Lozier v. Blattland Investments, LLC

• Decision Date: 04 November 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-243.,03-243.
• Citation: 2004 WY 132,100 P.3d 380
• Parties: Irvin LOZIER, Appellant (Defendant), v. BLATTLAND INVESTMENTS, LLC, a Wyoming Limited Liability Company, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

100 P.3d 380

2004 WY 132

Irvin LOZIER, Appellant (Defendant), v. BLATTLAND INVESTMENTS, LLC, a Wyoming Limited Liability Company, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 03-243.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

November 4, 2004.

Rehearing Denied November 23, 2004.

Representing Appellant: Mark W. Gifford, Casper, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee: Gerald R. Mason and Douglas J. Mason of Mason & Mason, P.C., Pinedale, Wyoming.

Before HILL, C.J., and GOLDEN, LEHMAN, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.

VOIGT, Justice.

[¶ 1] This is an appeal from a summary judgment granted in an easement contest. At issue is a road across the appellee's lands that the appellant uses to access his ranch. The district court determined that the easement benefited only part of the appellant's ranch and that the right to use and the right to assign the easement were limited. We reverse.

ISSUES

1. Did the district court err in granting summary judgment to the appellee and in holding that the only lands benefited by the easement are the appellant's Section 8 lands?

2. Did the district court err in granting summary judgment to the appellee and in holding that only the appellant, his family members, employees, agents, guests, visitors, invitees and licensees, but not unrelated third parties, are entitled to the use and benefit of the easement?

3. Did the district court err in granting the appellee's motion to strike and in denying the appellant's motion to amend concerning the implied easement contention?

4. Alternatively, does equity require recognition of an implied easement?

NATURE OF THE CASE

[¶ 2] The appellant's family has owned the Box R Ranch in Sublette County since the 1890s. The ranch has been operated as a cattle business and guest ranch since 1898. Historically, the ranch abutted Sublette County Road 120, which provided the sole means of access to the ranch. A road traversed the ranch from the county road to the ranch home and headquarters.

[¶ 3] In 1965, the appellant's family sold to John Welborn the portion of the ranch abutting the county road. The appellant's family retained land in Sections 5 and 8, Township 35 North, Range 109 West, 6th P.M., and Sections 31 and 32, Township 36 North, Range 109 West, 6th P.M. After the conveyance, the appellant's family and ranch guests continued to use the part of the ranch road that crossed the parcel sold to Welborn. The road exits Welborn's property and enters the ranch at Section 8, in which section lie the appellant's ranch home and headquarters.

[¶ 4] In 1988, an Easement for Access Purposes from Welborn to the appellant was recorded. The pertinent portions of that easement read as follows:

JOHN B. WELBORN, grantor, residing in Sublette County, Wyoming, for good and sufficient considerations HEREBY GIVES AND GRANTS to IRVIN L. LOZIER, grantee, residing in Sublette County, Wyoming, and to his administrators, executors, personal representatives, heirs and assigns, the full and free right and liberty, option, privilege and authority for him and his family members, employees, agents, guests, visitors, invitees and licensees, in common with others having the same or similar right, perpetually for all times hereafter to freely pass and re-pass on foot, or with animals, vehicles, loads or otherwise, upon, over, along and across the established, private ranch road of the grantor situated in Sublette County, Wyoming, which said road is located ...

...

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD forever for the use and benefit of said grantee, his family members, employees, agents, guests, visitors, invitees and licensees, in common as aforesaid, as a means of ingress and egress to and from Section 8, Township 35 North, Range 109 West of the 6th P.M., Sublette County, Wyoming;

The grantor hereby expressly consents and agrees that grantee, his administrators, executors, personal representatives, heirs, and assigns may, at their own costs and expense, maintain, repair and otherwise keep said road in a passable condition[.]

[¶ 5] The appellant's family members and ranch guests continued to use the ranch road for several years after the easement was recorded. In 1999, the appellee purchased the Welborn property. The following year, when the appellant made known his plans to subdivide the Box R Ranch, the appellee responded by filing this action. The appellee's first complaint sought a declaratory judgment under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-37-103 (LexisNexis 2003).¹ Specifically, the appellee asked the district court to declare:

1. That access over the easement across the appellee's property is limited to the appellant, his family members, employees, agents, guests, visitors, invitees and licensees and cannot be used for access by unrelated third parties, nor can the appellant transfer any rights to a third party for that purpose.

