Lawson v. Sipple, 94-586

• Decision Date: 20 February 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-586,94-586
• Citation: 319 Ark. 543,893 S.W.2d 757
• Parties: Vickie LAWSON, Appellant, v. Evelyn A. SIPPLE, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 757

893 S.W.2d 757

319 Ark. 543

Vickie LAWSON, Appellant, v. Evelyn A. SIPPLE, Appellee.

No. 94-586.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Feb. 20, 1995.

Michael L. Murphy, Conway, for appellant.

William C. Adkisson, Conway, for appellee.

DUDLEY, Justice.

Plaintiff, Evelyn Sipple, purchased a lot on Camilla Lane in the Stonebridge subdivision in Conway in December of 1992. At that time she lived out of state, but wanted to immediately start construction of a home on the lot, so she asked her daughter, a resident of Conway, to look after construction of the home. Defendant Vickie Lawson's home is located directly across the street from plaintiff's lot. Camilla Lane runs north and south, and plaintiff's lot is on the east side of the street. Defendant installed her mailbox on plaintiff's side of Camilla Lane in 1989 when an employee of the United States Postal Service told defendant that Camilla Lane had been designated a rural route with delivery only on the east side of the street. Defendant's mailbox is directly in front of plaintiff's home, on plaintiff's side of the street, and interfered with the construction of a sidewalk from plaintiff's front door to the street, blocks part of a yard sprinkler system, and interferes with grading the lawn.

During construction of plaintiff's home, her daughter asked defendant to move her mailbox to the northwest corner of plaintiff's lot where another neighbor's mailbox was located and where plaintiff intended to place her mailbox. Defendant refused to move her mailbox, so plaintiff's daughter removed it. Defendant reinstalled it at the original location, and, after yet another move, defendant again relocated the mailbox to its original position, which is directly in front of plaintiff's front door, and, this time, encased it inside a brick structure.

In September of 1993, following completion of her home, plaintiff filed this suit in chancery court and sought an injunction ordering defendant to move her mailbox structure away from directly in front of plaintiff's home and to the northern boundary of plaintiff's lot. Defendant answered and filed a counterclaim in which she alleged that plaintiff interfered with the delivery of her mail by taking down her mailbox and by parking in front of the box. She asked that plaintiff be ordered to refrain from removing her mailbox and from interfering with delivery of her mail.

At the conclusion of the trial, the chancellor requested that both parties file posttrial briefs. The chancellor subsequently issued a letter opinion. After receiving the letter opinion, defendant filed a request under Rule 52 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure for the chancellor to make specific findings of fact and conclusions of law. Another hearing was held, and the chancellor entered the final decree finding that plaintiff owned title in fee simple to the middle of Camilla Lane subject to an easement in favor of the City of Conway for use as a public street, that no one has an absolute right to home delivery of mail, and that defendant had no right to place her mailbox on plaintiff's property. The chancellor ordered the mailbox removed, awarded damages to plaintiff in the amount of $125, which was the cost of having the mailbox moved, and awarded attorney's fees of $1200, as well as costs. We affirm and modify in part and reverse in part.

Defendant first argues that the trial court was without subject matter jurisdiction because of the exclusive federal authority over the Postal Service. The doctrine of federal preemption is based upon the supremacy clause in article VI of the United States Constitution. Under the supremacy clause, state laws that "interfere with, or are contrary to the laws of Congress, made in pursuance of the constitution" are invalid. Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 211, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1824). It involves a congressional intent to supplant state authority in a particular field. Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 U.S. 519, 97 S.Ct. 1305, 51 L.Ed.2d 604 (1977).

Section 8 of article I of the United States Constitution vests Congress with the exclusive authority to establish post offices and post roads. Congress created the United States Postal Service to carry out the duties regarding the delivery of mail. See 39 U.S.C. §§ 101(a) & 102 (1988). The Postal Service is required by Congress to maintain an efficient system of mail delivery nationwide. 39 U.S.C. § 403 (1988). Pursuant to its postal powers, Congress may designate the route over which the mail shall be carried and what may be carried in the mail, and it may prescribe all measures necessary to secure the mail's speedy transit and prompt delivery. In re Rapier, 143 U.S. 110, 12 S.Ct. 374, 36 L.Ed. 93 (1892).

