McCauley v. Thompson-Nistler
| Decision Date | 10 August 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-459.,98-459. |
| Citation | 301 Mont. 81,2000 MT 215,10 P.3d 794 |
| Parties | Daniel McCAULEY, Cheryl McCauley, Bruce Meadows, Judy Meadows, Jon Noel, Shirley Noel, Val Holms, Mari Holms, Pamela Barrows, Jim Gunderson, Sandi Benson, and Daniel Benson, Plaintiffs, Respondents and Cross-appellants, v. THOMPSON-NISTLER, a corporation; John Stelter; Laurie Stelter; William P. Klein; Virginia Bompart; Bonnie Bompart; Wilamac, Inc., a corporation; Les Love; Crisdean Love; James "Buck" MacClaurin; Lewis and Clark County; and Jefferson County, Defendants, Appellants and Cross-respondents. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Patrick E. Melby, Luxan & Murfitt, Helena, Montana; John C. Doubek and Carl A. Hatch, Small, Hatch, Doubek & Pyfer, Helena, Montana; Richard J. Llewellyn, Helena, Montana; K. Paul Stahl and Mike McGrath, Helena, Montana, For Appellants and Cross-respondents.
Gregory W. Duncan, Harrison, Loendorf & Poston, Helena, Montana, For Respondents and Cross-Appellants.
¶ 1 Appellants John Stelter, Laurie Stelter and Lewis and Clark County appeal from the Judgment and Findings Of Fact and Conclusions Of Law of the First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County. Respondents cross-appeal. We affirm in part, modify in part and remand for entry of an amended judgment.
¶ 2 Appellants and Cross-appellants have raised numerous issues on appeal. We restate the issues as follows:
¶ 3 1. Did public use for more than five years prior to July 1, 1895, of the Tucker Gulch Road, a branch of the Dry Gulch Road, establish the Tucker Gulch Road as a public highway pursuant to § 2600, The Codes and Statutes of Montana (1895)?
¶ 4 2. If the Tucker Gulch Road became a public highway pursuant to § 2600, The Codes and Statutes of Montana (1895), was the road thereafter abandoned by Lewis and Clark County?
¶ 5 3. Did the District Court err in finding there was not a public prescriptive easement along the relocated "new road" through the property of the Meadowses, Noels and McCauleys and Granite Mountain subdivision?
¶ 6 4. Did the District Court err when it appeared to limit Appellants' ingress and egress over the McCauley easement, new road and access easements in the Granite Mountain subdivision to normal activities associated with residential living?
¶ 7 5. Did the District Court err when it granted Klein unrestricted access across Lot 23 and the Dasey Lode (the McCauley easement) and the Granite Mountain subdivision to access the Primrose Lode mining claim?
¶ 8 6. Were Cross-respondents Loves and Thompson-Nistler prevailing parties in the District Court and thus entitled to recover their costs?
¶ 9 This case began as an action filed in Jefferson County, Montana, by William P. Klein, Jr. (Klein), owner of the Primrose Lode mining claim located in Jefferson and Lewis and Clark Counties, against Pamela Barrows (Barrows) and Jim Gunderson (Gunderson), owners of Tracts 3, 4 and 5 of the Granite Mountain subdivision. While the Klein case was being litigated in Jefferson County, several persons-Daniel M. McCauley and Cheryl A. McCauley (McCauleys), owners of the Dasey Lode (MS 9074); Bruce Meadows and Judy Meadows (Meadowses), owners of property on Dry Gulch Road; Jon Noel and Shirley Noel (Noels), owners of Government Lot 23; Val Holms and Mari Holms (Holmses), owners of Tract 2, Granite Mountain subdivision; Pamela Barrows; Jim Gunderson; Sandi Benson and Daniel Benson (Bensons), owners of Tract A, Granite Mountain subdivision-initiated a quiet title action against Thompson-Nistler, owner and developer of the Alpine Meadows subdivision; John Stelter and Laurie Stelter (Stelters), owners of a tract in Alpine Meadows subdivision; William P. Klein, Jr.; Virginia Bompart and Bonnie Bompart (Bomparts), owners of real property east of the Granite Mountain subdivision; Wilamac, Inc. (Wilamac), a corporation, owner of Tract 1, Granite Mountain subdivision; Les Love and Crisdean Love (Loves), owners of tracts in the Alpine Meadows subdivision; James "Buck" MacLaurin, owner of Wilamac, Inc.; and Lewis and Clark and Jefferson Counties. Meadowses own property on Dry Gulch Road, which all parties have agreed is a county road at least to Meadowses' driveway. McCauleys own the Dasey Lode (MS 9074) through which the old road traversed. Noels own Government Lot 23 on which the new road crosses for a short distance and on which the parties have been traveling along the southern boundary (Noel easement) just north of the McCauley easement established by the parties' 1984 agreement. Bensons, Wilamac and Barrows/Gunderson all own tracts in the Granite Mountain subdivision. Klein is the owner of the Primrose Lode patented mining claim lying south of the Granite Mountain subdivision. Bomparts own real property to the east of the Granite Mountain subdivision. Thompson-Nistler, Loves and Stelters own properties to the north of the Granite Mountain subdivision. Their properties were formerly owned by The Diehl Company and are now referred to as the Alpine Meadows subdivision. Attached to this Opinion as an exhibit is Figure 1, which was utilized by the District Court in its decision.
¶ 10 Margaret P. Langlykke et al. were the previous owners of the Granite Mountain properties later transferred to Granite Mountain, Inc.
¶ 11 The principal roadway that is subject of this dispute extends Davis Street on the south side of Helena, Montana, where it becomes Dry Gulch Road. The roadway continues along Dry Gulch Road to an intersection where a fork continues eastward up Tucker Gulch and eventually to the Jefferson County line. From the county line, the road continues east and eventually forks again, with one fork extending down Holmes Gulch and the other down Clark's Gulch. The disputed roadway will be referred to as the Tucker Gulch Road which is principally the same road surveyed by the Lewis and Clark County surveyor in 1902. The Tucker Gulch Road will also be referred to as the "old road." The old road traverses MS 9074 (McCauleys' property), Tract A (Bensons' property), Tract 1 (Wilamac's property), Tract 2 (Holmses' property) and Tracts 4 and 5 (Gunderson and Barrows' property).
¶ 12 In 1984, an Agreement for Change of Easement was executed by the owners of Respondents' properties and the McCauleys. That agreement acknowledged that The Diehl Company, Bomparts and Granite Mountain, Inc., owned an easement by prescription across the Dasey Lode (MS 9074) and in return for an agreement to abandon the easement by prescription received a 30-foot access road along the northerly 30-feet of the Dasey Lode. Thereafter, the owners of Granite Mountain, Inc. platted a 30-foot access road easement through Granite Mountain, Inc. properties moving the roadway north from the old road. This road is referred to as the "new road." In 1988, Granite Mountain, Inc., filed a Certificate of Survey subdividing its property into seven 20-acre tracts and expanding the roadway to a 60-foot road easement for owners' ingress and egress. The Certificate of Survey provided two northerly 60-foot access easements on its east and west borders extending to the north allowing access to The Diehl Company properties. Both the Agreement for Change of Easement as well as the Certificate of Survey were executed by The Diehl Company.
¶ 13 At trial Appellants contended the old road is a public and county road established either by operation of law or by petition and thus the Tucker Gulch Road may be used by the public in general without restriction. Appellants contended in the alternative that the public had an easement by prescription crossing Respondents' property or that they had private easements by prescription or grant on roads crossing Respondents' property including both the old road and the new road. After trial, the District Court found that a portion of the disputed road claimed to be a county road situated in Jefferson County was a county road and that determination has not been appealed by either party. The District Court further found the Tucker Gulch Road (old road) had been used to gain access to the mines south of Helena for 30 to 40 years by 1902, beginning in the 1860's, until a petition was filed with the Lewis and Clark County Commissioners to open the road in 1902. The 1902 petition request caused a survey to be completed at the request of the county commissioners, which survey was filed in the county records. The District Court found the original road as surveyed was still visible on the ground at the time of trial, but that the county commissioners had never formally opened the road. Thus the court found it was not a petitioned county road.
¶ 14 The District Court found there was a prescriptive easement by the public over the old road which had been lost through abandonment and by reverse adverse possession.
¶ 15 The District Court found the public did not acquire a prescriptive easement across the new road but that the Appellants had a prescriptive easement over a short stretch of the road crossing the property of Meadowses and Noels from the Tucker Gulch Road to the Dasey Lode. The court also found that Appellants had the right to use the McCauley easement and the Granite Mountain subdivision easements for access to their properties for residential purposes.
¶ 16 Additionally, the District Court found that the owners of tracts in the Alpine Meadows subdivision (formerly owned by The Diehl Company) had the right to use the McCauley easement (30 feet in width) as well as the remaining 60-foot easements through the Granite Mountain subdivision. The court found that Appellants did not have the right to utilize the Noel easement, and thus they could be denied access by the Noels. The court did not find that either party prevailed and thus denied costs and refused to grant injunctive...
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