Cemetery v. State

• Decision Date: 31 August 2021
• Docket Number: C. A. WC-2015-0190
• Parties: QUIDNESSETT MEMORIAL CEMETERY, Plaintiff, v. STATE OF RHODE ISLAND; RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; and, MICHAEL P. LEWIS, 1 as Director of RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF TRASNPORTATION, Defendants.
• Court: Rhode Island Superior Court

QUIDNESSETT MEMORIAL CEMETERY, Plaintiff,
v.
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND; RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; and, MICHAEL P. LEWIS, 1 as Director of RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF TRASNPORTATION, Defendants.

C. A. No. WC-2015-0190

Superior Court of Rhode Island, Washington

August 31, 2021

For Plaintiff: James S. Lawrence, Esq.

For Defendant: Matthew I. Shaw, Esq.; Gregory S. Schultz, Esq.; Brenda D. Baum, Esq.

DECISION

McGUIRL, J.

Before this Court is an action brought by Quidnessett Memorial Cemetery (Plaintiff or QMC) against the State of Rhode Island (State), the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT), and Michael P. Lewis, as Director of RIDOT (collectively the Defendants) for several property-related claims. QMC contends that two temporary easements, executed in 1984 and 1990, allowing RIDOT to divert water from Post Road in North Kingstown onto its property, have since resulted in significant water problems.^[1] QMC asserts claims for inverse condemnation, continuous trespass, and due process. Conversely, the Defendants aver that Plaintiff's claims for inverse condemnation and due process fall outside the applicable statute of limitations and that all claims are further unsupported by sufficient evidence produced at trial. Furthermore, the Defendants contend that the State cannot be held liable for surface water flowing onto Plaintiff's property in the natural course. Jurisdiction is pursuant to G.L. 1956 § 8-2-14.

I

Facts and Travel

This matter proceeded to a thirteen-day trial beginning in January 2019 on QMC's claims for inverse condemnation, continuous trespass, and due process asserted in its Third Amended Complaint.^[2] The Court heard testimony from fifteen witnesses and considered dozens of exhibits.^[3]The Court also viewed the subject property twice during trial. See Trial Tr. 1:14-5:15, Jan. 14, 2019; 740:20-742:7, Jan. 24, 2019. At the close of trial, Defendants filed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Rule 52(c) of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure. After review of the testimony and exhibits at trial, the Court finds the following facts.

A

Background

QMC is located on approximately 125 acres of land in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. (Trial Tr. 96:11-24, Jan. 15, 2019.) QMC was founded more than a century ago in 1902 and is run by a nine-member Board of Directors. Id. at 7:8-25, Jan. 14, 2019; 96:19-22, Jan. 15, 2019. The cemetery also employs five permanent staff members, including a general manager. Id. at 6:23; 8:19-20, Jan. 14, 2019. At the time of trial, Susan Haddad (Haddad) served as manager, succeeding Paul Hartley (Hartley), who had been employed by QMC for more than fifty years. Id. at 7:1-7. Robert Kalander (Kalander), a member of the Board of Directors since 1989 and former seasonal employee of QMC in the 1960s and 1970s, served as the resident of the Board. Id. at 573:16-574:8; 622:2-5, Jan. 23, 2019.

Since its founding, QMC has expanded its property by acquiring additional parcels of land, including Assessor's Plat 156, Lot 9 in 1931, and Assessor's Plat 156, Lot 7, in 1969. See Exs. D, E; Tr. 98:21-99:6, Jan. 15, 2019. Part of QMC's property includes frontage on Post Road. See Ex. 2 (Master Plan). QMC divides its cemetery into sections, which are defined on its Master Plan.^[4]See Ex. 2; Tr. 48:10-49:3, Jan. 15, 2019. The sections are further subdivided into lots, and then into grave spaces. Id. at 49:7-13. Each lot contains up to twelve grave spaces. Id. at 49:20-24. A section may contain up to 120 grave spaces. Id. at 50:24-25. Each grave space holds one full-body casket and four cremains, or up to six cremains. Id. at 50:14-17.

QMC offers three price points for grave spaces, with low-range gravesites costing $810 per space, mid-range gravesites costing $950 per space, and high-range gravesites costing $1, 060 per space. Id. at 56:6-58:5. The low-range grave spaces are located closest to Post Road. Id. at 56:10-16. According to Haddad, about 500 low-priced spaces are located in Sections 308, 309, 310, 30A, 30B, and 311 on the Master Plan. Id. at 56:20-23. QMC also generates revenue from additional services such as opening and closing grave sites for a full body, providing grave liners, and constructing monuments. Id. at 60:14-25.; see also Ex. Q.

The Master Plan serves as a guide for current and future development of the cemetery. (Id. at 48:10-49:3.) When QMC develops its land into additional sections, it endeavors to follow along the perimeter of the Master Plan from bottom to top, so as to allow for grave space offerings in all three price ranges. Id. at 55:16-21; 142:22-143:1. Additionally, QMC develops its sections in order, or, in other words, adjacent to one another. Id. at 64:13-17. Lots may take more than a year to develop due to clearing, testing, and pinning the land. Id. at 89:2-10. At the time of trial, approximately sixty-five percent of the property was developed. Id. at 142:13-15.

