R.C.R., Inc. v. Rainbow Canyon, Inc., s. 97-225

• Decision Date: 27 April 1999
• Docket Number: 97-226,Nos. 97-225,s. 97-225
• Citation: 978 P.2d 581
• Parties: R.C.R., INC., a Wyoming corporation, Appellant (Defendant and Counterclaim Plaintiff), v. RAINBOW CANYON, INC., a Wyoming corporation; MC Operating Company, a Texas partnership; Robert E. Deline and Annabelle M. Deline, husband and wife; Kirk Company, a Texas partnership; Gary L. Palmer and Nancy J. Palmer, husband and wife; and James C. Hill and Sandra L. Hill, husband and wife, Appellees(Plaintiffs and Counterclaim Defendants), R.C.R., Inc., a Wyoming corporation, Appellant (Defendant and Counterclaim Plaintiff), v. James C. Hill and Sandra L. Hill, husband and wife, Appellees (Plaintiffs and Counterclaim Defendants).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 581

978 P.2d 581

R.C.R., INC., a Wyoming corporation, Appellant (Defendant and Counterclaim Plaintiff), v. RAINBOW CANYON, INC., a Wyoming corporation; MC Operating Company, a Texas partnership; Robert E. Deline and Annabelle M. Deline, husband and wife; Kirk Company, a Texas partnership; Gary L. Palmer and Nancy J. Palmer, husband and wife; and James C. Hill and Sandra L. Hill, husband and wife, Appellees(Plaintiffs and Counterclaim Defendants), R.C.R., Inc., a Wyoming corporation, Appellant (Defendant and Counterclaim Plaintiff), v. James C. Hill and Sandra L. Hill, husband and wife, Appellees (Plaintiffs and Counterclaim Defendants).

Nos. 97-225, 97-226.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

April 27, 1999.

Kermit C. Brown of Brown, Nagel & Waters, LLC, Laramie, WY, for Appellant.

John R. Vincent, Riverton, WY, for Appellees Hills and MC Operating Company.

Before LEHMAN, C.J., and THOMAS, MACY, GOLDEN, and TAYLOR, ^* JJ.

LEHMAN, Chief Justice.

This appeal centers around the enforceability and location of an express easement granted by the predecessors in interest of R.C.R., Inc. to James C. and Sandra L. Hill (Hills) to access their property. The trial court granted a partial summary judgment in favor of the Hills, concluding the easement was valid and enforceable. After a bench trial, the court determined the location of the easement had been fixed by its historic use. We affirm.

ISSUES

Appellant, R.C.R., Inc., presents the following issues:

a. Is the easement granted by that certain document entitled "Easements," recorded in book 694 at page 236 of the Carbon County records, an easement in gross?

b. Did the easement terminate upon a conveyance of their lands by the Grantees?

c. Is the easement a permanently floating servitude?

d. Did the Trial Court err when it located the easement relying on Edgcomb v. Lower Valley Power & Light, 922 P.2d 850 (Wyo.1996)?

e. In the event the easement at issue must be located, did the Trial Court err in not allowing the servient estate owner the right in the first instance to fix the permanent location of the easement?

f. Did the Trial Court lose jurisdiction of the matter at the time the full time for appeal commenced to run, such that the Amended Judgment entered by the Trial Court is null and void and of no legal force or effect on the parties or the subject matter of this action?

The Hills, as appellees, respond with these two issues:

A. Did the trial court properly grant partial summary judgment in favor of Appellees on the validity of an express easement?

B. Did the trial court properly locate the easement used by Appellees to gain access

from the Baggott County Road to their home located in Section 9, T. 15 N., R. 83 W., 6th P.M., Carbon County, Wyoming?

FACTS

In 1959, Rainbow Canyon, Inc. (Rainbow Canyon) purchased land adjacent to the Encampment River in Carbon County, Wyoming. Rainbow Canyon was incorporated by George B. Kelley, Stephen G. Burg, Edwin F. Deline, and Walter W. Deline as a fishing club, and each held one share in the corporation. Each shareholder also received a one-half acre lot on the Rainbow Canyon property. The individual plaintiffs in this case are the successors in interest to the original Rainbow Canyon shareholders. ¹

The property was originally accessed by a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) road, which required fording the Encampment River from the west to the east side of the river. In 1960, Walter Deline asked Kermit Platt, who owned land adjoining the Rainbow Canyon property to the south, about purchasing a parcel of his land on the east side of the river so the property could be accessed from the county road. Mr. Platt did not wish to sell; however, he agreed to an access road across his land and suggested a contractor to blade a road through the sagebrush. No other individual directly sought permission to cross Mr. Platt's property at that time, but each of the original owners, and their successors in interest, used the road.

