Mehring v. Goudreau

• Decision Date: 14 December 2021
• Docket Number: DA 20-0540
• Parties: Lynn MEHRING, f/k/a Lynn M. Sandefer, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Jeffrey A. GOUDREAU and Lindsay B. Goudreau, Defendants and Appellants.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

407 Mont. 4

500 P.3d 1232 (Table)

Lynn MEHRING, f/k/a Lynn M. Sandefer, Plaintiff and Appellee,

v.Jeffrey A. GOUDREAU and Lindsay B. Goudreau, Defendants and Appellants.

DA 20-0540

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs: May 19, 2021

Decided: December 14, 2021

For Appellants: Colleen M. Dowdall, Dowdall Law, Missoula, Montana

For Appellee: Randall A. Snyder, Snyder Law Office, P.C., Bigfork, Montana

Justice Jim Rice delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court's quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports.

¶2 This appeal concerns a disputed easement located on Jeffrey and Lindsay Goudreau's (Goudreau) property in Flathead County. Lynn Mehring (Mehring) asserts the easement is located over an existing road that provides access to her adjacent property. Goudreau challenges the Eleventh Judicial District Court's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law & Decree of Quiet Title quieting title in the easement in favor of Mehring, and enjoining Goudreau from interfering with Mehring's use of the road. We affirm.

¶3 In 1978, Dale Homestead subdivided a single 40-acre parcel into two tracts, created by Certificate of Survey No. 4534 (COS 4534) :

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Tract 1 was roughly thirty acres in size, leaving Tract 2 as a "remainder" square of ten acres, which would approximately describe the parcel ultimately purchased by Goudreau and currently owned by them. COS 4534 identified an easement located outside the southern boundary of the entire 40-acre parcel, ostensibly providing legal access to the tracts.¹ In 1979, Homestead further subdivided Tract 1 of COS 4534 into three separate parcels, as provided by Certificate of Survey No. 5355 (COS 5355).

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¶4 These parcels were transferred to Homestead and his wife's father, Eddie Sheppard. Parallel to the western boundary of COS 4534's Tract 2, COS 5355 reflected a "30’ private road and utility easement." At some point between 1979 and 1991, Eddie and Lois Sheppard (Sheppard) acquired the entire 40 acres.

¶5 In 1991, Sheppard granted to Peter Tracy, a developer of the Meadow Lake County Water & Sewer District, "an easement over and across the Sheppard property" to construct a "water storage reservoir [(a water tower)] ... and buried pipeline." The Sheppard-Tracy Agreement provided that a water reservoir was to be "erected in the extreme northeast corner of the Sheppard property," with a proposed pipeline running southwest from the reservoir and crossing the current Goudreau property, as reflected in a map attached to the agreement:

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The District Court found that this drawing also reflected the location of "the roadway" through the property.

¶6 That same year, Mehring's then-husband, Lynn Eugene Sandefer, purchased the entire 40-acre parcel from Sheppard. The Sheppard-Sandefer warranty deed stated the property was granted "subject to and together with":

an Easement for 30-foot private road and utility easement as shown on Certificate of Survey No. 5355 ; [and]

that certain Agreement and Reciprocal Grant of Easement for a water storage tower and a buried pipeline, recorded May 28, 1991[.]²

¶7 In 1995, Sandefer sought to relocate common boundary lines between adjoining properties, eliminating the additional tracts created under COS 5355 and establishing the boundaries of the properties ultimately owned by Mehring and Goudreau, as provided in Certificate of Survey No. 12120 (COS 12120) :

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In addition to reflecting a "BPA Transmission Easement" on a reconfigured Tract 1, COS 12120 restated the easement along the southern boundary reflected in COS 4534, and the 30-foot easement along the western boundary of the original Tract 2 of COS 4534, the parcel ultimately owned by Goudreau. COS 12120 designated the parcel ultimately owned by Mehring as "Tract 2" as well.

¶8 Two years later, in August 1997, Lynn Eugene Sandefer deeded to Mehring the two eastern tracts of the 40-acre parcel, including the northern tract Mehring currently owns, and the adjacent southern tract subsequently sold to Goudreau. The northern tract was transferred to Mehring via a quitclaim deed stating the conveyance was "subject to and together with" the same interests subjected to in the 1991 warranty deed:

an easement for 30-foot private road and utility easement as shown on Certificate of Survey No. 5355 ; [and]

that certain Agreement and Reciprocal Grant of Easement for a water storage tower and a buried pipeline, recorded May 28, 1991[.]

