Beckstead v. Price

• Court: Idaho Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Burdick
• Citation: Beckstead v. Price, 190 P.3d 876, 146 Idaho 57 (Idaho 2008)
• Decision Date: 17 June 2008
• Docket Number: No. 33473.,33473.
• Parties: M. Dale BECKSTEAD and Gayle Beckstead, husband and wife, Plaintiffs-Counterdefendants-Respondents, v. Blaine PRICE, JoAnn Price, Lazy E., LLC, an Idaho limited liability company, and John Does 1-10, Defendants-Counterclaimants-Appellants.

190 P.3d 876

146 Idaho 57

M. Dale BECKSTEAD and Gayle Beckstead, husband and wife, Plaintiffs-Counterdefendants-Respondents, v. Blaine PRICE, JoAnn Price, Lazy E., LLC, an Idaho limited liability company, and John Does 1-10, Defendants-Counterclaimants-Appellants.

No. 33473.

Supreme Court of Idaho, Pocatello, April 2008 Term.

June 17, 2008.

Rehearing Denied August 11, 2008.

Lowell N. Hawkes, Chtd., Pocatello, for appellants. Lowell N. Hawkes and Ryan Scott Lewis argued.

Maguire & Kress, Pocatello, for respondents. David R. Kress and Matthew Luke Kinghorn argued.

BURDICK, Justice.

Appellants Blaine Price, JoAnn Price, Lazy E., LLC, and John Does 1-10 (collectively the Prices) appeal a district court order which decrees the existence of a prescriptive easement over their land in favor of Respondents M. Dale and Gayle Beckstead. On appeal, the Prices raise several issues including whether the district court erroneously concluded the Becksteads have a prescriptive easement, whether the determination of the scope of the easement was erroneous, and whether the Prices' right to due process was violated. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Becksteads own approximately 760 acres of land (the Beckstead Property) in Oneida County. The Becksteads purchased the Beckstead Property in 1996. The Prices own two parcels of property: the Price Property and the Frederickson Property. Off of the paved highway, there is a road that runs across the Price Property and the Frederickson Property and then connects to the Beckstead Property. The road is not a driveway, but leads to a fork in the road that turns right into the driveway going to the Prices' residence or left up to the Beckstead Property.

The Becksteads and the Prices had a friendly relationship until about 2001. After some contentious encounters and trouble with gates that the Prices placed on the road, the Becksteads initiated a quiet title suit. After a three-day court trial, the district court ruled the Becksteads met the prescriptive easement requirements. The Prices appeal.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A determination that a claimant has established a prescriptive easement involves entwined questions of law and fact. Hughes v. Fisher, 142 Idaho 474, 479, 129 P.3d 1223, 1228 (2006). When this Court reviews a lower court's decision, it determines whether the evidence supports the findings of fact and whether the findings of fact support the conclusions of law. Anderson v. Larsen, 136 Idaho 402, 405, 34 P.3d 1085, 1088 (2001). "A trial court's findings of fact in a bench trial will be liberally construed on appeal in favor of the judgment entered, in view of the trial court's role as trier of fact." Id. Findings of fact based on substantial and competent evidence will not be overturned on appeal even in the face of conflicting evidence. Benninger v. Derifield, 142 Idaho 486, 489, 129 P.3d 1235, 1238 (2006). It is the province of the district court to weigh conflicting evidence and testimony and to judge the credibility of the witnesses. Id.

"[W]e exercise free review over the lower court's conclusion of law to determine whether the trial court correctly stated the applicable law, and whether the legal conclusions are sustained by the facts found." Anderson, 136 Idaho at 406, 34 P.3d at 1089.

III. ANALYSIS

The Prices argue that the Becksteads failed to establish they acquired a prescriptive easement and that the scope of the easement granted is excessive. The Prices also argue the district court erred by failing to award them contribution and by ordering the locking and removal of various gates. The Prices further argue they were denied due process and that the district court entered an erroneous order when considering the Becksteads' second contempt motion. Both parties assert they are entitled to an award of attorney fees on appeal. We address each issue in turn.

A. Existence of the Prescriptive Easement

After the district court's grant of summary judgment to the Becksteads, the Prices moved for reconsideration. The district court decided it would consider the information submitted during the trial before ruling on the motion for reconsideration. After the three-day court trial, the court made written factual findings and concluded as a matter of law that based on those findings, the Becksteads had a prescriptive easement. The Prices contend the facts do not support a conclusion that the Becksteads have established any of the prescriptive easement elements.

