King v. Bd. of County Com'rs of County of Fremont
| Decision Date | 30 November 2010 |
| Docket Number | Nos. S-09-0227, S-09-0228.,s. S-09-0227, S-09-0228. |
| Citation | 2010 WY 154,244 P.3d 473 |
| Parties | Edward A. KING and Janice C. King, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF the COUNTY OF FREMONT, Appellee (Defendant). Hansen's North Fork Ranch, LLLP, Appellant (Intervening Plaintiff) v. Board of County Commissioners of the County of Fremont, Appellee (Defendant). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Representing Appellants: Jason A. Neville and Keith J. Dodson, Williams, Porter, Day & Neville, P.C., Casper, WY for Edward & Janice King; and Steven F. Freudenthal of Freudenthal, Salzburg & Bonds, Cheyenne, WY for Hanson's North Fork Ranch. Argument by Messrs. Freudenthal and Dodson.
Representing Appellees: Jodi A. Darrough, Deputy Fremont County Attorney, Lander, WY.
Before KITE, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, VOIGT *, and BURKE, JJ.
[¶ 1] The Appellants in Case No. S-09-0227 are Edward A. and Janice C. King (Kings). They seek review of a partial summary judgment order, as well as a second order which then dismissed the remainder of the Kings' complaint. The Appellant in Case No. S-09-0228 is Hansen's North Fork Ranch (Hansen). Hansen was an intervening plaintiff in the proceedings below and its pleadings raised much the same issues as did the Kings. These appeals arise from the district court's determination of the status of a county road, known as "Bunker Road," which fell under the jurisdiction of the Appellee, Board of County Commissioners of the County of Fremont (Commission). The Kings alleged that the records concerning the existence of that road were not properly recorded or stored by Fremont County and, hence, Bunker Road had never been created as contemplated by the governing statutes. In addition, both Appellants contended the road had been vacated or abandoned. The district court determined that the Appellants were incorrect on both points. As a matter of undisputed fact and law, the district court held Bunker Road had been created and further, that as a matter of law it still existed because it had not forthrightly and officially been vacated or abandoned by the Commission. We will affirm the district court's orders.
[¶ 2] The Kings raise these issues:
The Commission's statement of the issues is the same as that presented by the Kings. However, in its brief the Commission also contends that neither the Kings nor Hansen may challenge the partial summary judgment order because neither filed a timely notice of appeal after the entry of that order. Both the Kings and Hansen contest that point in their reply briefs. Hansen's statement of the issues mirrors Issues A and B set out above by the Kings.
[¶ 3] The Kings filed their complaint on December 14, 2005, after their efforts to obtain a ruling from the Commission that Bunker Road had been abandoned or vacated had failed. The documentation prepared at the time Bunker Road was created satisfied the Commission that the statutory requirements for the creation of a road, such as Bunker Road (County Road 111), had been fulfilled. The Kings' claim that the creation of Bunker Road had not been perfected relied almost entirely on the circumstance that it was not "recorded" in a manner contemplated by Wyoming's "first in time, first in right" recording statute.
[¶ 4] In 1999, the Kings purchased property which Bunker Road burdened in a way that damaged their plan to subdivide it, and which had been unknown to them at the time of purchase, even though a traditional title search was completed. The Kings alleged that the information which described that road and its encroachment on the land that the Kings ultimately purchased was never "recorded" in the county clerk's office, although that documentation may have been filed there originally and may have been stored in the county courthouse for a time. However, the Kings averred that a county road map located in the county clerk's office did not show it as a county road. In addition, the Kings averred that the Commission had not created Bunker Road in the manner required by Wyoming law because a copy of the plat and notes of the survey were never filed in the "office of the county clerk." This allegation was supported in part by a letter dated February 18, 2000, from Fremont County Director of Planning Ray Price (Price) to Jim Freeman (Freeman), in which Price stated that the road would be "difficult or even impossible to find or even negotiate, except on foot." However, Price also indicated in that same letter that the road easement in question had "been established" and that he did "not have any evidence that this road easement was ever abandoned by Fremont County." In a memo dated April 24, 2002, from Price to the Commission, Price wrote:
Bunker Road has not been used by the general public or maintained by Fremont County for quite some time. However, the road can be found on the ground and could be traveled. Sometime within the last five to seven years a new access road was constructed by private individuals in a location that, over much of its route, uses the old county road right-of-way. Mr. Freeman has been denied permission to use the portion of the new access road between the place where it leaves Baldwin Creek Road and where it connects with the old right-of-way of Bunker Road. I believe that Mr. [Sam] Dunlap and Mr. Freeman will ask that Bunker Road be re-opened.
[¶ 5] The Kings' complaint continued:
[¶ 6] On February 13, 2006, Hansen filed its motion to intervene. Hansen's complaint is, more or less, identical to that of the Kings, except for the description of the lands affected. Hansen asserted a "special interest" in the outcome of this matter because, of the approximate two-mile length of Bunker Road, one-half of that length is located on Hansen's land.
[¶ 7] The Commission answered both complaints generally denying the allegations of those complaints and asserting a variety of defenses, including that if the district court were to grant the relief on the bases asserted by the Kings and Hansen, then it would "... eventually necessitate the Court also declaring all other county roads established according to the proper statutory procedure invalid as well."
[¶ 8] On June 15, 2007, Kings and Hansen filed a consolidated motion for summary judgment, as well as a memorandum in support of that motion. The Commission also filed a motion for summary judgment, as well as a response to Kings' and Hansen's competing motions for summary judgment.
[¶ 9] In an order entered of record on April 23, 2008, the district court denied Kings' and Hansen's motions for a summary judgment in part, and granted the Commission's motion for summary judgment in part. The district court concluded that, as a matter of law, Bunker Road was duly established in 1913 by the Commission pursuant to its statutory authority. The district court described the remaining two issues to be tried as: (1) whether or not the Appellants had actual notice of Bunker Road, and (2) whether or not they are bona fide purchasers of the property they now own which may be subject to the Commission's interest in Bunker Road.
[¶ 10] W.R.A.P. 2.01 requires that a notice of appeal be filed within 30 days from entry of the "appealable order." W.R.A.P. 1.05 provides:
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