Fitzpatrick v. Kent
| Decision Date | 21 February 2020 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 46797 |
| Citation | 458 P.3d 943,166 Idaho 365 |
| Parties | Dennis B. FITZPATRICK and Tracy L. Fitzpatrick, TRUSTEES OF the FITZPATRICK REVOCABLE TRUST, a Revocable Living Trust, Plaintiffs-Counterdefendants-Appellants-Cross Respondents, v. Alan KENT and Sherry Kent, TRUSTEES OF the ALAN & SHERRY KENT LIVING TRUST DATED 11/07/2003, a Revocable Living Trust; Alan and Sherry Kent, Husband and Wife, Defendants-Counterclaimants-Respondents-Cross Appellants, and John and Jane Does 1-10, Defendants. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Pickens Law, P.A., Boise, for appellants. Terri Pickens Manweiler argued.
Varin Wardwell, LLC, Boise, for respondents. Dylan Lawrence argued.
This appeal arises from a dispute between neighbors over the validity of an easement. In 1997, the Fitzpatricks bought two adjacent lots. In 2016, while they still owned both lots, they recorded an easement that granted the owners of the first lot (themselves) the right to maintain, repair, and improve a portion of the second lot. They then sold the second lot to the Kents. Two years later, the Kents allegedly made certain modifications to the easement area that the Fitzpatricks opposed. The Fitzpatricks claimed that the easement precluded the Kents from making the modifications, but the Kents asserted that the easement was unenforceable. The Fitzpatricks and Kents filed cross-complaints in district court, each seeking to quiet title to the easement area.
The district court granted the Kents’ motion for summary judgment after concluding that the easement was invalid under the merger doctrine. The district court granted costs to the Kents but denied them attorney fees under Idaho Code section 12-121. The Fitzpatricks appealed the district court's summary judgment decision and the Kents cross-appealed the district court's denial of their request for attorney fees. We affirm the decisions of the district court.
Dennis and Tracy Fitzpatrick bought two adjacent lots (the "Fitzpatrick Property" and the "Kent Property") in the Widgeon Lakes Estates Subdivision in Ada County. Both lots border the same pond. The Fitzpatricks later transferred their interest in the lots to themselves as trustees of the Fitzpatrick Revocable Trust. The Fitzpatricks installed landscaping and an irrigation system near the pond on the Fitzpatrick Property, and also constructed a vinyl fence over portions of both lots.
While they still owned both lots, the Fitzpatricks executed and recorded a nonexclusive easement (the "Easement Agreement"). The Easement Agreement states that the easement "is granted for the use, benefit, and enjoyment of the pond, the property surrounding the pond as set forth in Exhibit C, and also for the right to maintain, repair, and improve [the easement area]." The Fitzpatrick Revocable Trust was both the grantor and the grantee. On the same day that the easement was recorded, the Fitzpatricks listed the Kent Property for sale. The listing stated,
Three months later, the Fitzpatricks entered into a real estate purchase and sale agreement for the Kent Property with Alan and Sherry Kent. The agreement stated, "Buyers are aware of a recorded easement on the north side of the property." The Fitzpatricks assert that the listing agent told Alan Kent that the easement area "was controlled and maintained as part of the Fitzpatrick Property," and that the President of the Widgeon Lakes Estates Subdivision Homeowner's Association told the Kents that they must comply with the terms and conditions of the Easement Agreement after one or both of them met with him to inquire about their rights to the easement area. The parties closed the sale. The deed granted by the Fitzpatricks to the Kents states that the Kents took title to the Kent Property "subject to all ... easements." Like the Fitzpatricks, the Kents own their lot through a trust, of which they are the trustees.
Approximately a year after closing, the Fitzpatricks and the Kents had a dispute over the Easement Agreement. The Fitzpatricks assert that the Kents began making modifications to the easement area, including modifying the irrigation system that the Fitzpatricks had installed. The Kents deny making such modifications. The Fitzpatricks, through their attorney, sent the Kents a cease and desist letter that cited the Easement Agreement. The Fitzpatricks also "reinstalled" an irrigation system and some landscaping in the easement area "to replace the irrigation system and landscaping removed by the Kents." The Kents responded by sending the Fitzpatricks a letter, through the Kents’ attorney, objecting to the Fitzpatricks’ modifications to the easement area and asserting that the Easement Agreement was unenforceable. The Kents also threatened to remove the fence, undo the Fitzpatricks’ modifications, and return the irrigation system to its original condition.
