Oak Lane Homeowners Ass'n v. Griffin

• Decision Date: 11 September 2009
• Docket Number: No. 20080084-CA.,20080084-CA.
• Parties: OAK LANE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Dennis L. GRIFFIN and Renae Griffin, Defendants and Appellees.
• Court: Utah Court of Appeals

219 P.3d 64

2009 UT App 248

OAK LANE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Dennis L. GRIFFIN and Renae Griffin, Defendants and Appellees.

No. 20080084-CA.

Court of Appeals of Utah.

September 11, 2009.

Stephen Quesenberry and Jessica Griffin Anderson, Provo, for Appellant.

Shawn D. Turner, South Jordan, for Appellees.

Before Judges THORNE, ORME, and DAVIS.

OPINION

ORME, Judge:

¶ 1 Oak Lane Homeowners Association (the Association) appeals a summary judgment ruling in favor of Dennis L. and Renae Griffin. More specifically, the Association claims that the trial court created a new type of easement, "an easement by plat," which is not recognized in Utah. Further, the Association urges that there are three material facts in dispute relating to the use, ownership, and nature of the private roadway in question. We affirm the grant of summary judgment.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 In 1977, the Oak Hills Subdivision was platted, showing five lots that abutted Oak Lane. Lots 1, 3, 4, and 5 were accessible only by way of Oak Lane, but lot 2 was accessible from Oak Lane as well as from a public roadway.¹ The plat initially included the following language:

Know all men by these presents that we, all of the undersigned owners of all of the property described in the surveyor's certificate hereon and shown on this map, have caused the same to be subdivided into lots, blocks, streets and easements and do hereby dedicate the streets and other public areas as indicated hereon for perpetual use of the public.

¶ 3 The original seven owners of the five lots signed the plat, after crossing out the portion of the above language that dedicated the streets and other public areas to the public, so that it read as follows:

Know all men by these presents that we, all of the undersigned owners of all of the property described in the surveyor's certificate hereon and shown on the map, have caused the same to be subdivided into lots, blocks, streets and easements.

The Alpine City Council accepted the plat, also deleting from its resolution language about accepting the dedication, and the plat was recorded in 1977. Both sides and the trial court correctly infer that, under these circumstances, Oak Lane remained a private roadway.

¶ 4 One year before the subdivision was created, the Van Wagoners purchased the land that became lot 2 and, as original owners, signed the plat. Seven years later, they sold lot 2 to the Watkinses, who lived there for approximately five years. The Association submitted affidavits from both the Van Wagoners and the Watkinses reciting that they "understood that Oak Lane was a private road and used it only with permission."

¶ 5 The Griffins are the third owners of lot 2, having purchased the property in 1988. Their deed references the 1977 subdivision plat and states that they obtained title to the property "[s]ubject to easements, covenants, conditions and restrictions of record."

¶ 6 In 2003, the owners of lots 1, 3, 4, and 5 formed the Association to manage the maintenance and landscaping of Oak Lane. As alleged in one landowner's affidavit, the other lot owners "invited the Griffins to join the [A]ssociation because they were using Oak Lane by permission without sharing any of the on-going expenses," but the Griffins did not want to join. The affidavit states that "Mrs. Griffin ... refused to join ..., refused to pay for anything, and asserted her intent to continue using Oak Lane."

¶ 7 The original owners of the platted lots quit-claimed their interests in Oak Lane to the Association. The Association accordingly claims ownership of Oak Lane. The Association subsequently placed boulders on Oak Lane to prevent the Griffins from using the lane.

¶ 8 In its ruling on summary judgment, the trial court determined that "[w]hen the Oak Lane Subdivision was created, an easement was created over the private lane, contained in the subdivision, for all those property owners who abut the lane." Because "[t]he Griffins are property owners whose property abuts the lane," and because "[t]he Griffins['] property was sold to them by reference to the recorded Plat and [described] their property ... by reference to that plat," the trial court concluded that "[t]he Griffins have an easement, for access, ingress and egress from Oak Lane to their property." The Association appeals from this ruling.²

ISSUE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 9 The Association challenges the trial court's summary judgment ruling on both legal and factual grounds. Pursuant to rule 56 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, an order granting summary judgment is sustainable "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, 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." Utah R. Civ. P. 56(c). "[W]hen `reviewing a grant of summary judgment' we give `no deference to the trial court's conclusions of law: those conclusions are reviewed for correctness.'" Oak Lane Homeowners Ass'n v. Griffin, 2006 UT App 465, ¶ 6, 153 P.3d 740 (quoting Goodnow v. Sullivan, 2002 UT 21, ¶ 7, 44 P.3d 704).

