Lake Garda Imp. Ass'n v. Battistoni

• Decision Date: 17 March 1971
• Citation: 280 A.2d 877,160 Conn. 503
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: LAKE GARDA IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION v. Harry J. BATTISTONI et al.

Page 877

280 A.2d 877

160 Conn. 503

LAKE GARDA IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION v. Harry J. BATTISTONI et al.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

March 17, 1971.

John D. Bagdasarian, New Britain, for appellants (defendants).

Paul W. .orth, Hartford, with whom was James I. Lotstein, Hartford, for appellee (plaintiff).

Before ALCORN, C.J., and HOUSE, THIM, RYAN and LOISELLE, ^* JJ.

THIM, Associate Justice.

The plaintiff association is a specially chartered corporation by virtue of 24 Special Acts 1943, No. 255, and is composed of owners of real estate in the proximity of Lake Garda, located in the towns of Farmington and Burlington, as described on certain maps filed in the town clerk's office of each of those towns. The association claims title to a disputed beach area, either by virtue of a deed from Ron-Day, Inc., a Connecticut corporation, or by adverse possession. The plaintiff Ralph Gezelman is the owner of land within the area mentioned. His claims are made in behalf of himself and all other property owners at Lake Garda similarly situated, and are to be asserted only if the plaintiff association is determined not to be the fee owner of the disputed property. The defendant Harry J. Battistioni is a former owner and developer of much of the area surrounding Lake Garda. The defendant Lake Garda Company, Inc., is controlled by the defendant Battistoni, who now is, and in the past has been, its president. The Lake Garda Company, Inc., is a former owner of the area in dispute. The defendant Lake Garda Water Company, Inc., is another corporation which the defendant Battistoni controls and serves as president. The Lake Garda Water Company, Inc., presently claims the ownership of the disputed property under a chain of title commencing with the Lake Garda Company, Inc.; passing, by warranty deed, to Ron-Day, Inc., in 1936; then, by quitclaim deed, to Battistoni in October, 1945; next, again by quitclaim deed, to the Lake Garda Company, Inc., in June, 1946, and finally, by quitclaim deed, to the Lake Garda Water Company, Inc., in March, 1962.

The issue of the ownership of the disputed area was resolved in favor of the plaintiff Lake Garda Improvement Association by the trial court. Damages were awarded in the amount of $75 in favor of the plaintiff Lake Garda Improvement Association for a trespass on the property of the plaintiff association, which the trial court found to have been committed by Battistoni and employees of the Lake Garda Company, Inc. The trial court made permanent a temporary injunction restraining the defendant Battistoni and the Lake Garda Company, Inc., from interfering with the plaintiff association's control, ownership and use of the disputed property. Judgment was rendered, and the defendants have appealed therefrom, assigning as error: (1) the court's refusal to find certain facts claimed to be material and admitted or undisputed; (2) the court's finding of certain facts without an evidentiary basis therefor; (3); the court's finding that the use of the beach area by the plaintiff association was with the consent of the defendants; (4) certain conclusions reached by the court, claimed not to be supported by the facts found; (5) the overruling of the defendants' 'claims of law' stated in paragraphs 52-55 of the finding; and (6) the rendering of judgment in favor of the plaintiff association with regard to the title and ownership of the beach area in dispute, since such a conclusion was not supported by the facts and conclusions which were, or should have been, found by the court.

Three of the errors assigned, those designated (1), (2) and (3) above, have not supported by the facts and conclusions been pursued in the brief of the defendants, of their requested corrections of the finding. They will, therefore, be treated as abandoned. Of the remaining three errors assigned, number (5) refers to 'the claims of law stated in paragraphs 52 to 55'. These paragraphs concern rulings made at the trial, and are not claims of law. The claims of law of the defendants are found in paragraphs 56-65 of the finding. We assume that the defendants intended to refer to the claims of law and will thus treat their fifth assignment as referring to paragraphs 56-65.

