in conveying a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent.
Emrick v. Bethlehem Tp., 506 Pa. 372, 379, 485 A.2d 736, 739 (1984).
As nowhere within the four corners of their deeds is there specified either a right of re-entry in LCMA or any condition upon which such a right may be exercised, the Wagners argue, the lower court should have declared that they hold fee simple
"Where a deed or agreement or reservation therein is obscure or ambiguous, the intention of the parties is to be ascertained in each instance not only from the language of the entire written instrument in question, but also from a consideration of the subject matter and of the surrounding circumstances." Amerikohl Mining Co., Inc. v. Peoples Natural Gas Co. 860 A.2d 547, 550 (Pa.Super.2004) (citation omitted). "Thus, in construing [a] deed, it is the intention of the parties at the time of the transaction that governs." Id. (citing Stewart v. Chernicky, 439 Pa. 43, 49, 266 A.2d 259, 263 (1970)). Where an ambiguity arises, "we favor the construction of the agreement which makes it fair and rational, not the construction which makes it unusual or inequitable." Id. (Citing Stewart, at 50, 266 A.2d at 263)). See also Yuscavage v. Hamlin, 391 Pa. 13, 137 A.2d 242 (1958) (Looking to recital portion of deed to infer intent of parties where operative part of deed is uncertain). In this vein, jurisprudence of this Commonwealth has stated:
Hess v. Jones, 335 Pa. 569, 572, 7 A.2d 299, 300-301 (1939).
The lower court interpreted the Wagner deeds by reference to ownership-limiting habendum language appearing in the chain of title starting with the 1901 conveyance from the LCMA to the original grantee. The Wagners deny that this limitation in ownership interest ever reached them, however, because deeds prepared by LCMA later in the chain of title omitted classic habendum language altogether. We therefore begin by examining whether the chain of title was no longer relevant to interpreting the Wagner deeds.
A careful reading of the more recent deeds in the chain of title leading up to and including the Wagner deeds themselves indeed shows that they failed to incorporate the introductory habendum expression "to have and hold forever . . . upon this condition . . ." which had signaled what estate passed in the earlier conveyances. Nevertheless, they retained the ultimate condition as expressed in the earlier deeds, namely, that a grantee takes title under and subject to LCMA rules, regulations, and By-laws. It is this specific language appearing in all deeds within the chain of title, whether prefaced by technical habendum language or not, that has always manifested the limitation of a grantee's interest in the Camp Meeting lots being conveyed. As such, we reject the Wagners' attempt to sever their deeds from their respective chains of title and approve of the lower court's reference to the chains as circumstantial evidence relevant to interpreting the Wagner deeds.
Specifically, the Wagners, as any prospective purchaser is required to do, completed a written application which included a prepared statement that the applicant agrees to abide and be guided by the By-Laws and rules of the Camp. Even if an applicant claims as the Wagners have that he was unfamiliar with the By-laws at the time he completed the written application, an open discussion of By-laws appears to be the central concern of the next step in the application process. According to the LCMA's written "Policy [on] Sale of Cottage(s)," if the applicant is viewed favorably upon review of the written application, a "Transfer Committee" conducts a personal interview "at which time By-Law requirements are discussed." Notably, the written policy describes no other part to the personal interview other than the discussion of By-laws.
Having experienced firsthand this exacting process with its emphasis on By-law acknowledgment and adherence, the Wagners must be held to have understood and accepted the "Under and Subject to" clause in their deeds as memorializing the reversionary interest held by the LCMA— pursuant to express By-law provisions on lot holder forfeiture and LCMA re-entry— on every parcel within the Camp grounds, including their own. Distinct from a restrictive covenant as to land use, therefore, this clause by its incorporation of the By-laws directly affects the extent of a lot holder's ownership interest, making his or her right to both retain and convey title conditional on LCMA approval. Thus limited in their control of their estates, the Wagners cannot persuasively maintain that the deeds as written conveyed any interest greater than fee simple subject to a condition subsequent.
Finally, we note that adopting this construction of the Wagner deeds avoids the unusual and inequitable result that would attain were we to deny a reversionary interest in the LCMA. Coming through the language found in the Wagner deeds, deeds in the respective chains of title, and other documentation in the record is the incontrovertible reality that the spiritual mission of the Camp Meeting and the LCMA's role in effectuating this mission remain just as determinative of a lot holder's stakehold now as it did over one-hundred years ago at the Camp Meeting's inception. To have found otherwise in this matter would have placed the Wagners in a different position relative to both their predecessors in interest and current fellow LCMA members and worked a fundamental change in course for the Camp Meeting without any indication that the LCMA intended such a change. Simply put, the clear message in all relevant documentation is that the LCMA retains the right to retake control of any property deemed defiantly put to a nonconforming use. From the intensive application process where one agrees to be bound by LCMA by-laws granting a right of re-entry, to the requirement that a purchaser accept all closing documentation prepared by LCMA
Accordingly, we discern no error with the lower courts' reliance on surrounding circumstances to eliminate any uncertainty over the type of estate conveyed in the Wagner deeds. As we agree that a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent was conveyed to the Wagners with a reversionary interest in the LCMA, we affirm the judgment entered below.
Judgment affirmed.
Id. at 1286-87. (emphasis in original).