Butterfly Realty v. James Romanella & Sons, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 July 2014
• Docket Number: No. 2013–15–Appeal.,2013–15–Appeal.
• Citation: 93 A.3d 1022
• Parties: BUTTERFLY REALTY et al. v. JAMES ROMANELLA & SONS, INC.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

93 A.3d 1022

BUTTERFLY REALTY et al.

v.JAMES ROMANELLA & SONS, INC.

No. 2013–15–Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 1, 2014.

Mark E. Liberati, Esq., Providence, for Plaintiffs.

Kelly M. Fracassa, Esq., Westerly, for Defendant.

Present: SUTTELL, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, ROBINSON, and INDEGLIA, JJ.

OPINION

Justice INDEGLIA, for the Court.

In this appeal, we revisit an ongoing dispute between two commercial landowners over the existence of a prescriptive easement used by delivery trucks to access a loading dock. The plaintiffs, Butterfly Realty and Dairyland, Inc. (plaintiffs), appeal from a Superior Court judgment denying their claim for a prescriptive easement on the property of the defendant, James Romanella & Sons, Inc. (JR & Sons or defendant). This case came before the Supreme Court on December 10, 2013, pursuant to an order directing the parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not be summarily decided. After hearing the parties' arguments and reviewing their written submissions, we are satisfied that cause has not been shown. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

IFacts and Travel

The facts of this case were previously discussed in this Court's recent opinion, Butterfly Realty v. James Romanella & Sons, Inc., 45 A.3d 584 (R.I.2012) (hereinafter, Butterfly I ). In that decision, we vacated a judgment in favor of defendant and remanded the matter to the Superior Court. Upon remand, the parties waived the presentation of additional evidence. Accordingly, the facts provided in this opinion come from the one and only trial conducted in this case. We briefly recount below those facts relevant to the instant appeal.

The property at the center of this dispute consists of three commercial lots located in the Town of Westerly where East Avenue meets Granite Street and which are identified on assessor's plat No. 77 as lots Nos. 330, 331, and 332. JR & Sons owns the most southerly of the three parcels, lot No. 330, which has frontage on East Avenue. At all times relevant to this appeal, a commercial building containing a laundromat has occupied the northern portion of lot No. 330. Lot No. 331, which is owned by Dairyland, Inc., lies immediately to the north of lot No. 330 and has frontage on Granite Street. Lot No. 332 sits immediately to the north of lot No. 331 and also has frontage on Granite Street. On August 8, 1985, Albert Romanella, then-president of JR & Sons, conveyed lot No. 332 by warranty deed to Butterfly Realty (Butterfly). That same day, Albert Romanella also assigned his lease for lot No. 331 to Butterfly.

Butterfly owns a single commercial building that occupies most of lots Nos. 331 and 332.¹ The southwestern corner of the building houses a loading dock, the door to which faces southward towards JR & Sons's lot. Because the building sits nearly on top of the boundary line between lots Nos. 331 and 330, delivery trucks cannot access the loading dock without entering onto JR & Sons's property. Accordingly, on August 16, 1985, JR & Sons granted Butterfly an express easement, recorded in the Town of Westerly's land evidence records, which “permit[s] ingress and egress to and from the loading dock at the southwest corner of [Butterfly's] building[.]” The terms of the easement, however, expressly prohibit deliveries by “semi-trailers.” The southern boundary of the easement runs roughly parallel to the side of Butterfly's building and becomes wider as it moves from east to west.

From 1985 onward, Butterfly's building housed a succession of businesses, all of which made some use of the loading dock. A liquor store operated out of the building from 1985 to 1989. After the liquor store vacated the premises, Butterfly leased a portion of the building to an auto parts store. From 1993 through 2010, another tenant of Butterfly's, Auto Audio, also operated a business out of a different portion of the building. The various businesses received deliveries from trucks of different sizes and with differing frequencies. In general, however, the delivery trucks would drive over JR & Sons's lot, beyond the bounds of the express easement, to access the loading dock.

In May 2010, JR & Sons hired an engineer to determine the precise location of the express easement's southern boundary after a delivery truck damaged a building on JR & Sons's lot. JR & Sons then ordered the installation of “concrete pylons” along the southwestern boundary of the express easement. With the pylons in place, it was nearly impossible for delivery vehicles to directly access the loading dock. On June 14, 2010, Butterfly ² responded by filing a complaint in Washington County Superior Court, claiming a prescriptive easement over JR & Sons's lot.³ The defendant filed a counterclaim for a permanent injunction to compel Butterfly to comply with the terms of the express easement.

