Beckerman v. Conant

• Decision Date: 06 July 2017
• Docket Number: Docket: Ken–16–452
• Citation: 166 A.3d 1006
• Parties: Peter M. BECKERMAN v. Ricky CONANT et al.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

166 A.3d 1006

Peter M. BECKERMAN

v.Ricky CONANT et al.

Docket: Ken–16–452

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: May 9, 2017

Decided: July 6, 2017

Catherine R. Connors, Esq. (orally), and Jared S. des Rosiers, Esq., Pierce Atwood LLP, Portland, for appellants Ricky and Monica Conant.

Alton C. Stevens, Esq. (orally), Marden, Dubord, Bernier & Stevens, P.A. LLC, Waterville, for appellee Peter M. Beckerman.

Panel: SAUFLEY C.J., and ALEXANDER, MEAD, GORMAN, HJELM, and HUMPHREY, JJ.

ALEXANDER, J.

[¶ 1] Ricky and Monica Conant appeal from a judgment entered by the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Wheeler, J. ) following a three-day nonjury trial, finding that Peter M. Beckerman has a deeded right-of-way across their property over the existing paved driveway. On appeal, the Conants argue that the court erred in finding that (1) a deeded right-of-way exists over their property and (2) the right-of-way is located over their paved driveway. We affirm the judgment.¹

I. CASE HISTORY

[¶ 2] After considering all of the evidence presented during trial, the court made the following findings, all of which are supported by evidence in the record. Peter M. Beckerman owns a waterfront lot (the "Beckerman lot") on Great Pond in Rome. Ricky and Monica Conant own an abutting waterfront lot (the "Conant lot").

Ricky Conant also owns a second lot—abutting the Conant lot—located between the Beckerman lot and a private access road called South Crane Lane. That second lot is rented to its former owners, Bruce and Cynthia Pooler (the "Pooler lot").

[¶ 3] Before June 5, 1975, the Beckerman lot, the Conant lot, and the Pooler lot were all owned by Nettie and Edwin Pooler. The Beckerman lot had been acquired from Anthony and Violet Dulac in September 1971. On June 5, 1975, Nettie and Edwin conveyed the Pooler lot to Bruce and Cynthia Pooler. Three years later, on December 14, 1978, Nettie conveyed the Beckerman lot to Willard and Elizabeth Haskell. Given the location of the Pooler lot, the newly created Beckerman lot did not have access to South Crane Lane. The 1978 deed conveying the Beckerman lot to the Haskells included the following language:

Together with a right-of-way as now used and laid out, in common with others, to pass and repass to said premises, and subject to the obligation of the Grantees herein, along with other cottage owners in the area, to share in seasonal road maintenance.

[¶ 4] The Haskells subsequently conveyed the Beckerman lot to Beckerman on September 2, 1988. Nettie Pooler conveyed the Conant lot to Rodney Pooler in 1998, who then conveyed the lot to the Conants on August 8, 2005. Ricky Conant acquired the Pooler lot in 2010 and has been renting it to Bruce and Cynthia Pooler.

[¶ 5] In 2000, Beckerman filed a complaint against Bruce, Cynthia, Rodney, and Nettie Pooler seeking to establish the location of the boundaries among their properties. The parties entered into a consent order, in 2002, that granted Beckerman a right-of-way over the Pooler lot from his lot to South Crane Lane. Beckerman filed a motion for contempt on July 16, 2012, alleging that the Poolers and Conants were in violation of that consent order. Following an April 2014 hearing, by order dated May 21, 2014, the court (Wheeler, J. ) denied that motion. We affirmed that denial but vacated a separate portion of the court's order.² See Beckerman v. Pooler , 2015 ME 80, ¶ 15, 119 A.3d 74.

[¶ 6] Also on July 16, 2012, Beckerman filed the complaint underlying this appeal, seeking a declaratory judgment that he has a right-of-way over the Conant lot by deed or, in the alternative, by prescriptive easement. The complaint also sought an injunction preventing the Conants from interfering with his right-of-way over the Conant lot.

[¶ 7] The Conants counterclaimed, asserting one count of statutory nuisance pursuant to 17 M.R.S. § 2701 (2016), one count of common law nuisance, and one count of trespass. The Conants later moved to dismiss their trespass claim, which the court granted on December 10, 2012.

[¶ 8] A three-day nonjury trial was held on November 23–25, 2015.³ By a judgment dated May 12, 2016, the court found that Beckerman had a deeded right-of-way over the Conant lot, and it apparently determined that the right-of-way existed over the Conants' paved driveway.⁴ The court also (1) issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the Conants from interfering with that right-of-way, (2) denied the Conants' nuisance counterclaims, and (3) found that any claim about whether the Conants had a right-of-way over the Beckerman lot had been abandoned. Because the court found that a deeded right-of-way existed, it did not address Beckerman's prescriptive easement claim.