The Fitzpatricks filed a complaint in district court seeking "a judgment quieting title to confirm [their] property rights in [the easement area]," citing the Easement Agreement. The complaint also sought to enjoin the Kents from any future interference with the Fitzpatricks’ easement rights, and sought damages based on the cost of installing the new irrigation system. The Kents filed an answer and counterclaim seeking a declaratory judgment that the Easement Agreement was void and unenforceable. The Kents also sought to quiet title to the Kent Property and requested damages based on the Fitzpatricks’ "continuing trespasses upon the Kent property."
Soon afterwards, each party moved for summary judgment. The district court denied the Fitzpatricks’ motion, and granted in part and denied in part the Kents’ motion. Specifically, it granted the Kents’ motion as to their declaratory judgment and quiet title counterclaims, "entitling [the Kents] to a declaration that the [Easement Agreement] is void and to a judgment quieting title in the Kent Property free and clear of any claim or interest of the Fitzpatricks." The district court denied the Kents’ motion only as to their claim for trespass and ejectment, on the grounds that no evidence or argument was directed toward this claim and the ruling on the validity of the Easement Agreement did not resolve this claim.
The parties filed a stipulation and joint motion for entry of final judgment. The Fitzpatricks reserved the right to appeal the district court's summary judgment order and judgment, as well as any costs or attorney fees awarded to the Kents, and the Kents reserved the right to seek costs and attorney fees. The stipulation also stated that if the Fitzpatricks did not appeal the district court's summary judgment order or if the order was affirmed on appeal, the parties would execute and record a Termination of Easement Agreement, attached as Exhibit B to the stipulation. The proposed final judgment reflected the district court's memorandum decision and order except that it stated that the Kents’ claim for trespass/ejectment would be granted. The same day, the district court issued an order approving the stipulation and joint motion for entry of final judgment, and issued a corresponding judgment. A week later, the Fitzpatricks filed a timely notice of appeal.
The Kents then filed a Verified Memorandum of Costs, Disbursements, and Attorneys’ Fees, which the Fitzpatricks opposed. The Kents sought $136 in costs, as well as $30,450 in attorney fees pursuant to Idaho Code section 12-121. The district court awarded the Kents’ unopposed request for $136 in costs but denied their request for attorney fees, and entered an amended judgment in accordance with its decision. The Kents filed a timely notice of cross-appeal on the issue of attorney fees.
Our standard of review in a summary judgment case is well understood:
In an appeal from an order granting summary judgment, the Court applies the same standard of review as that used by the district court when originally ruling on the motion. The court must grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The determination is to be based on the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any. When the district court is the trier of fact, it is entitled to arrive at the most probable inferences based upon the evidence properly before it. This Court exercises free review over the entire record that was before the district judge to determine whether either side was entitled to judgment as a matter of law and reviews the inferences drawn by the district judge to determine whether the record reasonably supports those inferences.
In re CSRBA Case No. 49576 Subcase No. 91-7755, 165 Idaho 517, 448 P.3d 322, 334-35 (2019) (citations and quotation marks omitted).
The district court concluded that the Kents were entitled to summary judgment because the Easement Agreement is invalid under the merger doctrine. The district court first explained that the merger doctrine "provides that when the land burdened by the easement and the land benefited by the easement come into common ownership, the need for the easement is destroyed and the easement is extinguished" (citing Ulrich v. Bach , 155 Idaho 249, 251 n.1, 308 P.3d 1232, 1234 n.1 (2013) ). The district court reasoned that although Idaho's appellate courts had not yet had occasion to apply the merger doctrine in a situation in which a landowner attempts to grant an easement across his own land, the merger doctrine also applied in this...
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