Klotz v. Horn

• Decision Date: 30 August 1990
• Docket Number: No. 20S03-9008-CV-568,20S03-9008-CV-568
• Citation: 558 N.E.2d 1096
• Parties: Lynn KLOTZ and Terri Klotz, Petitioners (Appellants-Defendants below) v. Owen HORN and Florence Horn, Respondents (Appellees-Plaintiffs below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 1096

558 N.E.2d 1096

Lynn KLOTZ and Terri Klotz, Petitioners (Appellants-Defendants below) v. Owen HORN and Florence Horn, Respondents (Appellees-Plaintiffs below).

No. 20S03-9008-CV-568.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Aug. 30, 1990.

Ralph R. Huff, Jones, Huff & Palmer, Plymouth, for petitioners.

Stephen R. Snyder, Beckman, Lawson, Sandler, Snyder & Federoff, Syracuse, for respondents.

ON PETITION TO TRANSFER

PIVARNIK, Justice.

This cause comes to us on a petition to transfer from the Third District Court of Appeals. The issue presented is whether a conveyance of an easement appurtenant by warranty deed that expressly grants "access to Eagle Lake" contemplates the right of the easement holder to build, maintain and use a pier at the lake end of the easement on the servient parcel. The trial court below held that it did not and granted the servient owners' motion for summary judgment. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Klotz v. Horn (1989), Ind.App., 537 N.E.2d 509. For reasons set forth below, we now grant transfer and reverse.

The undisputed facts show that prior to June 23, 1975, appellees Owen Horn and Florence Horn owned a single tract of real estate in Kosciusko County that ran from the shore of Eagle Lake to Robinson Road. On June 23, 1975, the Horns conveyed to one Nedra J. Sainer the rear portion of said real estate which bordered on Robinson Road. In the written conveyance, the Horns reserved to themselves an easement for access to Robinson Road and granted to Sainer a six-foot wide easement appurtenant "for the purpose of access to Eagle Lake." Nearly ten years later, on June 19, 1985, Sainer conveyed her tract and easement to appellants Lynn Klotz and Terri Klotz. Thereafter, the Klotzes erected a pier at the lake end of their easement. The Horns demanded that the Klotzes remove the pier. The Klotzes refused, and the Horns filed a complaint for a permanent injunction, seeking to enjoin the Klotzes from placing a pier or any similar structure on the Horns' servient estate. Thereafter, the Horns filed a motion for summary judgment, seeking further to enjoin the Klotzes from parking a boat at the end of the access easement. The trial court granted the Horns' motion, finding:

as a matter of law no riparian rights vest in the Defendants and they have no right to place a pier or boat at the end of the access easement. Plaintiffs are granted a permanent injunction against the Defendants prohibiting the placement of a pier or parking the boat at the end of said easement.

The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding as a matter of law that the Klotzes had no right to maintain a pier at the end of their access easement because no riparian rights were expressly granted to them in the warranty deed.

The issue presented here relates to lake access easements and riparian ownership. The Klotzes' main contention is the lake access easement that they bargained for is not worth much at all if they cannot enter onto the surface of the lake. The Klotzes submitted affidavits in opposition to the Horns' motion for summary judgment, in which they stated the following: at the lake end of the six (6) foot wide easement is a "sea wall" beyond which the bottom of the lake is very mucky and weedy and not desirable for purposes of wading or swimming without a pier which can be used to reach deeper water; moreover, fishing and boating are also extremely limited without a pier at the end of their easement. The Klotzes concede that they do not have riparian rights since their land is not bordered by water. Nevertheless, merely because they are not the riparian owners does not necessarily mean that they, as easement titleholders, cannot use the riparian rights of the servient tenant. See Brown et al. v. Heidersbach et al. (1977), 172 Ind.App. 434, 441 n. 5, 360 N.E.2d 614, 620 n. 5.

