Raney v. Four Thirty Seven Land Co., Inc.

Decision Date12 June 1987
Docket NumberNo. 840648,840648
PartiesA. Edward RANEY v. FOUR THIRTY SEVEN LAND COMPANY, INC. Record
CourtVirginia Supreme Court

Paul English Smith, Huntington, W.Va. (Hall, Monahan, Engle, Mahan & Mitchell, Leesburg, on briefs), for appellant.

Stephen K. Fox (Douglas J. Sanderson, Fairfax, on brief), for appellee.

Present: CARRICO, C.J., and COCHRAN, * POFF, COMPTON, STEPHENSON, RUSSELL and THOMAS, JJ.

RUSSELL, Justice.

This controversy involves the ownership in fee of the servient tenement in a right-of-way burdened by an easement of necessity. The dispositive question is whether necessary parties were before the court in an earlier proceeding.

The area in dispute is a right-of-way, variously described as a "pipestem" or a "dog-leg" shown as "A" and "B" on the diagram attached as an appendix to this opinion. The essential facts are undisputed.

In the late 19th century, Mary Darrell owned a 190-acre tract of land on the Potomac River in Loudoun County. In 1876, a neighbor named Whaley conveyed to her "a piece of land 12 feet wide." The deed recited that the conveyance was "for use of her landing." Later conveyances by Whaley excepted the 12-foot strip, reciting that it had been conveyed "for a road." The strip contained approximately one-half acre, and the parties agree that it is the "pipestem" marked "A" and "B" on the appendix, bordering the Whaley tract. Mary Darrell died intestate in 1892, leaving as her sole heirs her two children, Susan Darrell Palmer and G.A. Darrell. Those parties divided the 190-acre tract between themselves by a deed of partition in 1892. G.A. Darrell received the northerly 90 acres adjacent to the river ("lot 2" on the diagram) and Susan Darrell Palmer received the southerly 100 acres ("lot 1"). No mention was made, in the partition, of the "pipestem," although it was the only outlet to a public road for both tracts. 1

G.A. Darrell's will, admitted to probate in 1937 in Fairfax County, required his executors to sell his land and to pay the proceeds to the School Board of the Town of Herndon in trust for educational purposes. A. Edward Raney (Raney) became owner of the 90-acre tract, but the deeds in his chain of title made no mention of the "pipestem."

Susan Darrell Palmer and her husband died intestate. In 1917, their heirs conveyed the 100-acre tract to Edward E. Allen, along with the 20-acre Whaley tract from which the "pipestem" had been carved in 1876, the Palmers having acquired the Whaley tract in 1896. The 1917 deed from the Palmer heirs to Allen purported to convey the underlying fee simple in the "pipestem," but if Mary Darrell had been its owner in fee simple at her death, then G.A. Darrell was, in 1917, the owner of an undivided one-half interest in it. Through mesne conveyances, Four Thirty Seven Land Company, Inc. (Four Thirty Seven) has succeeded to Allen's title to the Whaley and Palmer tracts, which it is developing in connection with adjoining lands.

I. THE LOUDOUN CASE

The "pipestem" has been involved in three separate judicial proceedings. The first was a Motion for Judgment to Establish Boundary Lines, brought by Raney against Four Thirty Seven in the Circuit Court of Loudoun County, which was consolidated with two chancery suits. By final decree entered January 19, 1982, that court, Judge Carlton Penn presiding, ruled that the 1876 deed had conveyed the one-half acre "pipestem" to Mary Darrell in fee simple, the words "for use of her landing" being merely descriptive of the purpose of the conveyance rather than a limitation on the grant. The decree further provided

"that Mr. Raney has no fee simple ownership in or of the aforesaid half-acre parcel and that, instead, he has an easement by necessity, all as more particularly described in the transcript dated November 24, 1981, which is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference, for ingress and egress to his property from a public road...." 2

In an oral opinion from the bench preceding entry of the decree, the court traced the devolution of title to the various parcels involved in the litigation and defined the nature of the three easements found to exist. The transcript to which the decree refers contains a colloquy with counsel in which the court expressed the opinion that the underlying fee simple title to the "pipestem" had never "been conveyed out of Susan Palmer and George Darrell." Raney petitioned this Court for an appeal, Four Thirty Seven filed a Brief in Opposition, and we refused an appeal on September 9, 1982.

