Realty v. James Romanella & Sons, Inc.

• Decision Date: 27 June 2012
• Docket Number: No. 2011–120–APPEAL.,2011–120–APPEAL.
• Citation: 45 A.3d 584
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court
• Parties: BUTTERFLY REALTY et al. v. JAMES ROMANELLA & SONS, INC.

45 A.3d 584

BUTTERFLY REALTY et al.

v.JAMES ROMANELLA & SONS, INC.

No. 2011–120–APPEAL.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 27, 2012.

Mark E. Liberati, Esq., Providence, for plaintiffs.

Kelly M. Fracassa, Esq., Westerly, for defendant.

Present: SUTTELL, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, ROBINSON, and INDEGLIA, JJ.

OPINION

Justice INDEGLIA, for the Court.

Before this Court is a dispute over the existence of an alleged prescriptive easement that is necessary for large commercial vehicles to get to the loading dock of a commercial building. The plaintiffs, Butterfly Realty and Dairyland, Inc., appeal from a judgment entered against them on their claims for a prescriptive easement on the property of the defendant, James Romanella & Sons, Inc. (JR & Sons or defendant). This case came before the Supreme Court on March 7, 2012, pursuant to an order directing the parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not be summarily decided. After hearing the arguments of counsel and reviewing the memoranda submitted on behalf of the parties, we are satisfied that cause has not been shown. Accordingly, we shall decide the appeal at this time without further briefing or argument. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we vacate the judgment of the Superior Court.

IFacts and Travel

The controversy involves three parcels of commercial real estate located in the Town of Westerly where East Avenue merges into Granite Street and further identified as lot Nos. 330, 331, and 332 on assessor's plat No. 77. See Appendix. Lot No. 330, the most southerly of the three lots, has frontage on East Avenue and is owned by JR & Sons. Situated upon the northern portion of lot No. 330 is a one-story metal commercial building containing a laundromat. Lot No. 331, owned by Dairyland, Inc. is located immediately north of lot No. 330 and has frontage on Granite Street. Lot No. 332, located immediately north of lot No. 331, is owned by Butterfly Realty. A single one-story commercial building straddles lot Nos. 331 and 332 and it occupies most of both lots. The building itself is owned by Butterfly Realty, and a small portion of it encroaches upon JR & Sons's adjacent lot.

On August 8, 1985, Butterfly Realty purchased the northernmost parcel, lot No. 332, from Albert Romanella, who, at the time, was president and 50 percent shareholder of JR & Sons. On that same date, Albert Romanella also assigned to Butterfly Realty his lease for the adjacent lot No. 331. Dairyland, Inc. was the owner of lot No. 331 at that time, and remains so today.¹

Access to the loading dock at the rear of Butterfly's building is impossible without traversing onto JR & Sons's property to some degree because the commercial building was built so close to the common property line between lot Nos. 331 and 330. See Appendix. Therefore, on August 16, 1985, JR & Sons granted an express easement to Butterfly to provide access to the loading dock of Butterfly's commercial building. (The boundary of this express easement is shown by a broken line on the Appendix). The loading dock, located in the southwest portion of the building, faces south towards JR & Sons's property. The recorded easement provides for a passageway alongside the southern edge of the Butterfly building that ranges in width from approximately fifteen feet (on the easterly end) to twenty feet (on the westerly end). The easement area then flares out to eventually become approximately forty-six feet in width. The easement, recorded in the Town of Westerly's land evidence records, explicitly permits:

“the continuance and maintenance of the building encroachment * * * and to permit ingress and egress to and from the loading dock at the southwest corner of [Butterfly's] building on said [l]ots 331 and 332 by vehicles and, on foot, but not semi-trailers, for loading and unloading equipment and merchandise for [Butterfly's] place of business and for no other purpose.”

From 1985 through 1989, Shawn and Rita Martin operated a liquor store in the Butterfly building. Mr. Martin is an owner of Butterfly. During that time, various trucks made deliveries to the building's loading dock. Most of the deliveries were brought directly to the loading dock after crossing JR & Sons's property. After the liquor store vacated in 1989, other businesses leased the Butterfly building.

From 1991 through 2006,² AutoZone leased a portion of the Butterfly building and received deliveries by tractor trailers traversing JR & Sons's lot to reach the loading dock. From 1993 to 2010, a second tenant, Auto Audio, also occupied the Butterfly building. Its deliveries were made by “UPS trucks” that would likewise cross through JR & Sons's lot as they made their way to the loading dock. AutoZone and Auto Audio also shared the same trash-removal service, the trucks of which would remove trash every other week after reaching the loading dock by crossing JR & Sons's lot.

