McBride v. Smith

• Decision Date: 04 January 2018
• Docket Number: A147931
• Citation: 227 Cal.Rptr.3d 390,18 Cal.App.5th 1160
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: Kathleen D. MCBRIDE, as Trustee, etc., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Byron C. SMITH et al., Defendants and Respondents.

18 Cal.App.5th 1160

227 Cal.Rptr.3d 390

Kathleen D. MCBRIDE, as Trustee, etc., Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.Byron C. SMITH et al., Defendants and Respondents.

A147931

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 4, California.

Filed January 4, 2018

Buchalter Nemer, Buchalter, James R. Rose, Saint Helena, Katherine H. Falace for Appellant

Coombs & Dunlap, Brian L. DeWitt, Daniel D. Hardy, Napa, for Respondent

RUVOLO, P. J.

I. INTRODUCTION

Kathleen McBride (McBride) sued Byron and Kalmia Smith (the Smiths) for violating McBride's rights with respect to a recorded easement over the Smiths' property. After sustaining demurrers to several versions of McBride's complaint, the last without leave to amend, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the Smiths. On appeal, we conclude that McBride stated causes of action for nuisance and prescriptive easement, and the trial court committed reversible error by sustaining demurrers as to those claims. In light of this conclusion, we need not address McBride's additional challenge to an order granting the Smiths' motion for attorney fees.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. Background¹

The underlying dispute pertains to adjoining parcels of real property in St. Helena, commonly known as 1664 and 1670 Spring Street (respectively referred to as 1664 Spring and 1670 Spring). The southern border of 1664 Spring adjoins the northern border of 1670 Spring. Another relevant property, 1660 Spring, adjoins the eastern border of 1670 and part of 1664. An alley connecting to the public street runs east below the southern border of 1660 and 1670 Spring.

In 1993, Delores Daniels owned 1670 Spring, while Silvio Pelandini owned 1664 Spring. In March of that year, Daniels filed a complaint against Pelandini and all unknown persons to quiet title in, and reform her deed to include, two strips of land along opposite borders of her property at 1670 Spring: (1) a 15-foot-wide strip along the western border; and (2) a 12-foot wide strip along the eastern border. Daniels alleged this property had been inadvertently omitted from the legal description of her land and sought to reform her title based on principles of adverse possession. In June 1993, the trial court entered judgment quieting Daniels' title to both strips of land.

On September 8, 1993, Daniels granted Pelandini an easement running with the land over the 12-foot strip of land along the eastern border of 1670 Spring. The easement was described as "a secondary right-of-way over the existing roadway surface within the easement location, for the purpose of emergency ingress and egress ...." The recorded grant described the easement within metes and bounds and specified the following use: "Grantee or successors may only use the easement created hereby for the purpose of emergency or secondary ingress and egress to a single family residency and not as primary access. Grantee may not improve or expand their use of the easement beyond the boundaries of the existing roadway surface without the express written consent of Grantor, nor may Grantee cut or remove any trees or shrubbery within said easement except as necessary to keep said roadway clear for normal vehicular travel."

In 1998, the Smiths purchased 1670 Spring from the Daniels family. By 2004, the McBride family had acquired title to 1664 Spring, and Lindsey Vickers owned 1660 Spring.

In January 2004, the McBrides and Vickers executed an agreement granting the McBrides a "driveway easement" on property within the western border of 1660 Spring for "vehicular and pedestrian ingress, egress, and access ...." The agreement provided, in part: "McBride's use of the Driveway Easement shall be exclusive, and Vickers shall not grant or assign to other private parties any ingress, egress, and access rights in the Driveway Easement Strip. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, however, Vickers reserves the right to use the Driveway Easement Strip, so long as such use does not unreasonably interfere with McBride's use of the Driveway Easement for access to and from Parcel 23."

In July 2013, appellant Kathleen McBride became the sole owner of 1664 Spring, which she held in her trust. A legal description of the property incorporated into her grant deed includes the easement Daniels granted to Pelandini in October 1993, and the easement Vickers granted to McBride in 2004. In the present case, the parties use a variety of terms to describe these two easements. For clarity, and to the extent possible, we will refer to the easement that the McBrides obtained from Vickers as the Driveway Easement, and the easement that Pelandini obtained from Daniels as the Secondary Access Easement.