On facts nearly identical to the instant case, the Minnesota Supreme Court in Farnes v. Lane (1968), 281 Minn. 222, 161 N.W.2d 297, concisely identified this very issue, as follows:

a finding that the defendants are not riparian owners does not settle the question of whether they are entitled to install and use a dock in the proper enjoyment of their easement for right-of-way purposes.

Id. at 227, 161 N.W.2d at 301. The issue is not whether the easement holder attains riparian ownership status, but rather, whether he is entitled to use the riparian rights of the servient tenant who has given him access to the body of water bordering the servient estate.

Dominant owners of lakeside easements may gain the rights to erect and maintain piers, moor boats and the like by the express language of the creating instrument. See, e.g., Maddox v. Katzman (1982), Iowa App., 332 N.W.2d 347 (lot owners in platted subdivision given express right to construct private docks); Strevell v. Mink (1958), 6 A.D.2d 350, 176 N.Y.S.2d 901 (deed expressly provided for "a right of way ... 10 feet wide and also sufficient land on the shore of said lake for a boat house, and dock"), aff'd (1959), 6 N.Y.2d 850, 188 N.Y.S.2d 557, 160 N.E.2d 89. Indeed, one court has held that riparian rights cannot be conveyed to the proprietor of land not bordered by water even where the specific word "riparian" is used in the deed of conveyance, since riparian rights accrue only to land immediately upon a lake and not to any other land. Schofield v. Dingman (1933), 261 Mich. 611, 247 N.W. 67. The Court of Appeals below, relying on Brown, supra, held that the Klotzes could not construct, use and maintain a pier because no riparian rights were expressly given in the grant. However, this should not be the focus of our inquiry. The issue is not whether the Horns intended to convey away the whole of their riparian rights, but rather what the Horns and Sainer contemplated when they created this easement appurtenant "for the purpose of access to Eagle Lake."

On facts nearly identical to the instant case, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine stated:

generally, access to a body of water is sought for particular purposes beyond merely reaching the water, and where such purposes are not plainly indicated, a court may resort to extrinsic evidence to assist the court in ascertaining what they may have been. [Footnote omitted.]

Badger v. Hill (1979), Me., 404 A.2d 222, 226 (citing Farnes, supra, and Hudson v. Lee (1964), Okla., 393 P.2d 515). The plaintiff's deed in Badger granted him "a pedestrian right of way or foot-path, being six (6) feet in width" over the defendant's land "to the York river." Id. We find the phrase "access to Eagle Lake" to be ambiguous and hold the trial court erred in granting the servient tenant's motion for summary judgment based on the fact that the dominant tenants did not acquire the status of riparian owners. On remand, the trial court should allow extrinsic or parol evidence to ascertain the intent of the parties who created the easement, the Horns and Sainer, taking into consideration all of the surrounding circumstances. But cf. Lakeside Launches v. Austin Yacht Club (1988), Tex.App., 750 S.W.2d 868 ("easement and right-of-way" not ambiguous, no parol evidence allowed; easement holder not allowed to float a commercial boat dock where easement created for ingress and egress only). As stated, the Horns originally conveyed this easement appurtenant to Sainer, who in turn conveyed it to the Klotzes. Since the warranty deed from the Horns to Sainer expressly granted an easement appurtenant, it was attached to the land, passed with the land when it was conveyed to the Klotzes, and was not personal to Sainer. Sainer could only convey to the Klotzes what rights she had in the property and the easement appurtenant thereto. Therefore, the relevant inquiry on remand should be the intent of the Horns and Sainer when the easement was created.

The Court of Appeals below based its decision to a great extent on Brown, supra, which held that a deed granting an access easement across the original plat of Kopekanee Beach at Lake George, Indiana, did not convey riparian rights. Brown, however, is distinguishable on its facts alone, as it involved a number of platted lots in a residential development which was bordered by a roadway. The easement which ran to the shore of Lake George was on the other side of this roadway, was twenty (20) feet wide, and was for the benefit of all lot owners in...