Larson v. State Of Minn., No. A09-495.

Decision Date18 November 2010
Docket NumberNo. A09-495.
Citation790 N.W.2d 700
PartiesDennis LARSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota and County of Douglas, Respondents.
CourtMinnesota Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Syllabus by the Court

Minnesota Statutes § 117.225 (2008) does not authorize the discharge of a portion of an easement previously acquired by the State of Minnesota for state highway purposes through condemnation proceedings.

Amy J. Doll, Fluegel, Anderson, McLaughlin, & Brutlag, Chtd., Morris, MN, for appellant.

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Jeffrey S. Thompson, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, MN, for respondent State of Minnesota.

Jason J. Kuboushek, Iverson Ruevers, Bloomington, MN, for respondent County of Douglas.

OPINION

STRAS, Justice.

This case presents a question of statutory interpretation to determine whether Minn.Stat. § 117.225 (2008) permits fee owners to seek the discharge of a portion of an easement previously acquired by the State of Minnesota through condemnation proceedings when the easement “is not being used for the purposes for which it was acquired.” Appellant Dennis Larson contends that a liberal construction of section 117.225 is required because it is a remedial statute that protects the private property rights of landowners. Because section 117.225 is unambiguous and the plain language of the statute does not permit the discharge of a portion of an easement, we affirm.

I.

In 1957, the State of Minnesota acquired a highway easement across a portion of land (the “property”) adjacent to Lake Le Homme Dieu through its sovereign power of eminent domain. See Minn.Stat. § 117.20 (1955) (repealed 1971). The property is located on an isthmus between Lakes Le Homme Dieu and Geneva outside the city of Alexandria. The State's easement, designated as Parcel 11, is located in the western portion of the property. Parcel 11 consists of 5.45 acres of land acquired for the purposes of constructing and maintaining Minnesota Trunk Highway 29 (“TH 29”). The Final Certificate of Deed Record No. 87 (the “Final Certificate”) memorialized the easement and defined its scope:

State now owns an easement in said lands for highway purposes, together with the following rights, to-wit: to erect temporary snow fences ...; to take all trees, shrubs, grass, and herbage within the right of way of the trunk highway herein acquired and to keep and have the exclusive control of the same; to waste, dispose of and place gravel, stone, clay, dirt, sand and other materials ...; to take the right of access to said trunk highway from the owners whose lands from thereon in those cases which are particularly mentioned in said petition; and to construct and maintain slopes upon and remove materials from the lands....

Following the condemnation proceedings, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (“Mn/DOT”) constructed TH 29. Along with the traveled lanes of the highway, Mn/DOT built supportive slopes along the shoulder, a scenic overlook on a plateau facing Lake Le Homme Dieu, a safety rest area, a vault toilet, and a drainage system leading directly from the highway to Lake Le Homme Dieu.

Since 1962, the public has used the TH 29 rest area to access Lake Le Homme Dieu. In 1977, Douglas County approached Mn/DOT with a request to use part of the TH 29 rest area as a recreational beach. Pursuant to that request, the State granted the County the first in a series of limited use permits. The State granted identical permits to the County in 1981, 1987, and 1995. The current permit expires in 2020, and includes the following terms: (1) it is revocable by either party upon thirty days written notice to the other; (2) it “does not grant any interest whatsoever in land, nor does it establish a permanent park, recreation area or wildlife or waterfowl refuge facility”; (3) the County is responsible for all maintenance at “the swimming beach rest station”; and (4) [n]o permanent buildings shall be constructed” on the property.

In 2005, appellant Dennis Larson acquired title by quitclaim deed to the portion of Parcel 11 subject to the State's easement as a tenant in common with his brother, Roger Larson. The Larsons approached the State and County with the hope of acquiring the portion of the State's easement subject to the County's limited use permit. The Larsons then brought an action to quiet title to the property at the request of the State and County. The district court held that the Larsons owned the land as tenants in common subject to the State's easement. Roger Larson subsequently sold his interest in Parcel 11 to appellant Dennis Larson.

On April 25, 2008, Larson brought the present declaratory judgment action in the Douglas County District Court under Minn.Stat. § 117.225 (2008), seeking discharge of the portion of the State's easement subject to the County's limited use permit. Larson also argued that the State had abandoned its easement through misuse of the beach area and by previously offering to sell the land to the County. The court granted summary judgment to the State and County, holding that Larson had failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Specifically, the court held that discharge of a portion of an easement is beyond the scope of section 117.225 and that the alleged misuse did not constitute abandonment of the easement.