ANALYSIS

I. The Trial Court's Legal Ruling Is Correct

¶ 10 The Association first challenges the summary judgment ruling on the ground that the trial court erred when it determined that the Griffins had an "easement by plat" to use Oak Lane to access their property. The Association is simply wrong to the extent it alleges that Utah does not recognize easement rights in landowners whose property abuts roads referenced in recorded plat. As indicated in Carrier v. Lindquist, 2001 UT 105, 37 P.3d 1112, "[u]nder Utah law, landowners whose property abuts public streets, alleys, and public ways that appear on a plat map are entitled to a private easement over those public ways." Id. ¶ 12.

¶ 11 We acknowledge that Utah case law has not specifically addressed whether an easement in a private roadway arises based on a deed's reference to a plat showing that a landowner's property abuts a private roadway. However, Utah's jurisprudence readily supports the general proposition that a right of use may arise when property is purchased or otherwise transferred with reference to a recorded plat describing streets or common areas within a subdivision. The reasoning in Tuttle v. Sowadzki, 41 Utah 501, 126 P. 959 (1912), while specifically addressing the rights of the owners of property abutting a once-public street, supports a conclusion that persons who purchase property, which property along with abutting roadways are identified in a recorded plat, may obtain a right to use such roadways based on the circumstances surrounding their acquisition of the property, regardless of whether the roadway is public or private.

¶ 12 In Tuttle, the respondents, who owned property abutting what had been identified on the plat as Wabash Avenue, sought to have the appellant, Helen Sowadzki, remove materials that blocked the street. See id. at 960, 962. The respondents alleged that they held a private easement of access, which could not be abandoned by the public or taken without compensation based on the original owner "platting the land into blocks and lots which abut upon streets, and in selling such lots with reference to such plat." Id. at 962. The respondents claimed their private right of access could be enforced against other abutting landowners, including Sowadzki, even though the other landowners were not the original developer who had platted and sold the lots with reference to the plat, because "every owner was compelled to keep the avenue open so that every other owner might perpetually enjoy his easement." Id. at 964-65.

¶ 13 The recorded plat, filed in 1891, identified Wabash Avenue as a street and dedicated it to the public. See id. at 960-61. In a prior related case, the Utah Supreme Court determined that Wabash Avenue had been abandoned as a public roadway due to a statute permitting abandonment following five years of non-use. See id. Because Wabash Avenue had never actually been used as a roadway, it was abandoned in 1896 as a public road, leaving a private easement that ran with Sowadzki's property.³ See id. at 961-62, 965.

¶ 14 The Utah Supreme Court discussed Utah law regarding easements created by plats. See id. at 962-65. Under Utah law, when an owner creates a plat that clearly identifies a street and then sells the property that abuts the street by referencing the plat, the purchaser of the lot acquires a right that prevents the original owner from vacating or obstructing the street. See id. at 962. When the recorded plat dedicates the street to the public, then a person whose land abuts the platted street obtains both a public and private easement. See id. The private easement, which is independent of the public easement, can survive if the public easement is abandoned or vacated, but only if the two easements were once held contemporaneously. See id. at 962, 964. This private easement is appurtenant to the property and "constitutes a property right which can only be taken from [the affected owners] or obstructed by making proper compensation." Id. at 962.

¶ 15 Because the Tuttle respondents claimed rights against another person whose property abutted the street, Sowadzki, instead of against the original landowner who recorded the plat, the Court also addressed what rights abutting lot owners have as against one another. See id. at 963-65. The Court acknowledged that even if a street was abandoned as a public street, abutting owners may not obstruct the street so that other abutting owners may not use it. See id. at 963. The rights of abutting owners as against each other are based upon equitable principles. See id. at 963-64. In determining whether equity justified an abutting owner's right to use the street, the Court considered the circumstances that existed at the time the abutting owner purchased his or her...