Several versions of McBride's complaint incorporated maps of unknown origin and authenticity. These documents depict the Secondary Access Easement and Driveway Easement as parallel, contiguous strips of land bordering the property line between 1660 and 1670 Spring, running between the south alley and southern border of 1664 Spring.

B. McBride's Complaint

In her January 2014 complaint, McBride alleged the following material facts: McBride's property at 1664 Spring and the Smiths' property at 1670 Spring share a driveway. For the past nine years, McBride and/or her predecessors in interest have used the driveway, which is at least partially covered by a recorded right of way, for full ingress and egress to 1664 Spring as well as for emergency purposes. Recently, the Smiths "erected permanent fixtures in said driveway to impede [McBride] and block her access to her property." McBride gave the Smiths written notice of her rights and requested they remove the impediments, but they "proceeded to maintain a pole with a chain, thereby preventing access to [McBride] over the subject driveway."

McBride incorporated these allegations into causes of action for (1) trespass, claiming unauthorized interference with McBride's "exclusive possession" of the disputed property; (2) forcible detainer, by "physically prohibiting [McBride] from using and occupying her land"; (3) prescriptive easement, resulting from McBride's open and notorious use of the of the driveway without the consent or permission of the Smiths; and (4) nuisance, resulting from the Smiths' interference with McBride's use, enjoyment, and free passage across "her roadway and easement areas."

The Smiths filed general and special demurrers to the complaint, arguing, among other things, that McBride did not and could not allege facts to establish her right to exclusive possession of a shared driveway; McBride used the driveway with the Smiths' express permission; and the allegations and judicially noticeable facts showed that the Smiths did not prevent McBride from accessing her property.

C. The First Amended Complaint (1-AC)

In June 2014, before the Smiths' demurrers were heard, McBride filed her 1-AC. In that pleading, McBride disclosed that she owned 1660 Spring as well as 1664 Spring. McBride further alleged that she has the right to the following recorded easements: (1) An alley easement benefiting 1660 Spring "provides sole access from Spring Street to Plaintiffs' property located at 1660 Spring Street." (2) A separate easement partially on the same alley benefits 1664 Spring. This easement (hereafter the Western Border Easement) runs along the southern boundary of the Smith property, and then turns and runs within the western border of 1670 Spring providing "western Alley access" to 1664 Spring. (3) A "secondary access easement," which also benefits 1664 Spring (i.e., the Secondary Access Easement described above), runs "directly on the front portion of [the Smiths'] parcel and terminates at the southern corner of [McBride's] property." (4) An "access easement" benefiting 1664 Spring, (i.e., the Driveway Easement described above), is contiguous to the Secondary Access Easement and "runs parallel in front of the same."

McBride alleged that, for several years, she and her predecessors had openly and under claim of right used the Secondary Access Easement for primary access to 1664 Spring until the Smiths erected a "chain, pole and wood dividers" in the Secondary Access Easement that prevented McBride "from reasonably accessing 1664 Spring Street." Also, the Smiths allegedly erected "fences, landscaping and other permanent obstructions" in McBride's Western Border Easement. Thus, according to the 1-AC, to reach her property at 1664 Spring, McBride was "forced to either remove a pole and chain every time," or trespass on 1660 Spring.

Although McBride admitted that the Driveway Easement also benefits 1664 Spring, her allegations about its specific location and actual function were confusing and possibly contradictory. She expressly admitted that the Driveway Easement "provides access from Spring Street to Plaintiff's property located at 1664 Spring Street." But she also alleged that the Driveway Easement touches only a corner of 1664 Spring and that without using part of the Secondary Access Easement, she "would have no way to access 1664 Spring Street without trespassing on 1660 Spring Street." McBride's allegation that she would have to trespass on 1660 Spring was also inconsistent with other allegations acknowledging that she not only had a Driveway Easement over that property, but that she herself owned 1660 Spring.

On August 26, 2014, the trial court sustained demurrers to the 1-AC. The court found that the trespass claim was uncertain because McBride was asserting rights in recorded easements that were not adequately described.

Furthermore, McBride did not allege facts to establish the elements of a forcible detainer ( Code Civ. Proc., § 1159 ). Nor did she state a claim for prescriptive easement because (1) her alleged use without consent was contradicted by allegations that the Secondary Access Easement was express and recorded, and (2) judicially noticed evidence produced by the Smiths showed that the Driveway Easement afforded primary access to 1664 Spring. Finally, McBride's nuisance...