Hartley v. JOHN WESLEY UNITED MET. CHURCH

• Decision Date: 27 May 2003
• Docket Number: No. 3642.,3642.
• Citation: 584 S.E.2d 386,355 S.C. 145
• Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: Richard Eugene HARTLEY, Betty Ann Hartley Hilton, L.C. Rabon, Larry T. Savage, William J. Hartley, Jr., Jacquelyne T. Parham, James D. Parham, Jean A. Thomas, and Jennie Mae Lemacks, Respondents, v. JOHN WESLEY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF JOHNS ISLAND, Appellant.

355 S.C. 145

584 S.E.2d 386

Richard Eugene HARTLEY, Betty Ann Hartley Hilton, L.C. Rabon, Larry T. Savage, William J. Hartley, Jr., Jacquelyne T. Parham, James D. Parham, Jean A. Thomas, and Jennie Mae Lemacks, Respondents, v. JOHN WESLEY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF JOHNS ISLAND, Appellant.

No. 3642.

Court of Appeals of South Carolina.

Heard April 9, 2003.

Decided May 27, 2003.

Rehearing Denied August 22, 2003.

W. Andrew Gowder, Jr., of Charleston, for Appellant. Joseph W. Ginn, III, of Charleston, for Respondents.

ANDERSON, J.:

John Wesley United Methodist Church of Johns Island appeals the order of the master-in-equity granting a prescriptive easement across church property to the residents of Evans Road. We affirm.

FACTS/ PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Appellant, John Wesley United Methodist Church of Johns Island (church), is an old parish church located adjacent to the west side of River Road on Johns Island, South Carolina. In 1874, the church acquired a one-acre parcel surrounding the sanctuary from Isaac P. Grimball. In 1943, Grimball's widow sold forty-two acres juxtaposed to the east side of River Road directly across from the church to Hawthorne Flying Service (currently Johns Island Airport), and in the same transaction, Hawthorne acquired a triangular 6.8acre parcel that bounded the church on three sides. In 1980, Hawthorne sold the 6.8-acre parcel to the church.

The Respondents (residents) are title owners of various parcels of property also located west of River Road on Johns Island. All of their properties border Evans Road, a long established road, which bounds the remaining fourth side of the church property. The residents gain sole access to their respective homes and properties from River Road by way of a section of Evans Road, which runs across the 6.8-acre parcel belonging to the church. It is this part of Evans Road that is in controversy.

Some of the residents and their predecessors in title have continuously used Evans Road for roughly sixty years. In fact, Evans Road was named after a predecessor in title and family member of one or more of the current residents. The entire length of the road, including the segment crossing church lands, has been maintained by Charleston County for around twenty-five years.

Approximately two and a half years before the trial, the church planned to construct another building on its property in a location that would cut off the residents' access to Evans Road. Shortly before the residents brought this action, the church, without communicating with any resident, attempted to create another route from the residents' properties to River Road. The alternate route consists of a scraped dirt path that leads from the existing Evans Road where it first joins the residents' properties, continues southward across the church property, and then merges with an existing driveway that ultimately joins River Road. This "new" access is about 142 feet south of where the existing Evans Road meets River Road. Upon discovering the church's activities, the residents immediately communicated in writing to the church that they objected to any attempts to block their existing access, inquired as to the church's intentions, and asserted their right to continued use of Evans Road. The church did not reply.

Consequently, the residents brought an action in the circuit court seeking a temporary restraining order enjoining the church from closing off access to Evans Road and a declaratory judgment granting a prescriptive easement over Evans Road. The parties stipulated to a temporary injunction until the matter could be adjudicated with finality by the master-inequity for Charleston County. The master granted the residents a prescriptive easement under claim of right over Evans Road.

ISSUE

Did the master err in granting a prescriptive easement based upon the residents' use under claim of right?

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The determination of the existence of an easement is an action at law. Slear v. Hanna, 329 S.C. 407, 410, 496 S.E.2d 633, 635 (1998); Eldridge v. City of Greenwood, 331 S.C. 398, 416, 503 S.E.2d 191, 200 (Ct.App.1998). Establishing the existence of an easement is a question of fact in a law action. Jowers v. Hornsby, 292 S.C. 549, 551, 357 S.E.2d 710, 711 (1987); Morrow v. Dyches, 328 S.C. 522, 526, 492 S.E.2d 420, 423 (Ct.App.1997); Revis v. Barrett, 321 S.C. 206, 208, 467 S.E.2d 460, 462 (Ct.App.1996). The present matter was consensually referred to the master-in-equity for entry of final judgment. Accordingly, our scope of review is limited to correction of errors of law, and we will not disturb the master's factual findings that have some evidentiary support. Townes Assocs., Ltd. v. City of Greenville, 266 S.C. 81, 85, 221 S.E.2d 773, 775 (1976).

