Gooldy v. Storage Center-Platt Springs, LLC

• Citation: 422 S.C. 332,811 S.E.2d 779
• Decision Date: 14 March 2018
• Docket Number: Opinion No. 27782,Appellate Case No. 2016-000588
• Parties: David R. GOOLDY, Petitioner, v. The STORAGE CENTER-PLATT SPRINGS, LLC, Respondent.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina

422 S.C. 332

811 S.E.2d 779

David R. GOOLDY, Petitioner,

v.The STORAGE CENTER-PLATT SPRINGS, LLC, Respondent.

Appellate Case No. 2016-000588

Opinion No. 27782

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Heard November 14, 2017

Filed March 14, 2018

James Randall Davis, of Davis Frawley Anderson McCauley Ayer Fisher & Smith, LLC, of Lexington, for Petitioner.

Bess Jones DuRant and Robert E. Stepp, both of Sowell Gray Robinson Stepp & Laffitte, LLC, of Columbia, for Respondent.

JUSTICE HEARN :

In this case we decide whether Petitioner David Gooldy is entitled to an implied easement where his deed incorporated by reference a plat that indicated a road, marked "50' Road," bordered the adjoining property owned by Respondent Storage Center-Platt Springs, LLC (Storage Center). The master-in-equity held Gooldy was entitled to the presumption of an implied easement, which the Storage Center failed to rebut, but the court of appeals reversed, holding the presumption did not apply and that no evidence supported the master's order. We now reverse and reinstate the master's order.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Gooldy owns a 0.68 acre parcel of land that fronts S.C. Highway 6 in Lexington County. The adjoining 7.35 acre lot, owned by the Storage Center, borders Gooldy's property on three sides in the shape of a horseshoe. Gooldy's deed referenced a plat prepared for James Loflin, Gooldy's predecessor in title. That plat (Loflin Plat) included the inscription "50' Road" along the southern boundary of Gooldy's property. There is no dispute the Loflin Plat is within the Storage Center's chain of title. After Gooldy acquired the property in 2002, he used the road¹ to access the property and to allow customers of his chiropractor business to do so. The Storage Center purchased its parcel five years later, and thereafter, its representatives informed Gooldy that he could no longer use the road.

Although the parties acquired their respective properties in the early 2000s, our focus must begin two decades prior thereto when Congaree Associates (Congaree) owned 500 acres of land in Lexington County, part of which encompassed the parcels at issue today. In the early 1980s, Congaree pursued a residential development project to convert the land into a subdivision and hired Robert Collingwood to survey and create plats for the proposed subdivision. In August of 1983, Collingwood surveyed the property and created a plat containing thirteen subdivided lots. Congaree labeled the first phase of the development project Westchester Phase I and duly recorded the plat. The northernmost lot within the proposed subdivision, Lot 13, bordered the parcel of land presently owned by Gooldy. The plat was silent as to whether any road crossed Lot 13.

Six months later, in January of 1984, Collingwood prepared a survey for the second phase of the subdivision plan, denominated Westchester Phase II, and the plat included the disputed road, marked "50' Road." Congaree submitted the plat to the Lexington County Planning Commission (Planning Commission) for approval, and in July of 1985, Westchester Phase II was conditionally approved. The Planning Commission withheld final approval until a retention pond and drainage ditches were designed and added to the plat. At some point after the conditional approval for Westchester Phase II, Congaree abandoned its plan to develop the subdivision due to the cost to comply with the Planning Commission's requirements for final approval.

In December of 1985, Collingwood prepared the Loflin Plat for James Loflin, who sought to purchase a lot from Congaree. The parcel abutted the proposed subdivision, and Collingwood included the disputed road in the Loflin Plat. Collingwood subsequently revised the plat twice, in April and August of 1986, but each revision identified the road.

In September of 1986, Congaree conveyed 0.68 acres to Loflin by a deed that incorporated the Loflin Plat. In relevant part, the deed stated,

All that certain piece, parcel, or lot of land, with improvements thereon, if any, situate, lying and being on the western side of S.C. Highway No. 6, approximately 580 feet south of the intersection of Platt Springs Road and S.C. Highway No. 6, near the Town of Lexington, in the County of Lexington, State of South Carolina, and being shown and designated on a plat prepared for James T. Loflin by Robert E. Collingwood, Jr., Reg. Surveyor, dated December 10, 1985, revised August 12, 1986, and recorded in the Lexington County RMC office in Plat Book 212G at Page 204. The within described property contains 0.68 acre. (emphasis added).