After a delivery truck struck a building on JR & Sons's property, JR & Sons surveyed the area in May 2010 to determine the precise location of the express easement. Then, in an effort to encourage Butterfly to “come to some kind of agreement for * * * using all of [its] property all the time,” JR & Sons installed “concrete pylons” along the southwestern borders of the express easement—making it nearly impossible for trucks to continue to pull directly up to the loading dock, as had been done previously.

In response, on June 14, 2010, Butterfly sought a preliminary injunction to prohibit JR & Sons from interfering with its use of the disputed area to gain access to its loading dock. Butterfly's complaint also sought a declaratory judgment to quiet title to the disputed area and included a claim that it held a prescriptive easement over a portion of JR & Sons's property. With its answer, JR & Sons filed a counterclaim requesting a permanent injunction to prevent Butterfly from trespassing on its property. On December 8, 2010, a trial commenced in Washington County Superior Court. Over the course of the two-day bench trial, both Butterfly and JR & Sons presented witnesses who testified about the specific routes that various vehicles took to access the loading dock and about the frequency of such use. Trial testimony revealed the following facts.

Commercial vehicles would generally take one of two routes to get to the loading dock because of their size and the configuration of the Butterfly building and the laundromat. See Appendix. The parties referred to these two routes at trial and on appeal as the “brown route” and the “green route.” A vehicle taking the “brown route” would get to the loading dock by entering directly onto lot No. 330 from East Avenue, then proceed west between the two buildings, pull around to the west side of the laundromat, and then back up to Butterfly's loading dock. The “green route” would bring a vehicle directly onto lot No. 331 from Granite Street, where the vehicle would cross over several painted parking spaces ³ before entering lot No. 330, ultimately merging with the “brown route” between the Butterfly building and the laundromat. The vehicle would then follow the “brown route” by pulling around the laundromat and backing up to the loading dock.

Testimony at trial indicated that, from 1985 to 1989, the liquor store received deliveries at Butterfly's loading dock approximately twelve times a week, with trucks using both routes relatively equally. From 1991 to 2006, tractor trailers would make deliveries to AutoZone approximately once a week, again using both routes evenly. From 1993 to 2010, “UPS trucks” made deliveries to Auto Audio via the loading dock twice a day. The “UPS” deliveries were apportioned relatively evenly between the “green route” and the “brown route.”

The trial also produced testimony that from 1986 through 2006, for approximately one month each year, JR & Sons's tenant sold Christmas trees inside a fenced-off area on the pavement immediately north of the laundromat. This area occupied at least six parking spaces next to the laundromat and extended beyond the parking spaces approximately ten feet. The exact perimeter of the tree-sale area varied in size each year.

The trial justice issued a written decision on March 18, 2011, denying Butterfly's claim for a prescriptive easement ⁴ and denying both Butterfly and JR & Sons's requests for injunctive relief. Final judgment was entered on March 23, 2011.

IIStandard of Review

“This Court gives great weight to the factual findings of a trial justice sitting without a jury in a civil matter, and we will not disturb such findings unless they are ‘clearly erroneous or unless the trial justice misconceived or overlooked material evidence or unless the decision fails to do substantial justice between the parties.’ ” Cahill v. Morrow, 11 A.3d 82, 86 (R.I.2011) (quoting Costa v. Silva, 996 A.2d 607, 611 (R.I.2010)). “However, ‘[i]n contrast to our deferential stance vis-[a]-vis factual findings made by a trial justice, we review in a de novo manner a trial justice's rulings concerning questions of law.’ ” Id. (quoting Costa, 996 A.2d at 611).

IIIDiscussion

One who claims an easement by prescription bears the burden of establishing “actual, open, notorious, hostile, and continuous use under a claim of right for at least ten years.” Hilley v. Lawrence, 972 A.2d 643, 651–52 (R.I.2009) (quoting Nardone v. Ritacco, 936 A.2d 200, 205 (R.I.2007)). Each element must be proved by the claimant “by clear and satisfactory evidence.” Id. at 652 (citing Nardone, 936 A.2d at 205).

AHostility

After correctly reciting the elements of a prescriptive easement noted above, the trial justice, in his decision, examined Butterfly's claim for an easement by prescription. The trial justice's decision did not mention whether Butterfly met its burden of establishing actual, open or notorious use of JR & Sons's property. As to the continuous-use requirement, the trial justice only touched upon...