Pearson v. Virginia City Ranches Ass'n, 98-703.
| Decision Date | 20 January 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-703.,98-703. |
| Citation | 298 Mont. 52,993 P.2d 688,2000 MT 12 |
| Parties | Carl and Barbara PEARSON, husband and wife, and Richard and Alde Feskanin, husband and wife, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. VIRGINIA CITY RANCHES ASSOCIATION, Manfred Manfred New, Edward New, Eugene & Pauline Boardas, Hugh & Hildegard Webster, Richard McGuire, Janet & John Dochnal, Harker & Marian Dale, Chris & Katherine Johnson, Marlene Flynn, Ayres & Rosemary Baker, Neville Booth, and Kevin & Diann Hokanson, Defendants and Appellants. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Terry F. Schaplow, P.C., Attorney at Law; Bozeman, Montana, Jeannette E. Berry, Attorney at Law; Bozeman, Montana, For Appellants.
Michael J. Lilly, The Berg Law Firm; Bozeman, Montana, For Respondents.
¶ 1 The Plaintiffs, Carl and Barbara Pearson and Richard and Alde Feskanin, commenced this action for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief in the District Court for the Fifth Judicial District in Madison County. They sought a determination that a bridle path easement existed for the use of all owners in the Virginia City Ranches Subdivision and an injunction enjoining the individual Defendants from obstructing the bridle path easement. The District Court awarded the Plaintiffs partial summary judgment, finding that the filing of the plat for the Virginia City Ranches subdivision created a valid bridle path easement and that with respect to certain Defendants' counterclaims of adverse possession, the easement had not been extinguished. The Defendants appeal from that judgment. We affirm the judgment of the District Court.
¶ 2 Defendants raise six issues on appeal:
¶ 3 1. Did the District Court err when it concluded that the Defendants' deeds and the final Plat filed on May 1, 1973 created a valid bridle path easement?
¶ 4 2. Did the District Court err when it concluded that Montana's environmental laws were not material to its decision regarding the existence of a valid bridle path easement?
¶ 5 3. Did the District Court err when it concluded that the Board of Directors of the Virginia City Ranches Association had no authority to abandon the bridle path easement?
¶ 6 4. Did the District Court err when it concluded that the bridle path easement as it crosses the Bischoff, Eldridge, and Bordas lots had not been extinguished by adverse possession?
¶ 7 5. Did the District Court err when it concluded that the final plat recorded on May 1, 1973, was valid?
¶ 8 6. Were the Plaintiffs estopped from claiming the existence of the bridle path easement?
¶ 9 Virginia City Ranches is a subdivision located in Madison County, Montana. The Plaintiffs, Carl and Barbara Pearson and Richard and Alde Feskanin, own lots within the subdivision. The individual Defendants also own lots within the subdivision. Defendant Virginia City Ranches Association (hereinafter Association) is a Montana corporation, organized for the purpose of performing the powers and duties of the Association as set forth in its bylaws and articles of incorporation.
¶ 10 The lots within the Virginia City Ranches subdivision were created by the filing of a final plat filed on May 1, 1973. Prior to that date, the developers had filed two previous plats on March 20 and on April 3,1973. The first plat contained no reference to a bridle path easement. However, the second plat filed on April 3, 1973 and the final plat filed on May 1, 1973, both contained references to a bridle path easement crossing the subdivision. The Plaintiffs and the individual Defendants all took title to their lots in the subdivision by a standard form warranty deed, each of which referred to the final May 1,1973 plat.
¶ 11 On July 6, 1982, the developer of the Virginia City Ranches subdivision, Shining Mountains North, executed an Assignment and Deed which transferred to the Association "[a]ll powers, rights, and authority to administer all matters regarding ... the overseeing and maintenance of all common areas...." The Assignment and Deed referred to the final May 1, 1973 plat and included the bridle path easements in the description of the common areas.