II. THE FIDUCIARY PROCEEDING

In February 1982, pending the filing of Raney's notice of appeal in the Loudoun case, and without notice to Four Thirty Seven, Raney filed in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County a "Petition to Appoint Administrator De Bonis Non Under the Last Will and Testament of George A. Darrell." The petition recited that although G.A. Darrell's will had directed his executors to sell all real estate of which he died seised, the executors had failed to convey the 12-foot-wide "pipestem," having omitted it from their deed by clerical error. He asked that the trustees of the Herndon School Board, as residuary legatees under Darrell's will, be made parties to the petition and that an administrator c.t.a. d.b.n. be appointed to convey Darrell's interest in the "pipestem." The court referred the petition to a commissioner in chancery who heard evidence and reported that all necessary parties were before the court, that G.A. Darrell had only a one-half interest in the "pipestem," and that the other one-half interest was outstanding in the successors in title to the heirs of Susan D. Palmer. The commissioner recommended that an administrator c.t.a. d.b.n. be appointed to sell the Darrell one-half interest.

Raney and the Herndon School Board agreed that the value of G.A. Darrell's one-half interest in the one-half acre "pipestem" was $500. A "consent order" was entered by the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Judge Quinlan H. Hancock presiding, on December 27, 1982, appointing "successor executors" under the will of G.A. Darrell. The "successor executors" delivered a deed to Raney on January 5, 1983, conveying Darrell's one-half interest in the "pipestem" to him in consideration of $500 to be paid to the School Board. That deed has been recorded in Loudoun County.

III. THE PRESENT SUIT

On May 13, 1983, Four Thirty Seven filed in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County a "Petition of Declaratory Judgment (In the Nature of a Bill of Review and/or a Writ of Error Coram Vobis) and Ancillary Relief." The present appeal arises from this, the third proceeding involving the same land. Four Thirty Seven's petition alleged that Raney had instituted the fiduciary proceeding to reopen the Darrell estate in bad faith, knowing that Four Thirty Seven claimed an interest in the "pipestem," but failing to give Four Thirty Seven notice and informing the court that Raney and the School Board were the only parties in interest. Four Thirty Seven contended that it was a necessary party to the fiduciary proceeding and that its omission as a party was a jurisdictional defect. Four Thirty Seven asked that all orders in the fiduciary proceeding be declared void and that the deed conveying Darrell's one-half interest to Raney be rescinded and set aside. The court, Judge Barbara M. Keenan presiding, ruled that Four Thirty Seven had been a necessary party to the fiduciary proceeding and that the court had been without jurisdiction to proceed...

To continue reading

Request your trial
26 cases
  • Watkins v. Fairfax County
    • United States
    • Virginia Court of Appeals
    • April 13, 2004
    ...and all persons who have such immediate interests are necessary parties to the suit.'" Id. (quoting Raney v. Four Thirty Seven Land Co., 233 Va. 513, 519-20, 357 S.E.2d 733, 736 (1987) (quoting Gaddess v. Norris, 102 Va. 625, 630, 46 S.E. 905, 907 (1904))). Thus, the Court has consistently ......
  • Yopp v. Hodges
    • United States
    • Virginia Court of Appeals
    • July 6, 2004
    ...Asch v. Friends of Mount Vernon Yacht Club, 251 Va. 89, 90-91, 465 S.E.2d 817, 818 (1996) (quoting Raney v. Four Thirty Seven Land Co., 233 Va. 513, 519-20, 357 S.E.2d 733, 736 (1987) (quoting Gaddess v. Norris' Ex'rs., 102 Va. 625, 630, 46 S.E. 905, 907 (1904) (quoting 1 Daniel's Chancery ......
  • Synchronized Constr. Servs., Inc. v. Prav Lodging, LLC
    • United States
    • Virginia Supreme Court
    • October 31, 2014
    ...interest in resisting the demand and all such parties who have such an interest are necessary parties to the suit.”233 Va. 513, 519–20, 357 S.E.2d 733, 736 (1987) (quoting Gaddess v. Norris, 102 Va. 625, 630, 46 S.E. 905, 907 (1904) )Code § 43–70 provides that when a suit has been filed und......
  • Westlake Properties v. Westlake Pointe
    • United States
    • Virginia Supreme Court
    • January 12, 2007
    ...in the subject matter of the litigation that is likely to be defeated or diminished by the litigation. Raney v. Four Thirty Seven Land Co., 233 Va. 513, 519, 357 S.E.2d 733, 736 (1987). While the individual property owners may have had, and may still have, claims against Westlake Properties......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT