McFadden v. Sein

• Decision Date: 25 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. 29149.,29149.
• Citation: 88 P.3d 740,139 Idaho 921
• Parties: Bryon and Donna McFADDEN, husband and wife, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. Osvaldo V. SEIN, Jr., an individual, Sonia Rodriguez, an individual, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

88 P.3d 740

139 Idaho 921

Bryon and Donna McFADDEN, husband and wife, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. Osvaldo V. SEIN, Jr., an individual, Sonia Rodriguez, an individual, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 29149.

Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise, January 2004 Term.

March 25, 2004.

David E. Kerrick, Caldwell, for appellants.

Hamilton, Michaelson & Hilty, Nampa, for respondents. Mark R. Hilty argued.

TROUT, Chief Justice.

This case involves a dispute over the terms of an easement over private property in Nampa. Appellants Osvaldo Sein, Jr., and Sonia Rodriguez (Sein) appeal the district court's decision granting summary judgment to respondents Bryon and Donna McFadden (the McFaddens), who brought a declaratory judgment action pertaining to an easement over Sein's property to the McFaddens' property, which the McFaddens wish to subdivide into three lots. Sein claims as error the district court's decision that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that this was a general grant of easement permitting an expanded use of the McFaddens property.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1992, a 22-acre parcel of land in Nampa was purchased by Tonie Robertson, who was granted permission by Canyon County to subdivide the land. This area was then subdivided into four Parcels. Parcel No. 3, which measured 4.58 acres, was sold to Pamela Cornwall in 1995, but Cornwall was required, as part of the transaction, to execute an easement agreement in which Parcel No. 3 became the servient estate for an easement providing access from Happy Valley Road to Parcel No. 4, the dominant estate. Thereafter, in 1995 Robertson sold Parcel No. 4, the dominant estate consisting of 7.23 acres, to the McFaddens. In 2000, Cornwall sold Parcel No. 3, the servient estate, to Sein.

Shortly after Sein purchased Parcel No. 3, the McFaddens applied to Canyon County for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to subdivide Parcel No. 4 into three lots, upon which they intended to construct single-family residential homes. At the hearing for this CUP, Sein appeared and advised the hearing examiner that they owned the property that was to be used to access these lots and they did not consent to anyone other than the McFaddens using the easement. After the two parties were unable to resolve successfully the issue on their own, the hearing examiner denied the CUP in October 2000 based upon lack of sufficient access to the proposed development. The McFaddens then sought legal counsel and re-filed their application. It was again denied in August 2001. The McFaddens subsequently appealed this decision to the Canyon County Board of Commissioners (Commissioners) but expressly agreed that the issue of access to the subdivision, which had resulted in the prior denials of the CUP, would be addressed through a state court declaratory judgment action. In December 2001 the Commissioners granted the CUP expressly contingent upon the access issue being resolved by judicial decree. The McFaddens then filed this declaratory judgment action.

Upon both parties' motions for summary judgment, the district court granted a partial summary judgment, finding the easement agreement entered into between Robertson and Cornwall in 1995 was a general grant of easement entitling the McFaddens to unlimited reasonable use consistent with the natural development of the land, and therefore the McFaddens could subdivide their parcel and the easement could be utilized to access the three subdivided lots on Parcel No. 4. The case went to trial on the remaining issue of maintaining the roadway easement. Sein then filed a timely appeal of the district court's decision granting the partial summary judgment.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Both parties filed motions for summary judgment in the district court.

On appeal from the grant of a motion for summary judgment, this Court employs the same standard as used by the district judge originally ruling on the motion. Summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." I.R.C.P. 56(c). Where the parties have filed cross-motions for summary judgment relying on the same facts, issues and theories, the parties effectively stipulate that there is no genuine issue of material fact that would preclude the district court from entering summary judgment. However, the mere fact that both parties move for summary judgment does not in and of itself establish that there is no genuine issue of material fact. The fact that the parties have filed cross-motions for summary judgment does not change the applicable standard of review, and this Court must evaluate each party's motion on its own merits.

Intermountain Forest Management, Inc. v. Louisiana Pacific Corp., 136 Idaho 233, 235, 31 P.3d 921, 923 (2001) (citations omitted).

III. GENERAL GRANT OF EASEMENT

The district court found, and both parties agreed, that the 1995 easement was unambiguous in its language. As such, the district court considered the scope of the easement based on the language of the agreement itself and disallowed any extrinsic evidence as to the intent of the parties at the time of the agreement. "Interpreting intent from an unambiguous [instrument] is a matter of law, the determination of which we review freely." Latham v. Garner, 105 Idaho 854, 857, 673 P.2d 1048, 1051 (1983).

The 1995 easement reads in part:

Grantor [now the Sein property] hereby grants and conveys unto Grantee [now the McFadden property], its successors and assigns, a permanent and perpetual non-exclusive easement and right-of-way for the purpose of constructing and utilizing a roadway for access to Parcel No. 4....

This is the only language in the document describing what pertinent rights are given to either party. The agreement does discuss limitations having to do with obstructions on the easement, as well as a right given to an irrigation district to access a canal near the properties. However, as the trial court found, the easement agreement does not address in any way subdividing any of the parcels. The easement agreement had attached to it, in addition to legal descriptions of the dominant and servient estates, a "Record of Survey for Tonie Robertson" (Survey) which was referenced in the agreement as depicting the location for the roadway.

On summary judgment, Sein argued their case on the theory that the easement agreement could only be strictly construed according to the attached Survey depicting the parcels of land as they existed at the time the easement was created in 1995. The Survey, Sein argues, which depicts Parcel No. 4 as one single parcel, prevents any alteration to the land which would result in the property boundaries appearing any differently than as shown in the Survey.

The language of the 1995 easement clearly states that it is "a permanent and perpetual non-exclusive easement and right-of-way for the purpose of constructing and utilizing a roadway for access to Parcel No. 4." This non-exclusive language creates a general grant of easement. In Abbott v. Nampa School Dist. No. 131, 119 Idaho 544, 548, 808 P.2d 1289, 1293 (1991), a general grant of easement was defined as an "easement granted or reserved in general terms, without any limitations as to its use...." Accordingly, Abbott sets forth several rules governing this type of easement, which apply to the present case. First, "use of the easement includes those uses which are incidental or necessary to the reasonable and proper enjoyment of the easement, but is limited to those that burden the servient estate as little as possible." Id. Second, such...