[¶ 9] The court's determination that Beckerman had a deeded right-of-way resulted from its finding that the 1978 deed language at issue was ambiguous because it was susceptible to two different interpretations. The court found that the phrases "in common with others" and "to share in seasonal road maintenance" seemed to refer to the South Crane Lane right-of-way, while the phrase "to pass and repass to said premises" suggested a new right-of-way to access the Beckerman lot. Therefore, the court considered extrinsic evidence to determine the intent behind the 1978 deed language.

[¶ 10] In reviewing extrinsic evidence to determine the intent of the parties, the court stated that the intent was difficult to discern given that Nettie Pooler, the grantor, was deceased and the Haskells, the grantees, did not testify at trial. The court noted that the only admissible evidence on this question—Bruce Pooler's testimony that he had observed the Haskells and their service vehicles cross the Pooler lot to access the Beckerman lot—was insufficient to allow it to determine the intent of Nettie Pooler in conveying the Beckerman lot to the Haskells. Given the lack of evidence, the court resorted to rules of construction and concluded that the parties would not have intended to convey a "landlocked" Beckerman lot with no access to South Crane Lane. The court further concluded that the right-of-way "as now used and laid out, in common with others, to pass and repass to said premises" was located over the Conant lot because that was the only lot that Nettie Pooler owned at the time she conveyed the otherwise inaccessible Beckerman lot to the Haskells.

[¶ 11] Beckerman moved to alter or amend the judgment, arguing that he had not abandoned his claim regarding whether the Conants had a right-of-way over his property, and requested that the court attach an exhibit specifically identifying the location of the deeded right-of-way. By order dated September 21, 2016, the court amended the judgment to clarify that the Conants had a right-of-way over the Beckerman lot only for ingress and egress from Great Pond for the purpose of launching boats. The order denied Beckerman's request to attach an exhibit to the judgment further identifying the location of the right-of-way on the Conant lot.⁵ The Conants did not request further findings of fact, M.R. Civ. P. 52, following issuance of the original judgment or the amended judgment. The Conants timely appealed. See 14 M.R.S. § 1851 (2016) ; M.R. App. P. 2.

[¶ 12] The Conants argue that the court erred in concluding that Beckerman has a deeded right-of-way across their property. Specifically, they argue that (1) the language of the 1978 deed is unambiguous and does not confer a right-of-way across their property; (2) the presumption applied by the trial court, that the parties would not intend to land lock the Beckerman property, was improper because the property is not landlocked as a matter of law; and (3) if a deeded right-of-way exists, it is not over their paved driveway because nothing in the 1978 deed specifies the location of the right-of-way.⁶

II. LEGAL ANALYSIS

[¶ 13] The scope of a party's deeded easement rights are determined from the language on the face of the deed. See Matteson v. Batchelder , 2011 ME 134, ¶ 16, 32 A.3d 1059. A court may consider extrinsic evidence only if the deed language is ambiguous. Id. Language is ambiguous when it is reasonably susceptible to different interpretations. See River Dale Ass'n v. Bloss , 2006 ME 86, ¶ 6, 901 A.2d 809. Whether deed language is ambiguous is a question of law that we review de novo, while the trial court's determination of objective intent based on extrinsic evidence is a question of fact that we review for clear error.⁷ Wardwell v. Duggins , 2016 ME 55, ¶ 10, 136 A.3d 703.

[¶ 14] "If the language of the deed is ambiguous, and the intention of the parties is in doubt, the court may then resort to rules of construction and may examine the deed in light of extrinsic circumstances surrounding its execution." McGeechan v. Sherwood , 2000 ME 188, ¶ 24, 760 A.2d 1068. "The parties' intent may be gleaned not only from the use of the land before the grant, but also the practical construction which the parties placed upon [the deed] by their conduct...." Anchors v. Manter , 1998 ME 152, ¶ 18, 714 A.2d 134. "In the face of imprecision in a grant, the same types of extrinsic evidence that can be considered for the use of an easement are applicable to determine its location." Id. ¶ 20 (emphasis omitted).

A. Deeded Right-of-Way

[¶ 15] The language at issue in the 1978 deed conveying the Beckerman lot states:

Together with a right-of-way as now used and laid out, in common with others, to pass and repass to said premises, and subject to the obligation of the Grantees herein, along with other cottage owners in the area, to share in seasonal road maintenance.

[¶ 16] As the trial court concluded, the deed language at issue is ambiguous because it is susceptible to two different interpretations. See River Dale Ass'n , 2006 ME 86, ¶ 6, 901 A.2d 809. The phrases "in common with others" and "to share in seasonal road maintenance" could be construed as references to the South Crane Lane right-of-way, while the phrases "as now used and laid out" and "to...