Larson appealed the district court's decision regarding the application of Minn.Stat. § 117.225 to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, 1 which affirmed by published opinion on the ground that section 117.225 does not permit the discharge of a portion of an easement. See Larson v. State, 776 N.W.2d 727, 730 (Minn.App.2009). We granted Larson's petition for review, and now affirm.

II.

Interpretation of a statute is a question of law that is reviewed de novo. See American Tower, L.P. v. City of Grant, 636 N.W.2d 309, 312 (Minn.2001). The first step in statutory interpretation is to “determine whether the statute's language, on its face, is ambiguous.” Id. If a statute is unambiguous, then we must apply the statute's plain meaning. See Tuma v. Comm'r of Econ. Sec., 386 N.W.2d 702, 706 (Minn.1986).

A.

As relevant here, Minn.Stat. § 117.225 provides:

Whenever claiming that an easement acquired by condemnation is not being used for the purposes for which it was acquired, the underlying fee owner may apply to the district court of the county in which the land is situated for an order discharging the easement, upon such terms as are just and equitable.

Statutory words and phrases must be construed according to the rules of grammar and common usage. See Minn.Stat. § 645.08(1) (2008). The first clause of section 117.225 (the “triggering clause”) provides the conditions under which a district court may order the remedy provided in the second clause (the “remedial clause”) of the statute. If the conditions in the triggering clause are not satisfied, then a district court lacks the statutory authority to order the discharge of an easement.

The question presented here is whether the phrases “an easement” in the triggering clause and “the easement” in the remedial clause of section 117.225 mean the entire easement, or should also be interpreted to include a portion of an easement. “An” is commonly used to “denote a single but unspecified person or thing.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 1, 63 (4th ed.2009); but see Minn.Stat. § 645.08(2) (2008) ([T]he singular includes the plural....”). Therefore, “an easement” refers to a single, unspecified easement. In contrast, “the easement” refers to a specific easement. See Lowry v. City of Mankato, 231 Minn. 108, 115, 42 N.W.2d 553, 558 (1950) ( “The word ‘the’ is a definitive and when used before a noun has a specifying and particularizing effect.”). In Minn.Stat. § 117.225, “the easement” is a specific reference to the antecedent phrase “an easement.” Because the two phrases refer to the same easement or easements, the district court may discharge only the property interest that gives rise to the fee owner's cause of action under the triggering clause.

Larson argues that regardless of the articles preceding “easement” in section 117.225, we should construe that term to include a portion of an easement. We disagree. An easement is “an interest in land owned by another person, consisting in the right to use or control the land ... for a specific limited purpose.” Black's Law Dictionary 585-86 (9th ed.2009). This court has previously looked to the definition of “easement” provided by the Restatement (First) of Property § 450 (1944):

An easement is an interest in land in the possession of another which (a) entitles the owner of such interest to a limited use or enjoyment of the land in which the interest exists; (b) entitles him to protection as against third persons from interference in such use or enjoyment; (c) is not subject to the will of the possessor of the land; (d) is not a normal incident of the possession of any land possessed by the owner of the interest, and (e) is capable of creation by conveyance.

See, e.g., Scherger v. Northern Natural Gas Co., 575 N.W.2d 578, 580 (Minn.1998) (“An easement is an interest in land possessed by another which entitles the grantee of the interest to a limited use or enjoyment of that land.”); Burnquist v. Cook, 220 Minn. 48, 55, 19 N.W.2d 394, 398 (1945) ( “The general rules covering easements ... are set forth in Restatement, Property, Servitudes, as follows: § 450. An easement is an interest in land in the possession of another....’).

An “easement” is, therefore, “an interest in land.” The written instrument creating the easement, in turn, defines the scope and extent of the interest in land. The deed or other written instrument describes the “specific width, length and location” of the easement in relation to the servient tenement. 7 David A. Thomas, Thompson on Real Property § 60.04(c)(1)(i) (2d ed.2006); see also Highway 7 Embers, Inc. v. Nw. Nat'l Bank, 256 N.W.2d 271, 275 (Minn.1977) (“When an...

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