Florida Power v. SILVER LAKE HOMEOWNERS

• Decision Date: 26 March 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-1697.,98-1697.
• Citation: 727 So.2d 1149
• Parties: FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION, Appellant, v. SILVER LAKE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, etc., et al., Appellees.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

727 So.2d 1149

FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION, Appellant, v. SILVER LAKE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, etc., et al., Appellees.

No. 98-1697.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

March 26, 1999.

Bruce Crawford of Crawford, Owen & Hines, P.A., St. Petersburg, for Appellant.

I. Ed Pantaleon of Shutts & Bowen LLP, Orlando, for Appellees.

PER CURIAM.

Florida Power Corporation (FPC), appeals a final summary judgment in which the trial court ruled that it exceeded the scope of a power transmission/distribution line easement granted to it in 1948, by constructing steel monopole structures to support transmission lines formerly supported by wooden H-frame structures. We reverse.

In 1948, Silver Lake Homeowners Association's predecessor in title, Overstreet Land Company, conveyed to FPC an easement for an electric transmission line over and across its property which provided:

Florida Power ... has the right, privilege and easement forever to construct, operate and maintain an H-frame line for the transmission and distribution of electricity, including necessary communication and other wires, poles, guy and brace poles, anchors, ground connections, attachments, fixtures, equipment and accessories desirable in connection therewith over, upon and across the following described land in Seminole County, State of Florida....

[Legal Description Omitted]

Together with the right to patrol, inspect, alter and improve, repair and rebuild the same and to remove such lines, wires, poles, attachments, equipment and accessories, including the right to increase or decrease the number of wires and voltage, together with all the rights and privileges necessary or convenient for the full enjoyment or use thereof, for the purposes above described, including the right to trim, cut and keep clear all trees, limbs and undergrowth along said lines and all trees adjacent thereto that may in any way endanger the proper operation of the same, including also the right to enter over adjoining lands of the grantors for the purpose of exercising the rights and privileges herein granted.

After obtaining the easement, FPC constructed a power line that carried 115 kilovolts of electrical power. The lines were supported by wooden H-frame structures, a common type of construction at that time.

Subsequently, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the land subject to and adjacent to the easement area was platted and sold as residential property to the appellees. At the time the appellees acquired the underlying fee simple title, FPC's H-frame power lines were already in place. In 1995, FPC reconstructed the power line by removing the wooden H-frame structures and installing more modern steel monopole structures as replacements. The steel monopole structure is taller than the wooden H-frame structure and the voltage carried by the power line has been increased to 230 kilovolts. The steel monopole occupies the exact path of the prior wooden H-frame poles, and is completely contained within the same easement.

Appellees instituted this action against FPC seeking, inter alia, declaratory relief and inverse condemnation, alleging that the construction of the steel monopole structures exceeded the scope of the 1948 easement which only authorized the construction of an H-frame line. Appellees further assert that because steel monopole structures did not exist in 1948, there is no possibility the parties could have intended to allow such structures.

The construction or interpretation of an easement is not evidentiary; it is a matter of law. Hillsborough Co. v. Kortum, 585 So.2d 1029 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991), rev. denied, 598 So.2d 76 (Fla.1992). This court may reach a differing conclusion as to an easement's meaning without offense to the deference customarily accorded a trial court. Id. at 1031; see also Florida Power Corp. v. Lynn, 594 So.2d 789 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992), rev. denied, 602 So.2d 942 (Fla.1992). Accordingly, this court is in the same position as the trial court to determine the question of whether a summary judgment should have been awarded to the appellees. Shadow West Apartments, Ltd. v. State, Dept. of Transp., 498 So.2d 589 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986).

FPC was conveyed an easement for the purpose of transmitting and distributing electricity. In furtherance of that purpose, the easement specifies that FPC has the right to alter, improve, repair and rebuild, as well as the right to increase or decrease the number of wires and voltage, together "with all the rights and privileges necessary or convenient for the full enjoyment or use thereof...." Similarly, the law governing easements generally provides that an easement holder has the right to do what is reasonably necessary for the full enjoyment of the easement, but that the right must not be increased to any greater extent than reasonably necessary and contemplated at the time the easement was created. Crutchfield v. F.A. Sebring Realty Co., 69 So.2d 328 (Fla.1954). See also 20 Fla.Jur.2d Easements § 29 (1980) ("[A]n easement carries with it by implication the right to do what is reasonably necessary for the full enjoyment of the easement itself. Generally the rights of an easement owner are measured and defined by the purpose and character of the easement.") Further, case law from other jurisdictions indicates that the holder of an electric transmission line easement may avail itself of modern inventions and improvements so long as such action is within the scope of the easement. See Humphries v. Georgia Power Co., 224 Ga. 128, 160 S.E.2d 351 (1968); Hayes v. City of Loveland, 651 P.2d 466 (Colo.Ct.App.1982); West Penn Power Co. v. Bruni, 36 Pa.Cmwlth. 116, 387 A.2d 1316 (1978); Lower Colorado River Authority v. Ashby, 530 S.W.2d 628 (Tex.Civ. App.1975); and Central Power & Light Co. v. Holloway, 431 S.W.2d 436 (Tex.Civ.App. 1968).

In the instant case, FPC reconstructed its power line by replacing the antiquated wooden H-frame structures with modern steel monopole structures. The steel monopole structure is necessarily taller than the wooden H-frame structure as the voltage carried by the power line has been increased. Notwithstanding the steel monopole's taller height, it occupies the exact path of the prior wooden H-frame poles and is completely contained within the same prescribed easement area. We find the reconstruction by FPC to be within the scope of its 1948 easement. Accordingly, the summary judgment is reversed.

REVERSED.

PETERSON and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.

W. SHARP, J., dissents, with opinion.

W. SHARP, J., dissenting.

I think this case should either be affirmed or if there is an ambiguity concerning the interpretation of the Florida...