Oates v. Chavez, 19843
| Decision Date | 27 January 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 19843,19843 |
| Citation | 749 P.2d 658 |
| Parties | Douglas F. OATES and Lois A. Oates, husband and wife, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. Tony A. CHAVEZ, and M. Nancy Chavez, husband and wife, Dennis M. Chavez, R.L. Yergensen, Perry Gygi and Ann Gygi, husband and wife, Corrugated Pipe Co., Walker Bank & Trust, Doe I through Doe X, Defendants and Appellants. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
Elliott Lee Pratt, Dennis C. Stickley, Salt Lake City, for defendants and appellants.
Lance T. Wilkerson, Vernal, Richard A. Rappaport, Salt Lake City, for plaintiffs and respondents.
The district court quieted title to certain real property in plaintiffs, but required that they convey the same to defendants Chavez upon payment of its reasonable value.
The facts in this case are not materially in dispute and are set forth in the findings of fact made by the trial court.
1. In 1958 Plaintiffs purchased a tract of real property in Salt Lake County which was conveyed to them by Warranty Deed....
2. In 1975 the property was divided into nine lots of about five acres each plus three small lots with a fifty foot strip running through the tract that ended in the cul-de-sac to provide rights-of-way to the lots. These rights-of-way were never conveyed to anyone, but remained within the ownership of the Plaintiffs. Defendants Chavez purchased several of the lots and were granted the use of the rights-of-way with each deed either in whole or in part.
3. In 1978 and 1979 the property was subdivided into smaller lots with two subdivision plats known as Westriver Estates Plat A and Westriver Estates Plat B. The "rights-of-way" were not shown on the plat nor [were] the lots configured so as to recognize the existence of either the rights-of-way or the ownership of the fee simple of the fifty foot strip. The subdivision plats are signed by the Plaintiffs and Defendants Chavez which dedicate roads within the subdivision across the rights-of-way.
4. On July 19, 1979, Plaintiffs and Defendants Chavez, signed a document called a "disclaimer" by which they "abandoned and terminated" the rights-of-way created by various deeds "as if said rights-of-way had never been created"....
5. Plaintiff testified that he thought the purpose of the disclaimer was to "do away with any rights on the rights-of-way". Plaintiff did not tell Defendant Chavez that he felt he still owned the fifty foot strip that had been the rights-of-way and Defendant Chavez proceeded with the subdivision unaware of Plaintiffs' claim. Defendant Chavez stated that he would not have developed the subdivision if he had known of Plaintiffs' claim.
6. Plaintiffs did tell the developers of the property, specifically, Bruce Jeppsen, that Defendants Chavez would have to "pay for the property" but this claim was not passed along to Defendants Chavez.
7. The price of this undeveloped property was $14,500.00 per acre.
8. The area in dispute consists of 1.76 acres less the amount dedicated to public streets which the court estimates to be approximately one-quarter acre leaving one and one-half acres.
9. This court has both legal and equitable powers and pursuant to them and based on the Findings of Fact above makes the following....
Based upon the foregoing findings, the trial court concluded that the fee was vested in plaintiffs, subject only to the various rights-of-way which were extinguished by the disclaimer; that the disclaimer was unambiguous and did not purport to convey fee title; that having stood mute, permitting defendants to make substantial expenditures to improve the newly subdivided property, plaintiffs were estopped to...
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State v. Sykes
...based upon those findings, "we afford no deference and apply a correction of error standard." Id. The panel cited Oates v. Chavez, 749 P.2d 658, 659 (Utah 1988), for the proposition that conclusions based upon those findings are legal conclusions. However, the Oates case is a civil case dea......
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State v. Carter
...and the legal conclusion of voluntary consent premised upon those facts is examined for correctness." See id. (citing Oates v. Chavez, 749 P.2d 658, 659 (Utah 1988)). This approach was followed in State v. Hargraves, 806 P.2d 228, 231-32 (Utah Ct.App.1991) (Judges Bench, Billings, and Green......
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State v. Carter
...and the legal conclusion of voluntary consent premised upon those facts is examined for correctness." See id. (citing Oates v. Chavez, 749 P.2d 658, 659 (Utah 1988)). This approach was followed in State v. Hargraves, 806 P.2d 228, 231 (Utah Ct.App.1991) (Judges Bench, Billings, and Greenwoo......
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Salt Lake City v. Silver Fork Pipeline Corp.
...¶ 18 A quiet title action requires the application of a rule of law to decide ownership of the property in question. See Oates v. Chavez, 749 P.2d 658, 659 (Utah 1988). The validity of adverse possession, see Olwell v. Clark, 658 P.2d 585, 586 (Utah 1982), and diligence claims also requires......
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Investigatory Stops Revisited [1]
..."correctness" standard applicable to questions of law as according the trial court's decision "no particular deference." Oates v. Chavez, 749 P.2d 658 (Utah 1988). B. Voluntary Consent As issues dealing with the legality of the initial stop and any resulting level two seizure, determination......
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Investigatory Stops: Exploring the Dimensions of the "reasonable Suspicion" Standard
...we afford it no deference but apply a 'correction of error' standard." State v. Johnson, 771 P.2d at 327, citing Oates v. Chavez, 749 P.2d 658, 659 (Utah 1988). Appellate courts are charged with the duty to correct errors in application of the law to the facts. State v. Swanigan, 699 P.2d 7......