Although Congress and the United States Postal Service have the exclusive authority to control the delivery of mail, it does not follow that a dispute involving the location of a mailbox must be decided only in federal district court, and defendant has not cited us to any federal law providing that jurisdiction of disputes involving mailboxes must be heard exclusively in the federal courts. While not exactly on point, section 409 of title 39 of the United States Code is an indication of Congressional intent not to supplant the authority of state courts to decide disputes such as the current one. It provides in pertinent part,

Except as provided in section 3628 of this title, the United States district courts shall have original but not exclusive jurisdiction over all actions brought by or against the Postal Service. Any action brought in a State court to which the Postal Service is a party may be removed to the appropriate United States district court under the provisions of chapter 89 of title 28....

39 U.S.C. § 409 (1988) (emphasis supplied). Thus, even in cases in which the Postal Service is a party, federal district courts do not have exclusive jurisdiction. Another strong indication that federal jurisdiction is not exclusive is found in a section of the Domestic Mail Manual. This publication is compiled by the United States Postal Service and is incorporated into the Code of Federal Regulations. 39 C.F.R. § 111.1 (1994). Section 151.524 of the Domestic Mail Manual provides in pertinent part, "On new rural or highway contract routes, all boxes must be located on the right side of the road in the direction of travel by the carrier. Boxes must be placed to conform to state laws and highway regulations." (Emphasis added.)

In summary, the doctrine of preemption does not, in itself, operate as a bar to state court jurisdiction. State court jurisdiction is barred only when the federal statutory or regulatory scheme expressly provides that the exclusive jurisdiction to decide an issue is in the federal district courts or a federal agency. State courts can, and often do, interpret federal law. Accordingly, we do not dismiss for lack of state court jurisdiction.

Defendant's second point of appeal is that plaintiff was not entitled to the order requiring defendant to remove her mailbox without some proof that she suffered an injury different from the public at large because the encroachment is on a public right-of-way. See Mergenschroer v. Ashley, 244 Ark. 1238, 429 S.W.2d 120 (1968). We do not reach the issue because defendant did not make this argument below, and we will not consider it for the first time on appeal. See Grandjean v. Grandjean, 315 Ark. 620, 869 S.W.2d 709 (1994).

In her posttrial brief defendant made a different argument. She argued that plaintiff was without standing to object to the location of the mailbox because the City of Conway, not plaintiff, owned the land upon which it was located. Defendant also made a factual argument at trial that plaintiff was not entitled to bring the action because, by the terms of the subdivision plat, plaintiff only owned to the edge of the fifty-foot right-of-way for the street. However, the restrictive covenants state that "[t]he owners of the separate lots in Stonebridge Subdivision shall own the fee simple title to the center line of all streets upon which said lots abut, subject to the public easement [street right-of-way] aforesaid." The chancellor found a fifty-foot right-of-way for Camilla Lane and that Camilla Lane itself was only twenty-seven feet wide. Therefore, the right-of-way extended eleven and one-half feet on either side of the paved street onto the property of the abutting landowners. Thus, the chancellor found that defendant's mailbox was located on property owned by plaintiff in fee simple, but within the public street right-of-way. As such, plaintiff has rights as owner of the servient tenement, including the right to bring an action in order to direct placement of a structure within the easement. See Carroll Elec. Coop. Corp. v. Benson, 319 Ark. 68, 889 S.W.2d 756 (1994).

Defendant's third assignment is that the chancellor erred in refusing to make a requested finding on "whether the delivery of mail within a dedicated street right of way is a public roadway purpose." Appellant alleges that the failure of the chancellor to act on this request was error under Rule 52(a) of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides in pertinent part, "If requested by a party, in all contested actions tried upon the facts without a jury, the court shall find the facts specially and state separately its conclusions of law thereon...."

The chancellor specifically addressed this requested finding and ruled: "The Court specifically declines to make a conclusion as to whether as a matter of law the delivery of mail within a dedicated street right of way is a public roadway purpose. The Court finds that there is no evidence on that issue." While the chancellor stated that he declined to answer the requested finding he did, in effect, make a finding on the matter--that the evidence was insufficient to make a finding. The defendant was entitled to no more. A party is not entitled to a direct...