¶ 12 On July 6, 1996, the annual meeting of the Virginia City Ranches Association was held. A motion was made to remove all references to the bridle path easement from all plats of record for the Virginia City Ranches subdivision. A majority of the lot holders voted to remove references to the bridle path from the plat. As a result, the Association recorded a document with the Clerk and Recorder of Madison County entitled "Notice of Corporate Action Taken Regarding Bridle Path Shown on Virginia City Ranches Subdivision Plat," which detailed the Association's action.
¶ 13 At no time since the inception of the Virginia City Ranches subdivision has a bridle path actually been constructed on the bridle path easement. To the contrary, over the years, several obstructions, which to some extent, encroach upon the bridle path easement, have been built by various lot owners, including some of the individual Defendants. Specifically, the Defendants, Eugene and Pauline K. Bordas, bought a lot in 1988, on which the previous owner had built a fence cross the bridle path in 1985; the Defendant, Manfred E. New, built a fence across the bridle path in 1985 and a barn which encroached upon the bridle path in 1989; the Defendants, Hugh and Hildegard Webster, built a pond blocking the bridle path in 1986; and Defendant, Richard McGuire, built a pond and a garden encroaching upon the bridle path in 1979.
¶ 14 Our standard of review on appeal from summary judgment orders is de novo. See Motarie v. Northern Montana Joint Refuse Disposal District (1995), 274 Mont. 239, 242, 907 P.2d 154, 156
. We review a district court's summary judgment to determine whether it was correctly decided pursuant to Rule 56, M.R.Civ.P., which provides that summary judgment is only appropriate where there is no genuine issue of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
¶ 15 Did the District Court err when it concluded that the Defendants' deeds and the final plat filed on May 1, 1973 created a valid bridle path easement?
¶ 16 The Defendants contend that the District Court erred when it concluded that based upon the final plat for the Virginia City Ranches subdivision, filed May 1, 1973, and the Defendants' deeds, there was a valid easement created by reservation for a bridal path. The Defendants argue that rather than relying on the language in the deeds and the plat, the District Court was required to focus on the intent of the parties. They assert that later actions by the developers of the Virginia City Ranches subdivision established that they did not intend to create a bridle path easement.
¶ 17 Defendants' first assertion is that an express easement by reservation was not created by the record documents in this case. However, the final plat filed May 1, 1973, in Plat Book 4, pages 82-84, records of Madison County, Montana, clearly depicts and labels the bridle path easement. All of the Defendants' deeds specifically refer to the final plat and include the language "subject to easements and restrictive covenants and reservations of record."
¶ 18 In Tungsten Holdings, Inc. v. Parker (1997), 282 Mont. 387, 390, 938 P.2d 641, 642, we held that an easement by reservation arises from the written document of conveyance. Deeds which refer to plats are deemed to convey all easements which are established by the recording of the plat. Tungsten Holdings, Inc., 282 Mont. at 390, 938 P.2d at 642.
¶ 19 In Bache v. Owens (1994), 267 Mont. 279, 285, 883 P.2d 817, 821, we stated the following:
¶ 20 Additionally, in Halverson v. Turner (1994), 268 Mont. 168, 172-73, 885 P.2d 1285, 1288, we expressed the following: An easement by reservation must arise from the written documents of conveyance. In determining the existence of an easement by reservation in documents of conveyance, it is necessary that the grantee of the property being burdened by the servitude have knowledge of its use or its necessity. In this case, the reference in the quitclaim deed to ... [the plat] gave notice to Shirley Turner that the property was being conveyed pursuant to a particular recorded document. It also put her on "inquiry notice" of the easement.... Knowledge of the existence of a claim will be imputed to a party who has sufficient information to put it on inquiry notice of that claim.
¶ 21 Clearly, this Court's holdings with respect to an express easement by reservation establish that such an easement arises when the purchaser's deed refers to the plat where the easement is clearly depicted.
¶ 22 Defendants' second contention with regard to the validity of the bridle path easement is that the parties' intent, rather than their deeds and the plat language is controlling, and that, therefore, the District Court erred when it relied solely on the deeds and plat language. Defendants rely on White v. Landerdahl (1981), 191 Mont. 554, 625 P.2d 1145, as support for their position, as...
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