In 1969, the Hills purchased an interest in Rainbow Canyon. Around 1976, they decided to build a home. The bank, which financed a portion of the Hills' construction costs, required a valid, recorded access easement to the Hills' property. On February 20, 1979, in a document entitled "Easements," Mr. and Mrs. Platt granted the Hills an easement for ingress and egress from the county road to the Hills' property across the Platts' property. ² The document was properly executed and recorded.

The document provides, in pertinent part:

FOR AND IN CONSIDERATION OF THE SUM OF Ten Dollars ($10.00) and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, Kermit C. Platt and Barbara P. Platt, husband and wife, hereinafter called the Grantor (whether one or more), hereby grants unto James C. Hill and Sandra L. Hill, husband and wife, P.O. Box 6, Encampment, Wyoming, their heirs and assigns, hereinafter called Grantee (whether one or more), * * *

* * * a perpetual right of way and easement to maintain, inspect, operate and travel upon an access road from the existing county road to the Grantees' tract of land situate in the SE 1/4SE 1/4 of Section 9, Township 15 North, Range 83 West of the 6th P. M., over, across and upon the lands owned by the Grantor in the E 1/2 of Section 16, Township 15 North, Range 83 West of the 6th P. M., together with the right of ingress and egress to and from said land for any and all purposes necessary and incident to the exercise by the Grantee of the rights granted by this easement and right of way.

Grantor shall have the right to use and enjoy the above described premises and the Grantee shall not interfere with the Grantors' use and occupancy of said land and shall not build, create or permit any obstructions or excavations or ditches which would interfere with the safety or grazing of livestock; provided, however, Grantor shall not exercise such use and enjoyment in a manner that will impair or interfere with the exercise by Grantee of any of the rights herein granted.

The terms, conditions and provisions of this agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto, their heirs, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and legal representatives.

All rights herein granted may be released or assigned in whole or in part.

In 1990, Jon R. and Martha K. Gray purchased the northern 90 acres of the Platt's property, and, in 1992, they acquired the remaining 230 acres of the parcel. The warranty deeds included language indicating that the deeds were subject to all easements, reservations, restrictions, and rights-of-way of record or apparent on the grounds. The recorded Hill easement was thus excepted from the deeds, and the title insurance policy also excepted the Hill easement. Title to the entire parcel was eventually transferred to R.C.R., Inc., a corporation owned by the Grays. R.C.R., Inc. subsequently sold the southern 230 acres to Alex J. Horst.

In 1993, Mr. Gray wrote the Rainbow Canyon shareholders a letter, proposing to give them a written easement for either: 1) a conveyance of some Rainbow Canyon land to him and cross-fishing rights, or 2) an equal share of ownership in Rainbow Canyon, Inc. and certain amendments to its bylaws. On June 11, 1994, R.C.R., Inc. and Mr. Horst granted Rainbow Canyon an easement across a portion of the Gray and Horst lands. That easement did not follow the route of the existing access road and, by its own terms, has now expired. In the fall of 1994, Mr. Gray sent the shareholders an invoice for trespassing fees in the amount of $4,800 for six months.

Rainbow Canyon, Inc. and its shareholders brought a quiet title action, alleging, under various theories, their rights to access across the property owned by the defendants, R.C.R., Inc. and Mr. Horst. The defendants counterclaimed, also seeking to have their title quieted. The trial court granted a partial summary judgment, concluding that the Hills have a valid, appurtenant easement across the defendants' property, but leaving for trial the issue of the precise location of the easement. A two and one-half day bench trial was held June 5 through June 7, 1996. On January 17, 1997, the trial court entered its Judgment, quieting title in R.C.R., Inc. and Mr. Horst, subject to the Hill easement. The court reiterated its previous ruling that the Hill easement is valid, and set the exact location of the easement. The court determined that the other plaintiffs took nothing in the action; they have not appealed.

On January 31, 1997, R.C.R., Inc. and Mr. Horst filed a Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment pursuant to W.R.C.P. 59(e). They noted that the trial exhibit attached to the court's judgment and delineating the fixed location of the Hill easement as "the purple road" (Exhibit 33) was unclear in that it appeared to include splinter routes accessing the Palmer and Deline lots on the Rainbow Canyon property. In addition, it was not possible to ascertain the location of the easement on the black and white copy provided to counsel. The defendants also argued that the easement was intentionally drafted as a permanently floating servitude, and the court should not have fixed the location.

On February 26, 1997, the Hills filed their Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment based on a clerical mistake in the judgment, pursuant to W.R.C.P. 60(a). The Hills pointed out that Exhibit 33 did not depict the southern part of Mr. Horst's property or the county road, and thus the Judgment did not locate the entire Hill easement which, by its terms, provides access from the county road to the Hill property. The Hills offered a substitute map, Exhibit A, which included the county road and all of Mr. Horst's property.

The court held a hearing on the parties' motions to alter or amend. As of May 30, 1997, no decision had been rendered on the outstanding motions, and R.C.R., Inc. and Mr. Horst filed a Notice of Appeal from the Judgment, which was docketed in this...