Likewise, Sandefer also quitclaimed the southern tract to Mehring "subject to and together with":

an easement for 30-foot private road and utility easement as shown on Certificate of Survey No. 5355 ; [and]

that certain Agreement and Reciprocal Grant of Easement for a water storage tower and a buried pipeline, recorded May 28, 1991[.]

Besides mineral rights and interests, these deeds did not include any granting or reserving language for easement property interests. Lynn Eugene Sandefer at some point conveyed the western half of the 40-acre parcel to a party unrelated to this action.

¶9 In November 2014, Mehring sold the southern tract to Goudreau, which their buy-sell agreement identified as "Tract 6D, shown as Tract 2 of Certificate of Survey No. 4534." Mehring and Goudreau agreed that "[t]he existing easement, shown on COS 5355 & 12120 will remain, granting easement to the seller's adjacent property." The title insurance commitment noted general access for the tracts was provided by the easement running along the southern border of the tract Goudreau was purchasing. Then, the commitment stated that, "[b]ecause access is granted over a private roadway, for insurance purposes and clarification, an easement for ingress and egress should be granted in the proposed conveyance," and suggested the conveyance to Goudreau include the language "TOGETHER WITH an Easement for ingress and egress recorded October 21, 1977 ... as shown on Certificate of Survey No. 4534." A warranty deed for this transaction was recorded January 2, 2015, and included this suggested language, purporting to grant the property "subject, however, to" previous easement agreements burdening the property. However, despite recognition that access was granted "over a private roadway," and the representation of a "30’ road and utility easement" on COS 5355 and COS 12120 along the western boundary of the tract Goudreau was purchasing, no road existed along the entire length of that location. Instead, the existing road travels along this easement location, but then turns in a northeasterly direction to follow the path of the pipeline through Goudreau's property to the water tower, the general route of which is depicted on the map attached to the 1991 Shephard-Tracy agreement and as found by the District Court, "by visual inspection."

¶10 In June 2018, Goudreau text messaged Mehring, asking whether Mehring was planning on building on her property. Mehring replied she was "[j]ust not sure yet." Goudreau responded, "[j]ust curious because if the easement driveway road on our property needs leveled [f]or your driveway i could put those trees through mill for a project." Mehring informed Goudreau that "[i]t will be awhile before i do anything. My first priority is trying to get it brushed out some, so you may see some equipment in the future. I'll let you know before i start that tho! Thanks." In 2019, Mehring listed her property for sale; soon after Goudreau blocked access to the existing road connecting Mehring's property to the main access road along Goudreau's southern boundary.³

¶11 Mehring filed a complaint requesting the District Court to quiet title in "accordance to the historical use of the easement" and permanently enjoin Goudreau from interfering with Mehring's rights of use and enjoyment of a "reserved, record easement to her property through the Goudreau property." Mehring alleged that "[t]he warranty deed given to Goudreau reserved easements and rights of way of record." Following the issuance of a temporary restraining order, Goudreau agreed by stipulation not to interfere with Mehring's access to her property on the condition that Mehring "inform any interested purchaser that the legal access along the subject road is disputed." Goudreau answered the suit by disputing that the warranty deed reserved easements to Mehring. Goudreau admitted to the existence of a road and asserted they had blocked access to protect their property and "the property of the Water Tower, the actual beneficiary of the easement across Goudreaus’ property."

¶12 The state of the property at the time of suit, including the location of the water-tower road and alleged 30’ road and utility easement is best illustrated by the following topographic map the parties stipulated to as a demonstrative exhibit:

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¶13 Mehring attested via affidavit that:

I have owned my property in Columbia Falls in Flathead County for more than twenty years. This property is accessed by a private roadway and easement which has been in existence since prior to my ownership. The same roadway also accesses a water tower on my property serving Meadow Lake Golf Course and their community.

The roadway is the only road through the Goudreau ten acres which I sold to them in 2014. The roadway runs up the west boundary of the south-ten acre tract sold to Goudreau. I have always believed this road and the easements described in the 1991 Easement Agreement, COS 5355 and COS 12120 were one in the same. While I knew the roadway turned northeast, I was not aware that it did so while on the south ten acre tract until prior to litigation.

¶14 The District Court set a bench trial for August 31, 2020. However, Mehring appeared before the District Court that day representing "that the parties had agreed there were no...