Galassi v. Lincoln County Bd. of Com'rs, 02-687.

• Decision Date: 24 November 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-687.,02-687.
• Citation: 2003 MT 319,80 P.3d 84,318 Mont. 288
• Court: Montana Supreme Court
• Parties: Thomas GALASSI, Leslie Galassi, P.C. Lello Galassi, Nathan Galassi, Michael C. Galassi, Lance E. Galassi, Rhonda F. Giardina, and Karen Thornberry, Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. LINCOLN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, and Whispering Pines Recreational Landowners' Association, Inc., Defendants and Respondents.

80 P.3d 84

2003 MT 319

318 Mont. 288

Thomas GALASSI, Leslie Galassi, P.C. Lello Galassi, Nathan Galassi, Michael C. Galassi, Lance E. Galassi, Rhonda F. Giardina, and Karen Thornberry, Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. LINCOLN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, and Whispering Pines Recreational Landowners' Association, Inc., Defendants and Respondents.

No. 02-687.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs May 1, 2003.

Decided November 24, 2003.

For Appellants: Peter W. LaPanne, LaPanne Law Firm, Missoula, Montana.

For Respondent Lincoln County: Bernard G. Cassidy, Lincoln County Attorney, Libby, Montana.

For Respondent Whispering Pines Recreational Landowners Association, Inc.: Amy N. Guth, Attorney at Law, Libby, Montana.

Justice JIM REGNIER delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 Thomas Galassi and others (collectively Galassis) appeal from Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Judgment entered by the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, Lincoln County, finding for the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners and Whispering Pines Recreational Landowners' Association, Inc., in a quiet title action. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 The Galassis are descendants of Carlo and Winifred Galassi, who, along with Ron Thornberry, in 1964 purchased a 40-acre parcel of real property in north Lincoln County near Fortine. Thomas Galassi acquired an interest in the property from his father, Carlo, and subsequently moved his family there in 1995. The 40-acre parcel was never developed prior to Thomas' occupation. The Galassis' property is completely surrounded by the Whispering Pines Subdivision (Subdivision) which was developed in the early 1970's.

¶ 3 The Subdivision consists of approximately 127 five-acre parcels and includes numerous roads throughout providing access to the individual lots. Whitetail Meadow Road, the road at issue in this case, traverses the Galassi property from north to south and provides the only year round access to several lots within the Subdivision as well as United States National Forest land.

¶ 4 In 1996, the Lincoln County Commissioners notified the Galassis that Whitetail Meadow Road was a county road known as RP 81. On January 28, 1999, the Galassis petitioned Lincoln County to abandon Whitetail Meadow Road as a county road. When the County refused to abandon the road, the Galassis initiated this quiet title action, including a claim for injunctive relief seeking to bar public access to that part of the road that crosses their property.

¶ 5 On September 25, 2001, the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, Lincoln County, denied the claim for injunctive relief and on July 25, 2002, the District Court held a non-jury trial to determine whether Whitetail Meadow Road was private property or a county road. On July 29, 2002, the District Court issued it Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Judgment determining that Whitetail Meadow Road was a public county road.

¶ 6 The District Court relied on extensive evidence in reaching its conclusion that Whitetail Meadow Road and RP 81 were one and the same; namely, the petition and associated documents filed with the Lincoln County Clerk and Recorder in 1914 and 1915; the testimony of numerous persons familiar with the history of the area and road in question; and the fact that the road, as a whole, comported with the legal description as described in RP 81.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 7 The standard of review of a district court's findings of fact is whether the findings are clearly erroneous. Wareing v. Schreckendgust (1996), 280 Mont. 196, 202-03, 930 P.2d 37, 41. This Court has adopted a three-part test to determine whether a finding is clearly erroneous. First, we must determine if the findings are supported by substantial evidence. If so, we then determine if the district court misapprehended the evidence. Finally, if the findings are supported by substantial evidence and that evidence has not been misapprehended, this Court may still determine whether "a finding is `clearly erroneous' when ... a review of the record leaves the court with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." Daines v. Knight (1995), 269 Mont. 320, 325, 888 P.2d 904, 906 (citing Interstate Production Credit v. DeSaye (1991), 250 Mont. 320, 323, 820 P.2d 1285, 1287). Finally, we review a district court's conclusions of law for correctness. Dambrowski v. Champion Intern. Corp., 2003 MT 233, ¶ 6, 317 Mont. 218, ¶ 6, 76 P.3d 1080, ¶ 6.

DISCUSSION

¶ 8 The sole issue in this appeal is whether the District Court erred in concluding that Whitetail Meadow Road is a dedicated county road.

¶ 9 The Galassis make several arguments in support of their position that the District Court erred in its decision. First, they maintain that the 1914 legal description of RP 81 was vague and ill defined and thus does not depict what is now known as Whitetail Meadow Road. Additionally, they assert that Whitetail Meadow Road does not appear in the Lincoln County Tract Book, therefore, it could not conclusively be RP 81. Next, the Galassis contend that Lincoln County did not maintain Whitetail Meadow Road and the road was never upgraded to county specifications. They also maintain that landowners in Section 6 considered the road to be private. Finally, the Galassis allege that the Subdivision considered all of the roadways in Section 6 to be private and did not include the stretch of Whitetail Meadow Road that crosses their property on any of the subdivision maps.

¶ 10 In contrast, Lincoln County asserts that there is substantial evidence to establish that RP 81 and Whitetail Meadow Road are one and the same. As a preliminary matter, the County maintains that the correct statutory procedure was followed in the formation of RP 81, and therefore Lincoln County properly declared in 1915 that the road was public. The County next points to the testimony of three witnesses: Mr. Pat Hume, Mr. Larry Curtiss and Mr. Ken McKenzie. Hume testified that his family moved to this area in 1926, and he recalled the road being used at that time to haul lumber. He pointed out that the road provided school access from 1943-1946, was the only road there for a long time and followed the same course as set forth in the description of RP 81. Similarly, Curtiss recalled using the road as early as 1929 and described the road as part of RP 81. McKenzie testified that his family had lived in the area for over seventy years and recalled Whitetail Meadow Road as long as he could remember. He was fifty-one years old at time of trial. Additionally, Kyle Karstens, a title examiner and expert for the plaintiffs, testified that the road ran generally in a southwest direction, and the legal description of RP 81 was consistent with other legal descriptions written in the early 1900's. Relying on Reid v. Park County (1981), 192 Mont. 231, 627 P.2d 1210, the County claims that the record taken as a whole indicates that RP 81 is a public road and that it is the road known as Whitetail Meadow Road.

¶ 11 The Subdivision also responded to the Galassis' claims. It disputes the plaintiffs' claims that the legal description is inadequate or ill defined, pointing out that the road petition describes the road with sufficient particularity, and it identifies the point of beginning and end, the direction of travel and refers to natural markers. In response to Galassis' assertion that there has been no public maintenance of RP 81/Whitetail Meadow Road, the Subdivision points out that the appellants presented no legal authority to support their claim that lack of maintenance results in a finding that the road is private. Additionally, the Subdivision asserts that the Galassis misstate the record when they say Whitetail Meadow Road is not depicted in the County Tract Book and that Section 6 landowners consider all the roads as private. The Subdivision provides record cites to the contrary.

¶ 12 After a review of the record, we conclude that the District Court correctly decided this case and are convinced that the District Court properly determined that the road was proposed, viewed, constructed and dedicated in substantial compliance with the laws then in existence governing the creation of county roads. We are particularly mindful that our holding in Reid abandoned strict compliance to the...