2. That access over the easement across the appellee's property is limited to access to the lands of the appellant located in Section 8 only and cannot be used by the appellant or anyone claiming through him to access any other lands.

3. That access over the easement across appellee's property is limited to access the appellant's lands for purposes of operation of the appellant's ranch and cannot be used by multiple residential property owners.

[¶ 6] An amended complaint added allegations of trespass and negligence, and sought an injunction. The appellant's motion for summary judgment, filed before the complaint was amended, was heard after the amendment. The motion was denied on the ground that genuine issues of material fact existed that precluded summary adjudication. Subsequently, the parties settled the issues that had been added by the amended complaint, none of which concerned the easement.

[¶ 7] After a newly appointed district judge took over the case, both parties filed motions for summary judgment. In the memorandum filed in support of his motion, the appellant raised for the first time the alternative theory of implied easement. Prior to the motion hearing, the district court granted the appellee's motion to strike the implied easement theory because it had not previously been pled or otherwise raised. The summary judgment motions were heard on November 7, 2003, and the resultant order granting judgment to the appellee was filed on December 1, 2003. The pertinent findings and conclusions from the order are as follows:

1. The appellee's summary judgment motion did not address his third listed issue, and upon the appellee's motion, that issue is dismissed.²

2. The district court concurs with both parties' positions that the easement language is unambiguous.

3. From the plain language of the easement, the parties did not intend the easement to be an unfettered, unlimited access, but intended specifically to limit the persons entitled to the use and benefit of the easement and the lands that were to be benefited by the easement.

4. The use and benefit of the easement is limited to the appellant and his family members, employees, agents, guests, visitors, invitees and licensees, and not unrelated third parties.

5. The benefited lands are those lying in Section 8, and not any other lands belonging to the appellant.

6. The appellant's motion to amend his answer to include a counterclaim for implied easement is untimely and prejudicial to the appellee and is denied.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 8] Summary judgments are governed by W.R.C.P. 56. Our standard of review of such judgments is well known:

Summary judgment is appropriate when no genuine issue as to any material fact exists and the prevailing party is entitled to have a judgment as a matter of law. Eklund v. PRI Environmental, Inc., 2001 WY 55, ¶ 10, 25 P.3d 511, ¶ 10 (Wyo. 2001); see also W.R.C.P. 56(c). A genuine issue of material fact exists when a disputed fact, if it were proven, would have the effect of establishing or refuting an essential element of the cause of action or defense that has been asserted by the parties. Williams Gas Processing — Wamsutter Co. v. Union Pacific Resources Co., 2001 WY 57, ¶ 11, 25 P.3d 1064, ¶ 11 (Wyo.2001). We examine the record from the vantage point most favorable to the party who opposed the motion, and we give that party the benefit of all favorable inferences that may fairly be drawn from the record. Id. We evaluate the propriety of a summary judgment by employing the same standards and by using the same materials as were employed and used by the lower court. Scherer Constr., LLC v. Hedquist Constr., Inc., 2001 WY 23, ¶ 15, 18 P.3d 645, ¶ 15 (Wyo. 2001). We do not accord any deference to the district court's decisions on issues of law. Id.

Trabing v. Kinko's, Inc., 2002 WY 171, ¶ 8, 57 P.3d 1248, 1252 (Wyo.2002)

.

[¶ 9] Both the district court and this Court apply the following law when construing an easement:

"When construing an easement, we seek to determine the intent of the parties to the easement ... and begin by attempting to glean the meaning of the easement from its language." R.C.R., Inc. v. Rainbow Canyon, Inc., 978 P.2d 581, 586 (Wyo. 1999); see also Restatement (Third) Property (Servitudes) § 4.1 (2000). If the language of the easement is clear and unambiguous, we interpret the easement as a matter of law, without resorting to the use of extrinsic evidence to determine the parties' intent. R.C.R., 978 P.2d at 586. If, however, the language is ambiguous, then the court looks to extrinsic evidence to ascertain the parties' intent. Hasvold [v. Park County School District No. 6, 2002 WY 65, ¶ 13, 45 P.3d 635, 638 (Wyo.2002) ]; R.C.R., Inc. 978 P.2d at 586; Edgcomb v. Lower Valley Power & Light, Inc., 922 P.2d 850, 855 (Wyo.1996).... To determine the intent of the parties, the context in which the easement was drafted must be considered.

"The language of a contract is to be construed within the context in which it was written. In so doing, the court may look to the surrounding circumstances, the subject matter and the purpose of the contract. The purpose of examining the context within which the

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