Over the course of the next sixteen years, the 0.68 acre parcel was conveyed four more times, each by deed incorporating the Loflin Plat, with the final conveyance to Gooldy in January of 2002. In 2007, Congaree conveyed the neighboring lot to the Storage Center by deed that referenced a different plat that did not include the road. Shortly after the Storage Center purchased the adjacent lot and its representatives informed Gooldy that he was no longer entitled to use the road, the parties attempted to reach a shared access agreement by way of settlement. After disagreements failed to yield a workable resolution, the Storage Center erected a chain to block off access to the road, and thereafter, Gooldy filed this declaratory judgment action seeking a determination that he was entitled to easement rights in the Storage Center's property. Before the master-in-equity, Gooldy asserted claims for easement by implication or estoppel, easement by prescription, and negligence. The Storage Center contended Gooldy did not possess any easement rights.

At trial, the fact Congaree never built the subdivision was a central issue as the Storage Center stressed that Congaree's decision to abandon the subdivision demonstrated it never intended to convey an easement. Carroll McGee, a partner of Congaree, testified Congaree decided to forego plans to develop a subdivision due to cost concerns; however, he failed to state when the decision was made to abandon the project. McGee also noted the parties to the 1986 conveyance never mentioned a road or any easement rights for ingress and egress on the adjoining parcel. After a one-day trial, the master held the deed incorporated the Loflin Plat, which under law established a presumption of an implied easement that the Storage Center failed to rebut.² In reaching his conclusion, the master found because Collingwood surveyed Westchester Phase I and II, he knew Congaree intended to build a road. Armed with that knowledge, Collingwood included the road on the Loflin Plat. According to the master, the absence of any evidence to demonstrate when Congaree decided to abandon its subdivision plan suggested the intent to build a road existed at the time of the 1986 conveyance.

The court of appeals reversed, holding the presumption did not arise because the deed only incorporated the plat to describe the metes and bounds of the 0.68 acre parcel rather than to demonstrate the parties intended to convey an easement. Additionally, the court held no evidence supported the master's conclusion that Congaree and Loflin intended to create an easement in the 1986 conveyance. We granted Gooldy's petition for certiorari.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The question of whether an easement exists is a factual question in an action at law. Bundy v. Shirley , 412 S.C. 292, 302, 772 S.E.2d 163, 168 (2015). Appellate courts will uphold a master's factual findings if there is any evidence to support the decision. Jowers v. Hornsby , 292 S.C. 549, 552, 357 S.E.2d 710, 711 (1987).

DISCUSSION

Gooldy advances two arguments as to why the court of appeals erred in reversing the master's order: first, it was error to hold the deed's reference to the Loflin Plat did not raise the presumption of an implied easement, and second, evidence in the record supported the master's decision that the 1986 conveyance was subject to an implied easement. We agree.

I. Presumption of an Implied Easement

Generally, when a deed references a plat that contains an easement, an implied easement arises even though the deed itself is silent. McAllister v. Smiley , 301 S.C. 10, 12, 389 S.E.2d 857, 859 (1990). Stated differently, a presumption of an implied easement arises unless rebutted by a specific, contrary intention by the grantor. Newington Plantation Estates Ass'n v. Newington Plantation Estates , 318 S.C. 362, 365, 458 S.E.2d 36, 38 (1995) ("Absent evidence of the seller's intent to the contrary, a conveyance of land that references a map depicting streets conveys to the purchaser, as a matter of law, a private easement by implication with respect to those streets, whether or not there is a dedication to public use."). Furthermore, " ‘[A]ccording to the great weight of judicial opinion, the lot purchaser is entitled to the use of all the streets and ways, near or remote, as laid down on the plat by which he purchases.’ " Blue Ridge Realty Co. v. Williamson , 247 S.C. 112, 120, 145 S.E.2d 922, 925 (1965) (quoting Billings v. McDaniel , 217 S.C. 261, 265, 60 S.E.2d 592, 593–94 (1950) ).

This presumption endures even where the general policy is to disfavor implied easements "because the implication of an easement in a conveyance goes against the general rule that a written instrument speaks for itself." Inlet Harbour v. S.C. Dep't of Parks, Recreation & Tourism , 377 S.C. 86, 91–92, 659 S.E.2d 151, 154 (2008). Importantly, "Whatever easements are created by implication must be determined as of the time of the severance of the ownership of the tracts involved." Boyd v. Bellsouth Tel. Tel. Co. , 369 S.C. 410, 416, 633 S.E.2d 136, 139 (2006).

This presumption is entrenched in South Carolina property law. In Blue Ridge , the Court addressed whether an easement existed in a cul-de-sac. 247 S.C. at 116, 145 S.E.2d at 923. A realty company subdivided lots, recorded a plat containing the cul-de-sac, and sold the parcels by deed referencing the plat. Id. However, the realty...