Masinter v. Markstein, No. 01-129
| Citation | 45 P.3d 237,2002 WY 64 |
| Decision Date | 26 April 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-135., No. 01-129 |
| Parties | Margery MASINTER; Richard H. and Mary M. Vaughan Irrevocable Trust; Alan J. Hirschfield Living Trust and Berte Hirschfield Living Trust; Robert B. Aikens; Edwin Augustat and Margaret Augustat; R. Mark Bodenhamer and Judy Bodenhamer; Ann Lane, Celanese Corp.; Anne B. Ehrenkranz; Richard D. Farman and Suzanne H. Farman; Thomas W. Fauntleroy, Jr.; Mark Feldman; Lawrence G. Finch and Rich Juel; George F. Fry, Jr. and Helen E. Fry Trust, 30 October, 1968; George Harris and Suzanne Harris; Bill Jones and Kay Jones; Monroe Luther and Kay Luther; Robert J. MacLean and Mary Anna MacLean; Doyen P. McIntosh; Lester S. Morse, Jr. and Enid W. Morse; Richard P. Morse; Michael S. Olin and Marlene Olin; Gerald O'Rourke and Donna O'Rourke; Hal Riney; Stanley B. Seidler; Keith Stoltz; Elizabeth K. Treadwell; Richard and Linda Walter; and Joel R. Wolpe, Appellants (Proposed Intervenors), v. Kenneth W. MARKSTEIN and Carole Markstein, Appellees (Plaintiffs). Crescent H Homeowners Association, Inc.; Margery Masinter; Richard H. and Mary M. Vaughan Irrevocable Trust; Alan J. Hirschfield Living Trust and Berte Hirschfield Living Trust; Robert B. Aikens; Edwin Augustat and Margaret Augustat; R. Mark Bodenhamer and Judy Bodenhamer; Ann Lane, Celanese Corp.; Anne B. Ehrenkranz; Richard D. Farman and Suzanne H. Farman; Thomas W. Fauntleroy, Jr.; Mark Feldman; Lawrence G. Finch and Rich Juel; George F. Fry, Jr. and Helen E. Fry Trust, 30 October, 1968; George Harris and Suzanne Harris; Bill Jones and Kay Jones; Monroe Luther and Kay Luther; Robert J. Maclean and Mary Anna Maclean; Doyen P. Mcintosh; Lester S. Morse, Jr. and Enid W. Morse; Richard P. Morse; Michael S. Olin and Marlene Olin; Gerald O'Rourke and Donna O'Rourke; Hal Riney; Stanley B. Seidler; Keith Stoltz; Elizabeth K. Treadwell; Richard and Linda Walter; and Joel R. Wolpe, Appellants (Proposed Intervenors), v. Christian A. Guier, M.D.; Alan S. Hirshberg; Robert Spetzler, M.D. and Nancy Spetzler, Trustees of the Spetzler Family Trust; Jon M. Malinski and Arlene M. Malinski; and Kenneth W. Markstein and Carole Markstein, Appellees (Plaintiffs). |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming |
Representing Appellants: Timothy W. Miller of Reeves & Miller, Casper, WYO.
Representing Appellees in Case No. 01-129: R. Michael Mullikin and Carolyn L. Null Anderson of Mullikin, Larson & Swift, Jackson, WYO.
Representing Appellees in Case No. 01-135: R. Scott Garland and Joseph F. Moore, Jr. of Moore, Myers & Garland, LLC, Jackson, WYO.
Before LEHMAN, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ. KITE, Justice.
[¶ 1] The district court denied owners in the Crescent H Subdivision the right to intervene in cases in which owners in neighboring McNeely Mountain and Fish Creek Meadows Subdivisions sued the successor in interest of the developer of both subdivisions to enforce fishing and recreational rights they claim the developer granted to them when they purchased their lots. Those rights involved riparian lands included within the Crescent H Subdivision. The district court denied the Crescent H owners' motions to intervene both as of right and permissively, and we affirm.
[¶ 2] The appellants present these issues for our review:
The appellees in Case No. 01-129 phrase the issues as:
The appellees in Case No. 01-135 set out the issue as:
Have Appellants[ ] met their burden of proof that the District Court abused its discretion by denying the Appellants' Motion to Intervene?