B

Pre-1984 Flooding on Post Road

Flooding in the vicinity of QMC's property on Post Road had been an issue for some time. See, e.g., Ex. I (citing a long-standing drainage problem on Post Road); Ex. 43 (noting in a 1984 memorandum that "highway runoff is ponding in the street creating a hazardous situation"); Tr. 596:24-597:5, Jan. 23, 2019. In the 1920s, and prior to 1929, a twelve-inch cast iron pipe and two catch basins were installed beneath Post Road. Id. at 518:13-20. These drainage features are located at Station 359 + 33, which is adjacent to Lot 7. Id. at 519:22-24; 255:8-13; 260:18-261:10, Jan. 16, 2019; see also Ex. QQ. This location represents the low point, or very close to a low point, of a drainage area spanning approximately 18.4 or 18.8 acres. (Tr. at 252:20-253:5, Jan. 16, 2019; 793:3-18, Jan. 24, 2019.) Based on elevation, water flows through the pipe toward the cemetery property. Id. at 520:14-18, Jan. 23, 2019. There is no record that this pipe has ever been removed or replaced.^[5] Id. at 527:6-9.

Prior to QMC's acquisition of Lot 7 in 1969, the former owner gave verbal approval to the State to construct an open ditch on the side of Post Road at the location of the pipe and catch basins. See Ex. F at 1; see also Tr. 602:20-25; 621:24-622:1, Jan. 23, 2019; Ex. 36-I at 17-19. At trial, Kalander described this area of the property in the 1960s and 1970s as "a depression" in the area of proposed lots 308, 309, and 310. (Tr. 602:20-25; 621:18-23, Jan. 23, 2019.) According to Kalander, flooding was typical on Post Road during that time, but the cemetery did not experience the same flooding issues. Id. at 598:16-599:14; 650:20-651:21.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the State reached out to QMC several times in an attempt to find a solution for the Post Road flooding problem. See Exs. F, I; see also Ex. G. QMC rejected a 1971 request by the State for a drainage easement running from Post Road to an existing man-made lake on QMC property. (Ex. F.) In a letter rejecting the request, the QMC general manager wrote that "[t]he Cemetery Corporation . . . must protect the rights of it's [sic] Lot Owners and not allow any easements across its property which would restrict the full use of land for burial purposes." Id. In 1976, at QMC's request, the State removed a team conducting a feasibility study on QMC property related to the flooding issue. See Ex. G. Again, in 1984, QMC rejected a State proposal for a drainage line running from Post Road to the manmade pond on cemetery property "for the purpose of relieving the drainage problem on Post Road." (Ex. I at 1.) However, QMC agreed to consider an alternate proposal to create a seepage pit "adjacent to the problem area on Post Road." (Ex. I at 2.) QMC ultimately agreed to the State's alternate proposal. See Ex. 1.

C

Easement Agreements

1

1984 Agreement and Construction

On December 4, 1984, RIDOT and QMC entered into a "Temporary Drainage Easement" agreement (1984 Easement). See Ex. 1 at 1; see also Ex. J. The 1984 Easement stated that "the State is aware of a flooding problem caused by heavy rains on Post Road in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, northerly of its intersection with Essex Road" and further that QMC "owns property adjacent to the area of this flooding problem known as Assessor's Plat 156, Lot 9." Id. Pursuant to the 1984 Easement, QMC granted the State "for drainage purposes a temporary easement over its property known as Assessor's Plat 156, Lot 9, as shown on the attached plans labeled Exhibits A, B and C[.]"^[6] Id. Furthermore, the easement "include[d] the right of the State to construct, maintain and operate a temporary drainage system feeding into a seepage pit on the said Cemetery property." Id.

The 1984 Easement was to run "from the date of th[e] agreement until the subject portion of Post Road is reconstructed by the State." Id. The State agreed to "make all reasonable efforts to complete reconstruction in the subject area during the year 1989," but could not "guarantee said completion date." Id. The 1984 Easement also provided certain terms and conditions, including temporary fencing and a seepage pit limited to thirty feet in diameter. Id. at 1-2. The State also agreed to refill the seepage pit and "substantially restore the area of the pit to its condition prior to the agreement" once the Post Road reconstruction was complete. Id. at 2. The 1984 Easement was recorded in the North Kingstown Land Evidence Records at Book 429, Page 294. See id.

After executing the 1984 Easement, the State constructed a drainage system, including a seepage pit (Seepage Pit), on QMC property. (Tr. 599:15-21, Jan. 23, 2019.) The trial evidence demonstrates that the Seepage Pit was constructed on Lot 7, not Lot 9, as was described in the text of the 1984 Easement. Id. at 222:11-17, 228:5-19, Jan. 16, 2019; 370:18-371:10, Jan. 17, 2019; see Ex. 1 at 1. Cemetery employees testified that the Seepage Pit is...