Carnahan v. Lewis, S–11–0122.

• Decision Date: 27 March 2012
• Docket Number: No. S–11–0122.,S–11–0122.
• Citation: 273 P.3d 1065,2012 WY 45
• Parties: Brad CARNAHAN and Brenda Carnahan, Appellants (Defendants/Third Party Plaintiffs), v. Rex I. LEWIS and Vickie R. Lewis, as Trustees of the Rex I. Lewis Living Trust and the Vickie R. Lewis Living Trust, Appellees (Plaintiffs/Third Party Defendants).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

2012 WY 45

273 P.3d 1065

Brad CARNAHAN and Brenda Carnahan, Appellants (Defendants/Third Party Plaintiffs),

v.Rex I. LEWIS and Vickie R. Lewis, as Trustees of the Rex I. Lewis Living Trust and the Vickie R. Lewis Living Trust, Appellees (Plaintiffs/Third Party Defendants).

No. S–11–0122.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

March 27, 2012.

Representing Appellants: Karen Budd–Falen, Franklin J. Falen, Kathryn J.B. Morrow of Budd–Falen Law Offices, LLC, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Argument by Ms. Morrow.

Representing Appellees: Nicholas G.J. Healey and Timothy L. Woznick of Dray, Dyekman, Reed & Healey, PC, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Argument by Mr. Healey.

Before KITE, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, VOIGT, and BURKE, JJ.

KITE, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1] Rex I. Lewis and Vickie R. Lewis, as trustees of the Rex I. Lewis Living Trust and the Vickie R. Lewis Living Trust, (Lewises) and Brad and Brenda Carnahan (Carnahans) own property in a subdivision in Laramie County. The Lewises filed a complaint seeking a declaration that the Carnahans did not have authority to block their use of a public easement to access their property, an injunction requiring the Carnahans to remove a fence they erected across the easement and nuisance damages allegedly caused by the blocked easement. The Carnahans filed counterclaims for ejectment and trespass against the Lewises and a third party complaint against the Lewises and Laramie County (which they alleged had an interest in the easement) to have title to the easement quieted in them.

[¶ 2] Both parties moved for summary judgment and, after a hearing, the district court issued a decision letter ruling that the Lewises had standing to bring their claim for declaratory relief but not to collect damages for nuisance; Laramie County was not a necessary party; issues of material fact existed precluding summary judgment as to the Carnahans' statute of limitations and laches defenses; and the Board of Laramie County Commissioners' (Board) 2003 denial of an application to replat the subdivision did not estop the Carnahans from maintaining a quiet title claim. Subsequently, the district court ruled that an affidavit recorded in 1994 was not effective to vacate the public easement because it did not comply with state statute. Consistent with that ruling, the district court dismissed the Carnahans' trespass claim. The district court set for trial the Carnahans' statute of limitations and laches defenses. After trial, the district court concluded neither the statute of limitations nor laches barred the Lewises' declaratory judgment action. Further, the district court declared that Laramie County continued to hold the easement in trust for the public, meaning the Lewises have the right to use the easement and the Carnahans do not have the right to obstruct their use. The Carnahans appealed. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 3] We re-phrase the issues the Carnahans present as follows:

1. Whether the district court correctly held:

a. the Lewises had standing to seek declaratory relief;

b. the Lewises' claims are not barred by the statute of limitations;

c. the Lewises' claims are not barred by the doctrine of laches;

d. the Carnahans' predecessors-in-interest did not properly vacate the public easement in accordance with Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 34–12–101 et seq.; and

e. the Carnahans' trespass claim must be dismissed.

The Lewises contend the district court ruling was correct on all of the above issues and raise the additional issue that the Carnahans' appeal should be dismissed as premature.

FACTS

[¶ 4] In June of 1977, the Board acknowledged and approved the final plat for Table Mountain Ranches, Fourth Filing, containing eighty-one separate lots. The Laramie County Clerk recorded the plat in September the same year. The plat subdivided property located in Laramie County south of County Road No. 20 (Valley View Road) approximately eighteen miles west of Cheyenne. The plat included an eighty foot easement named the “Mountain View Loop.” The easement begins at its intersection with County Road No. 20, travels south, and then loops through Table Mountain Ranches in a U-shape back to County Road No. 20 approximately 400 to 500 yards west of where it begins. Thus, Mountain View Loop provides access to Table Mountain Ranches from County Road No. 20 at two different points. The plat contained the following dedication:

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS; that Robert Tomb and Kenneth H. Barber, owners in fee simple of the land embraced in this subdivision of the within described lands, do hereby declare the subdivision of said land, as appears on this plat, to be their free and voluntary act and deed and in accordance with their desires do hereby dedicate, to the use of the public forever, all of the road rights-of-way shown hereon; do hereby grant, to the use of the public forever, all of the public access and utility easements shown hereon and do hereby grant, for the specified purposes, all of the remaining easements shown hereon.