[¶ 3] This dispute has a massively complicated history, most of which is irrelevant to the resolution of the issues presented on appeal. However, some background is necessary. Donald H. Albrecht and his limited partnership, Rivermeadows Associates, Ltd. (RMA), originally developed both of the subdivisions involved. The Crescent H Ranch, owned by RMA, included approximately 1,300 acres of land located near Wilson and contained a guest ranch with outstanding fishing habitat in the riparian lands near Fish Creek and the Snake River. RMA platted the Crescent H Subdivision in 1985. With the sale of individual lots within the Crescent H Subdivision, RMA granted the buyers certain fishing and recreational rights in the riparian lands on the ranch which remained in RMA's ownership. RMA also developed the McNeely Mountain Subdivision and granted similar fishing and recreational rights to purchasers of those lots. RMA ultimately assigned other adjacent property to Fish Creek Meadows, Inc. together with similar fishing and recreational rights. Fish Creek in turn granted those rights to the individuals who purchased lots in the Fish Creek Meadows Subdivision. Thus, RMA was the source of the rights claimed by the Crescent H, the McNeely Mountain, and the Fish Creek Meadows owners. While RMA owned and controlled the Crescent H Subdivision, the appellees, who were purchasers in the McNeely Mountain and the Fish Creek Meadows Subdivisions, utilized their fishing and recreational rights in the RMA riparian lands without challenge and paid the requisite fees for such use.
[¶ 4] On January 17, 1995, RMA filed a petition for bankruptcy. At that time, some of the owners in all three subdivisions had not recorded or maintained documentation of the grants of their respective fishing and recreational rights. The bankruptcy called into question the validity and efficacy of the fishing and recreational rights, especially those that were unrecorded or allegedly conveyed after the petition for bankruptcy was filed. Forty-six individual Crescent H owners filed an adversary action in the bankruptcy seeking a declaration of the validity of their rights. The bankruptcy trustee also filed adversary actions against the McNeely Mountain and the Fish Creek Meadows owners seeking to avoid the fishing and recreational rights that RMA had conveyed to them. The trustee ultimately sold RMA's remaining ranch property, including the riparian lands, to Countryside I, L.L.C. However, that sale was not "free and clear of the interests of those fishing license and use agreement holders" which included the appellees in these cases. Ultimately, the Crescent H owners entered into a settlement agreement with the trustee that involved the issuance of new fishing and recreational rights by Countryside to these owners which were intended to supersede the earlier rights. The McNeely Mountain and the Fish Creek Meadows owners objected to that settlement arguing disparate treatment of similarly situated potential creditors. In the hearing on the settlement agreement, the counsel for the Crescent H owners made it clear that their claims were separate and distinct from the McNeely Mountain and the Fish Creek Meadows owners' claims and they were "not parties to the other two adversary proceedings, have taken no position, don't want to be involved." Ultimately, the bankruptcy court approved the Crescent H owners' settlement, and the adversary matter was dismissed. In addition, the bankruptcy court refused to consolidate all the adversary actions of the various homeowners concluding, "despite the existence of some common factual issues ..., there remain different issues of law."1 Ultimately, the bankruptcy court also dismissed the adversary proceedings filed against the McNeely Mountain and the Fish Creek Meadows owners because the real property had been conveyed to Countryside and no justiciable controversy remained with regard to the trustee.
[¶ 5] After the bankruptcy concluded, Countryside sent written notices to the McNeely Mountain and the Fish Creek Meadows owners denying the validity of their fishing and recreational rights in the Crescent H Ranch and its riparian lands. That action prompted them to file the underlying complaint in Case No. 01-135 on December 23, 1998,2 seeking to enforce their alleged fishing and recreational rights. Countryside filed a motion to dismiss which, after a hearing on June 18, 1999, remained pending for over a year and a half without action from the district court. The Crescent H owners did not file their motion to intervene in Case No. 01-135 until February 6, 2001, two years and forty-five days after the complaint was filed.3 The case was reassigned to another judge who held a hearing on the motion to intervene and denied the same. That hearing was not transcribed, and the order provides no explanation of the basis for the district court's decision.
[¶ 6] The district court denied intervention both as a mater of right and permissively. W.R.C.P. 24(a)(2) permits a party to intervene as of right in an action and provides in pertinent part:
Intervention may be allowed permissively when the intervenor's claim or defense has a question of fact or law in common with the main action and the court in its discretion determines intervention will not unduly delay or prejudice the adjudications of the rights of the original parties. W.R.C.P. 24(b)(2).
[¶ 7] In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Colley, 871 P.2d 191, 194 (Wyo.1994) (citations omitted), we stated the standard of review in matters involving claims of...
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