R.O. Corp. v. John H. Bell Iron Mountain Ranch Co.

• Decision Date: 26 October 1989
• Docket Number: No. 89-56,89-56
• Parties: R.O. CORPORATION, Appellant (Defendant), v. JOHN H. BELL IRON MOUNTAIN RANCH COMPANY, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 910

781 P.2d 910

R.O. CORPORATION, Appellant (Defendant), v. JOHN H. BELL IRON MOUNTAIN RANCH COMPANY, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 89-56.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Oct. 26, 1989.

Stanley K. Hathaway and Rick A. Thompson of Hathaway, Speight, Kunz, Trautwein and Barrett, Cheyenne, for appellant.

Robert G. Pickering and Henry F. Bailey, Jr. of Bailey, Pickering & Stock, Cheyenne, for appellee.

Before CARDINE, C.J., and THOMAS, URBIGKIT, MACY and GOLDEN, JJ.

MACY, Justice.

This is an appeal from an award of damages to appellee John H. Bell Iron Mountain Ranch Company on the basis of the unjust enrichment of appellant R.O. Corporation for permitting its livestock to run at large on the unfenced pastures of appellee.

We reverse.

Appellant presents the following issues for our consideration:

I.

Did the trial court commit error by awarding damages under an equitable theory of unjust enrichment when a specific rule of law prohibits those damages?

II.

If unjust enrichment does apply, did the trial court use the proper measure of damages?

Appellee commenced this action on October 29, 1987, by filing a complaint which alleged that appellant knowingly and intentionally grazed cattle upon appellee's land. The complaint also alleged that appellant refused to remove the cattle after appellee's demand, resulting in appellee's entitlement to a grazing fee in excess of $20,000. Appellant's motion to dismiss was converted to a motion for summary judgment and denied after the court concluded that genuine issues of material fact existed involving the fence-out doctrine. Appellant answered appellee's complaint, alleging several defenses in addition to the fence-out doctrine. The matter was tried before the court on November 9, 1988, on appellee's trespass theory.

The evidence produced at trial revealed the following relevant facts. Appellant is the owner of ranch land in Albany County, Wyoming, commonly referred to as the Peden Ranch. Appellee is the owner of contiguous ranch lands commonly referred to as the Pasco Ranch. Prior to 1987, Marie J. Bell owned both ranches, and they were operated as a single family unit. A complete division fence was not maintained between the ranches. In 1987, the parties inherited their respective ranches and operated them as separate units.

Appellant contracted with Byron Nelson in May 1987 to pasture Nelson's cattle on appellant's ranch during the 1987 grazing season for the receipt of twelve and one-half cents per pound of weight gain. Appellant released approximately 543 Nelson heifers onto his ranch lands on or about July 5, 1987, and removed them on or about September 15, 1987. During the grazing season, the Nelson heifers migrated onto and depastured approximately two sections of appellee's unfenced lands which joined and were enclosed by appellant's land.

Appellee's agent, John Morris, testified that the Nelson heifers strayed onto his land because his land had better water and grass; that he did not put his cattle onto these two sections because, "You can't tell a cow where to go and where not to go," and he did not want his cattle to drift onto appellant's land; and that he demanded that the Nelson heifers be removed, but Melvin Wright, appellant's agent, refused, stating, " 'I need the grass and I'm going to use it.' "

Melvin Wright testified that, when he released the Nelson heifers onto the lands controlled by appellant, he felt the heifers would graze appellee's unfenced pasture and that, when he was confronted by John Morris, "I told him that's the only way I could use my grass, was to put the cattle on it."

On February 13, 1989, the court entered judgment for appellee in the amount of $6,000, finding that, while appellee failed to prove its trespass claim, the evidence supported an award on the theory of unjust enrichment. In its decision letter of December 14, 1988, which was incorporated by reference into the order and judgment, the court stated in part:

Plaintiff had the burden to prove that the defendant intentionally drove and kept his cattle onto plaintiff's property. Under Wyoming case law there is no trespass when animals lawfully running at large wander upon and depasture the unenclosed lands of a private owner--this generally known as the Wyoming "fence out doctrine." Plaintiff has not met his burden of proving a knowing and intentional trespass. The most telling evidence came in the form of testimony from John Morris who said, "You can't tell a cow where to go and where not to go." This testimony forms the basis and rational for the age old "fence out" doctrine in Wyoming. To rule in favor of the plaintiff in this case on the trespass theory would do violence to this rule of law. The evidence does, however, support an award for the plaintiff on a theory of unjust enrichment.

* * * Here, the defendant continued to depasture plaintiff's property after having been notified that the cattle were present on plaintiff's land and consuming plaintiff's grass. Notwithstanding the notification, the defendant continued the depasturization thus deriving a benefit at plaintiff's loss.

All the requisite elements of unjust enrichment are met in this case. Defendant was enriched; plaintiff was impoverished; the connection between the enrichment and impoverishment is identical; after receiving notice, defendant was no longer justified in continuing the depasturization and since Wyoming's "fence out" law does not provide a remedy at law, then the court's equity jurisdiction is triggered.

It is firmly settled in Wyoming that no trespass or liability for damages exists when livestock running at large stray upon and depasture the unenclosed lands of a private owner. Hardman v. King, 14 Wyo. 503, 85 P. 382 (1906); Haskins v. Andrews, 12 Wyo. 458, 76 P. 588 (1904); Martin v. Platte Valley Sheep Company, 12 Wyo. 432, 76 P. 571 (1904); Cosgriff Brothers v. Miller, 10 Wyo. 190, 68 P. 206 (1902). This is commonly known as the "fence-out doctrine."

In the decision letter denying appellant's motion to dismiss, the court stated that our case law has carved out an exception to this rule, and:

It seems the exception to the general rule applies when the owner of cattle has knowledge of the presence of his cattle on his neighbor's land and knows that his neighbor objects and over his objection the cattle owner expresses...