A two-day bench trial on the parties' claims commenced on December 8, 2010. The testimony and exhibits presented at trial indicated that delivery trucks typically used one of two routes to access the loading dock. These two paths were referred to as the “brown route” and the “green route” at trial. See Appendix.⁴ When following the brown route, a truck would enter lot No. 330 from a curb cut on East Avenue and then drive westward, in between the laundromat and the Butterfly building, before making a left turn behind the laundromat. The delivery truck would then back up to the loading dock. When using the green route, a delivery truck would enter lot No. 331 from a curb cut on Granite Street, then drive southwestward across several painted parking spaces,⁵ and cross onto lot No. 330, where it would continue along the brown route to reach the loading dock. At trial, both parties presented several witnesses who testified about the delivery trucks' use of JR & Sons's lot. We summarize below the relevant testimony.⁶

Shawn Martin, a part-owner of Butterfly, testified on behalf of plaintiffs. He explained that his partner, an attorney, had negotiated the exact terms of the express easement in 1985 but stated that he “roughly” understood where the boundaries of the express easement were located. According to Mr. Martin, neither AlbertRomanella nor Albert Romanella's partner, Charles Sposato, had ever voiced any objections about the delivery trucks' use of lot No. 330 to access the loading dock.

The plaintiff also presented Mr. Martin's wife, Rita Martin, who managed the liquor store from the time it opened in 1985 until the time it closed in 1989. During the many hours that she spent at the store, Mrs. Martin personally observed trucks make deliveries to the loading dock. She estimated that the liquor store received approximately twelve to fifteen deliveries per week. Mrs. Martin further estimated that the trucks' use of the brown and green routes was either roughly equal or that the brown route received slightly more use than the green route. She indicated that she had never received any written or oral communications from anyone affiliated with JR & Sons about the delivery trucks' use of lot No. 330 to access the loading dock. Mrs. Martin testified that she and her husband had a “friendly relationship” with Mr. Sposato.

Mrs. Martin explained that, for approximately one month each year, one or more tenants of JR & Sons would sell Christmas trees alongside the northern exterior wall of the laundromat. She testified that the actual dimensions of the area occupied by the trees would vary slightly from one year to another. Nonetheless, according to her recollection, the trees never impeded the trucks' abilities to make deliveries.

Paul Williams also testified on plaintiffs' behalf. Mr. Williams worked in the auto parts store from 1991, approximately two years after the store opened, until 2006.⁷ He explained that the auto parts store usually received deliveries at the loading dock on a weekly basis. According to Mr. Williams, those deliveries arrived by semi-trailer trucks which were approximately fifty feet in length. He also testified that sometimes a garbage truck would pick up trash from the loading dock or a United Postal Service (UPS) truck would deliver a large item to the loading dock. Mr. Williams estimated that the delivery trucks' use of the brown and green routes was roughly equal, but he clarified that a truck driver's ability to use the green route depended on whether cars were parked in the parking spaces located southeast of Butterfly's building. See Appendix. Mr. Williams testified that the annual Christmas tree sales did not prevent the delivery trucks from entering through the curb cut on East Avenue and reaching the loading dock.

The plaintiffs' final witness was Craig Jackson, the owner of Auto Audio. Mr. Jackson testified that he personally supervised about half of Auto Audio's deliveries. According to Mr. Jackson, UPS trucks made deliveries to the loading dock about twice per day and used both the brown and green routes. Approximately once every two weeks, a garbage truck would use the loading dock to pick up both Auto Audio's and the auto parts store's trash. Consistent with Mr. Williams's testimony, Mr. Jackson testified that he observed semi-trailer trucks accessing the loading dock on a weekly basis to make deliveries to the auto parts store. He confirmed that the average size of the area occupied by the Christmas trees varied from year to year but maintained that the only time he could recall deliveries being impeded is when the concrete pylons were installed in 2010.

Charles Sposato, a 50 percent owner of JR & Sons, testified for defendant. In a deposition submitted into evidence at trial, Mr. Sposato stated that he was unaware of the exact location of the express easement until May 2010 when the survey was completed. Mr. Sposato further indicated in his deposition that he had previously believed that Albert Romanella had an oral, rather than a...