LAW/ANALYSIS

The church contends the master erred in concluding the residents established a prescriptive easement because the evidence does not support a factual finding that the residents' use was under claim of right. We disagree.

In Morrow v. Dyches, 328 S.C. 522, 527, 492 S.E.2d 420, 423 (Ct.App.1997), this court affirmed the standard for proving a prescriptive easement, relying upon previous standards set out in Horry County v. Laychur, 315 S.C. 264, 434 S.E.2d 259 (1993) and Revis v. Barrett, 321 S.C. 206, 467 S.E.2d 460 (Ct.App.1996). There is a distinction between these two cases regarding the first of the three components required to meet the standard.

Revis recited the entire standard, including the first factor, exactly as it appears in Morrow. "To establish a private right of way by prescription, one must show (1) continued use for 20 years;...." Revis, 321 S.C. at 209, 467 S.E.2d at 462. Revis cites both Laychur and Babb v. Harrison, 220 S.C. 20, 66 S.E.2d 457 (1951) in support of the language used in its version of the standard. However in both Laychur and Babb, the first element of the standard consists of not only continued but also "uninterrupted" use for twenty years. "The following prerequisites must be met to establish a right by prescription: (1) There must be continued and uninterrupted use or enjoymentof the right for a period of 20 years." Laychur, 315 S.C. at 367, 434 S.E.2d at 261 (emphasis added). "[T]he requirements necessary to establishing a right by prescription are: (1) the continued and uninterrupted use or enjoyment of the right for the full period of twenty years...." Babb v. Harrison, 220 S.C. 20, 24-25, 66 S.E.2d 457, 458 (1951) (emphasis added). The remaining two elements in both Laychur and Babb are consistent with those found in the standard set out in Morrow.

Babb and a long litany of South Carolina cases dating back to Lawton v. Rivers, 13 S.C.L. (2 McCord) 445, 449 (1823) call for both continuous and uninterrupted use to satisfy a grant of a prescriptive easement. Sanitary & Aseptic Package Co. v. Shealy, 205 S.C. 198, 203, 31 S.E.2d 253, 255 (1944); Poole v. Edwards, 197 S.C. 280, 283, 15 S.E.2d 349, 350 (1941); Williamson v. Abbott, 107 S.C. 397, 400, 93 S.E. 15, 15-16 (1917). It remains unclear why Revis and later Morrow deleted the "uninterrupted use or enjoyment" language from part one of the standard. In the instant case, we use the standard set out in Babb as the most current, correct, and complete version of the essentials necessary to prove an easement by prescription.

It has long been recognized that the requisites necessary to establish a right by prescription are: (1) the continued and uninterrupted use or enjoyment of the right for the full period of twenty years, (2) the identity of the thing enjoyed, and (3) the use or enjoyment was adverse or under claim of right. Babb, 220 S.C. at 24-25, 66 S.E.2d at 458; Sanitary & Aseptic Package Co., 205 S.C. at 203, 31 S.E.2d at 255; Poole, 197 S.C. at 283, 15 S.E.2d at 349; Williamson, 107 S.C. at 400, 93 S.E. at 15-16; Lawton, 13 S.C.L. (2 McCord) at 449.

It is uncontested that the residents and/or their predecessors in title have enjoyed continued and uninterrupted use of the clearly marked and well-known Evans Road in excess of twenty years. Thus, we devote our analysis to the remaining third factor of the prescriptive easement standard.

The church challenges the master's findings, arguing the residents' belief that they have a right to use Evans Road "is based solely on the fact that they are accustomed to using it and prefer it." The church further suggests that all of the residents' testimonies regarding their claim of right may be summarized into the single declaration that "the [residents] had always used [Evans Road]" and this claim of perpetual use is also "the sole basis of [the residents'] claim of right." Finally, the church interprets our court's holdings in Revis and Morrow to support its position that the residents have not met the burden of proving a prescriptive easement under claim of right. The church cites Revis and Morrow for the proposition that a party cannot assert a claim of right solely on the ground that it thought it had the right.

In support of the theory that the residents' claim of right is based on perpetual and preferred use alone, the church presented testimony that neither it nor Hawthorne Flying Service ever told the residents that their use was by right or would be permanent.

However, at least one of the residents stated that when he purchased his property on Evans Road, both the seller and the next-door neighbor to the property told him that Evans Road could not ever be legally closed off "[a]nd [access to Evans Road] was part of the consideration for [his] purchase of the property." A long-time parishioner and lay leader of the church, who claimed active attendance since childhood, attested that at the time the church bought the property in which the disputed portion of the road runs, the church was aware that Evans Road was on the property and had been in use for forty years. Moreover, the witness admitted the church had built the rectory on a site across the road...