Five deeds are involved in this case. The first was a warranty deed from the Lake Garda Company, Inc., to Ron-Day, Inc., on May 26, 1936. That deed conveyed the property presently in dispute, as well as a substantial amount of other realty. The validity and content of that conveyance is in no way attacked by any party to this action. The second conveyance, by a quitclaim deed dated May 29, 1943, was from Ron-Day, Inc., to the plaintiff Lake Garda Improvement Association. This was a conveyance of 'certain lands laid out as and comprising roadways within a certain development known as Lake Garda * * * which said roadways are specifically delineated and described on three(3) certain maps on file (with the towns of Burlington and Farmington).' This is the deed which initiated the controversy which this action seeks to terminate. The defendants claim that this deed passed title only to the roads, and did not include a small beach area known as, and hereinafter referred to as, Children's Beach. The plaintiff association claims that the beach was included in the roadway of Beach Road, and thus title to that beach passed to it at that time. The remaining three deeds have already been mentioned. On October 23, 1945, Ron-Day, Inc., quitclaimed all of tis 'right, title, interest, claim and demand' to its property within the Lake Garda development to the defendant Battistoni. On June 5, 1946, the defendant Battistoni quitclaimed all of the property which he had received from Ron-Day, Inc., in the October 23, 1945, deed, to the Lake Garda Company, Inc. Finally, the Lake Garda Company, Inc., on March 23, 1962, quitclaimed only the area embraced within Children's Beach to the Lake Garda Water Company, Inc. Further facts will be recited as they become necessary.

The defendants claim, initially, that the plaintiff Lake Garda Improvement Association has not demonstrated sufficient interest in the property to maintain this action. It is correctly alleged that a plaintiff must show possession in himself or his predecessors in title by satisfactory evidence or acts of ownership such as occupancy, use and control. Mentz v. Greenwich, 118 Conn. 137, 143, 171 A. 10; Foote v. Brown, 81 Conn. 218, 225, 70 A. 699. The plaintiff association claims title under the 1943 deed from Ron-Day, Inc. Ron-Day, Inc., held title under a warranty deed from the defendant Lake Garda Company, Inc. It is clear that use, occupancy and control need not refer to every inch of a tract of land. That the Lake Garda Company, Inc., controlled the disputed area is unquestioned. The defendants cannot claim otherwise. Likewise, the use, occupancy and control of Ron-Day, Inc., is not challenged. Since the defendants claim title from the same source, the can hardly make the claim that their source had no title. Finally, as to the plaintiff association, it has alleged and demonstrated that it has used, occupied and controlled Children's Beach since May 29, 1943, the date of the deed under which it claims title. We believe that the allegations and proof, as demonstrated by the finding, are sufficient to indicate that the plaintiff association has the necessary interest to maintain the instant action.

All of the parties appear to claim that, apart from the deeds, they obtained valid title through adverse possession. For adverse possession to be acquired, a claimant must demonstrate that he, or those through whom he claims title, or a combination thereof, have maintained exclusive and uninterrupted possession for fifteen years. Each adverse possessor in the continuous chain must not have shared control with others if this condition is to be met. See Marquis v. Drost, 155 Conn. 327, 331, 332, 231 A.2d 527; Short Beach Cottage Owners Improvement Assn. v. Stratford, 154 Conn. 194, 199, 224 A.2d 532; Smith v. Chapin, 31 Conn. 530, 351. Clearly, there are sufficient facts found in this case to demonstrate that none of the parties exercised exclusive possession during the years under consideration. Rather, the finding indicates that both the plaintiff association and the defendants exercised control over the beach and made use of it. The trial court properly concluded that none of the parties had acquired title by adverse possession. The rights of the parties must, therefore, be determined solely with reference to the contested portion of the 1943 deed.

The basic issue is whether the quitclaim deed of May 29, 1943, to the plaintiff association passed title to the beach area. If the deed has been properly construed as including the beach area, none of the defendants has title to that property. If the trial court erred, however, that is, if the deed, in actuality, could not be properly construed to show an intent to include the beach, then the plaintiff association would have no title to that property. The trial court concluded that the deed did include the beach area, and thus found the title to be in the plaintiff association. On this point we thus must determine only if that conclusion is reasonably supported by the facts properly found and the law properly applied.

The May, 1943, deed, hereinafter referred to as the deed, has already been quoted in part. One additional portion of the deed is essential to our consideration. Following the previously quoted portion, the deed continued: 'Meaning hereby to convey only such land as contained within the limits of the following roadways: * * * and Beach Road, as described on the aforesaid map of Section 'A." From this language the trial court concluded that the map of section A was incorporated by reference into the deed. To that conclusion the defendants have assigned error. We believe that the contention of the defendants is clearly without merit. Without a...