The requirements for a prescriptive easement have been clearly established in Idaho:

A party seeking to establish the existence of an easement by prescription "must prove by clear and convincing evidence use of the subject property, which is characterized as: (1) open and notorious; (2) continuous and uninterrupted; (3) adverse and under a claim of right; (4) with the actual or imputed knowledge of the owner of the servient tenement (5) for the statutory period." Hodgins v. Sales, 139 Idaho 225, 229, 76 P.3d 969, 973 (2003). The statutory period in question is five years. I.C. § 5-203; Weaver v. Stafford, 134 Idaho 691, 698, 8 P.3d 1234, 1241 (2000). A claimant may rely on his own use, or he "may rely on the adverse use by the claimant's predecessor for the prescriptive period, or the claimant may combine such predecessor's use with the claimant's own use to establish the requisite five continuous years of adverse use." Hodgins, 139 Idaho at 230, 76 P.3d at 974. Once the claimant presents proof of open, notorious, continuous, uninterrupted use of the claimed right for the prescriptive period, even without evidence of how the use began, he raises the presumption that the use was adverse and under a claim of right. Wood v. Hoglund, 131 Idaho 700, 702-03, 963 P.2d 383, 385-86 (1998); Marshall v. Blair, 130 Idaho 675, 680, 946 P.2d 975, 980 (1997). The burden then shifts to the owner of the servient tenement to show that the claimant's use was permissive, or by virtue of a license, contract, or agreement. Wood, 131 Idaho at 703, 963 P.2d at 386; Marshall, 130 Idaho at 680, 946 P.2d at 980. The nature of the use is adverse if "it runs contrary to the servient owner's claims to the property." Hodgins, 139 Idaho at 231, 76 P.3d at 975. The state of mind of the users of the alleged easement is not controlling; the focus is on the nature of their use. Id. at 231-32, 76 P.3d at 975-76.

Akers v. D.L. White Constr., Inc., 142 Idaho 293, 303, 127 P.3d 196, 206 (2005). "A prescriptive right cannot be obtained if the use of the servient estate is by permission of the landowner." Brown v. Miller, 140 Idaho 439, 443, 95 P.3d 57, 61 (2004) (quoting Wood, 131 Idaho at 702, 963 P.2d at 385).

The Prices assert the district court should have only considered the continuous and uninterrupted use of the roadway by Dale Beckstead; the Prices argue Gayle is not an owner of the property and that her use or the use of any other nonowners cannot be used to establish the prescriptive easement. However, this argument ignores the extensive body of Idaho law that considers various users of the easement to the degree they show the easement was being used by the landowner. See, e.g., Benninger, 142 Idaho at 490, 129 P.3d at 1239 (use by visitors and emergency service providers); Anderson, 136 Idaho at 406, 34 P.3d at 1089 (use by neighbor and his grandson, who were hired to cut grass on the property).

An easement "is the right to use the land of another for a specific purpose that is not inconsistent with the general use of the property by the owner." Luce v. Marble, 142 Idaho 264, 273, 127 P.3d 167, 176 (2005) (quoting Abbott v. Nampa Sch. Dist. No. 131, 119 Idaho 544, 548, 808 P.2d 1289, 1293 (1991)) (internal quotations omitted). The district court found the Becksteads used the land for recreational purposes, for grazing cattle, and for making improvements to the Beckstead Property. Those types of uses will naturally include ingress and egress for visitors and people hired to perform work on the property. Thus, the district court did not err by considering the use of nonowners to the degree those nonowners showed use of the easement by the landowner.

The district court found that the Becksteads continuously used the property each year from 1996 through 2005, that the Becksteads at no time sought permission to use the road, and that nearly all the use of the road can be observed from the Prices' residence. It is the province of the district court to weigh conflicting evidence and testimony and to judge the credibility of the witnesses. Benninger, 142 Idaho at 489, 129 P.3d at 1238. Here, the judge's weighing of evidence and judgment on the credibility of the witnesses resulted in a favorable judgment for the Becksteads. Though the Prices presented conflicting evidence, there is trial testimony that sufficiently supports the district court's findings. Therefore, we hold the district court's factual findings were supported by substantial and competent evidence. Next, we must determine whether the factual findings support the conclusions of law.

The district court concluded the Becksteads established they had a prescriptive easement "for the purpose of ingress and egress to the Beckstead Property." "A party seeking to establish the existence of an easement by prescription `must prove by clear and convincing evidence use of the subject property, which is characterized as: (1) open and notorious; (2) continuous and uninterrupted; (3) adverse and under a claim of right; (4) with the actual or imputed knowledge of the owner of the servient tenement (5) for the statutory period.'" Akers, 142 Idaho at 303, 127 P.3d at 206 (quoting Hodgins, 139 Idaho at 229, 76 P.3d at 973).

The factual findings support a conclusion that the Becksteads' use of the road was open and notorious, continuous and uninterrupted,¹ with the actual knowledge of the Prices, and for the statutory period. Thus, the...