[¶ 5] The property now owned by the Carnahans was previously owned by Noel R. and Colleen Ann Griffith. The Griffiths purchased the property in February of 1994 as fourteen individual lots—shown as tracts 219, 220 and 223–234 on the Table Mountain Ranches final plat. In March of 1994, the Griffiths filed and the Laramie County Clerk's office recorded an “Affidavit for the Vacation of Certain Tract Lines, Public Access and Utility Easements within the Table Mountain Ranches, Fourth Filing Subdivision.” The affidavit expressed the Griffiths' intent to combine their fourteen lots into one parcel and vacate all interior tract lines and the eighty foot wide public access and utility easement running along and through the parcel. The affidavit went unchallenged at that time and the Laramie County attorney and Cheyenne/Laramie County development office treated it as effectively vacating the tract lines and the public access and utility easement.

[¶ 6] After filing the affidavit, the Griffiths built a home on the property. Construction began roughly in April and was completed by October or November of 1994. The Griffiths also installed a septic system and a garage. The house, garage and septic system are located partially on Mountain View Loop between what were originally tracts 219 and 225 on the Table Mountain Ranches Plat, Fourth Filing. During the time the Griffiths were building their house, the Lewises purchased 83.33 unplatted acres directly west of the Griffiths' property and almost completely surrounded by the subdivision. The Griffiths subsequently conveyed a portion of their property to Troy Griffith and the remainder to the Griffith Family Limited Partnership. In 1999, the Lewises purchased most of the remaining lots in the Table Mountain Ranches subdivision. As it relates to the Lewis property, Mountain View Loop comes south from County Road No. 20 through the Griffith property, crosses over the southern edge of the Lewises' unplatted property and then winds through the western part of Table Mountain Ranches, also owned by the Lewises, back to its second intersection with County Road No. 20.

[¶ 7] In 2003, Troy Griffith offered the Griffith property for sale. He and the Carnahans executed a purchase agreement for the property in April of 2003. As part of the agreement, Mr. Griffith agreed to petition the Board to re-plat the parcel to vacate the existing fourteen lots, create two lots instead, vacate the portion of Mountain View Loop running through the property and replace it with an eighty foot access and utility easement west of the buildings and the original easement.¹ The Lewises objected to the re-plat on the grounds that it would close an existing county road and the proposed replacement easement was not the physical and legal equivalent of Mountain View Loop. The Board addressed the petition at two meetings and voted unanimously to deny it. The Board issued findings, conclusions and an order in July of 2003, stating that the re-plat would

abridge or destroy the rights and privileges of other proprietors in Table Mountain Ranches, Fourth Filing, for the following reasons. First, because the replat vacates a statutorily dedicated public right-of-way and replaces it with an “access easement” which is not dedicated to the public and not designated as “Mountain View Loop”. Second, because the proposed replat and corresponding vacation of Mountain View Loop deprives the other proprietors in Table Mountain Ranches, Fourth Filing, of their right and privilege to use an existing public, two track, passable, dirt road, which travels over, primarily, flat grass lands and replaces it with a completely undeveloped non-public “access easement.”Soon after the denial, the Carnahans went ahead and purchased the Griffiths' property.

[¶ 8] In 2007, the Carnahans built a fence with a locked gate on Mountain View Loop where it crosses from the unplatted portion of the Lewises' property onto their property. The Lewises then filed their complaint against the Carnahans seeking declaratory and injunctive relief establishing their right to use Mountain View Loop and prevent the Carnahans from blocking it. The Carnahans responded with their cross-claims for ejectment and trespass and third party complaint to quiet title to the easement in them as against the Lewises and Laramie County. Laramie County moved to be dismissed from the action. The district court granted the County's motion.² The Carnahans and the Lewises filed cross motions for summary judgment.

[¶ 9] After a hearing, the district court dismissed the Lewises' nuisance claim, denied the Carnahans' motion for summary judgment on the declaratory judgment claim, held that Laramie County was not an indispensable party and set for trial the matter of whether the Lewises' claims were barred by the statute of limitations or laches. The district court requested additional briefing on the issue of whether the Griffiths' 1994 affidavit effectively vacated Mountain View Loop....