Robidoux v. Pelletier

• Decision Date: 10 July 1978
• Docket Number: No. 76-332A,76-332A
• Citation: 391 A.2d 1150,120 R.I. 425
• Parties: Philippe ROBIDOUX and Hermance Robidoux v. Alfred PELLETIER and Loretta Pelletier.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 1150

391 A.2d 1150

120 R.I. 425

Philippe ROBIDOUX and Hermance Robidoux v. Alfred PELLETIER and Loretta Pelletier.

No. 76-332A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 10, 1978.

[120 R.I. 440] Orlando A. Andreoni by Michael M. McCarthy, Providence, for plaintiffs.

Laurent C. Bilodeau, Woonsocket, for defendants.

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

In this civil action the plaintiffs (the Robidouxes) seek injunctive relief and damages because the defendants (the Pelletiers) have obstructed a paved strip of land that leads to the Robidouxes' waterfront home. A nonjury trial was held before a justice of the Superior Court. The trial justice ruled against the Robidouxes, and they have appealed.

In dispute is the Robidouxes' right to travel across the Pelletiers' property over a paved area known as Hey Road. The Robidouxes and Pelletiers own adjoining parcels which are situated in Burrillville along the southeasterly shore of Spring Lake. Spring Lake is a freshwater lake located in a pastoral setting in the northern part of the state. Dotting its shore are summer cottages to which scores of eager vacationers flock to enjoy Spring Lake's refreshing waters as well as to participate in a variety of summertime recreational activities.

This dispute had its genesis in March 1967, when a plat of "cottage lots" was recorded by Spring Lake Beach, Inc., at the office of Burrillville's town

clerk. The plat is further identified as "Section 7 Spring Lake Beach Inc. Burrillville, R.I. Scale 1 = 40' February 1967 A Replat Of Cottage Lots A Portion Of Survey Of Arnold Seagrave, C.E. Dated January, 1938 At Spring Lake, Glendale Town of Burrillville, R.I."

The recorded plat portrays several streets running in and around a large tract of land that has been divided into 30 numbered lots. The main thoroughfare, Black Hut Road, which runs east to west, bisects the entire tract so that about 10 lots lie to the south of the road and the remaining lots to its north. Most of the lots to the north of Black Hut Road have the roadway as their southern border and the shore of Spring Lake as their northern boundary.

The plat shows an unnumbered lot north of the road. This particular parcel is identified as "Land Now or Formerly Walsh." The lot is the only waterfront parcel that does not have Black Hut Road as its southern boundary. The lot is bounded on three sides by numbered lots and on the fourth by Spring Lake. Abutting the Walsh property to the east and west, respectively, are lots numbered 208 and 209; to the north is Spring Lake; and to the south, separating the Walsh lot from Black Hut Road, is lot 208A. At the time Section 7 was recorded, the Walsh lot was owned by Raymond F. Walsh and his wife, Lila. Sometime prior to 1967 the Walsh lot, so called, had been owned jointly by Henry Lapan and his wife, Eva. Henry predeceased Eva, and after she died, her will was probated. In her will Eva gave the Spring Lake property to Mr. Walsh.

In 1967 the plat depicted the Walsh lot and its neighbors in the following fashion:

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

As can be seen, lot 208A contains an area set apart by broken lines denominated as Hey Road, which begins at the northerly edge of Black Hut Road and runs some distance to the southerly boundary of the Walsh property. The westerly side of Hey Road, as it appears on the plat, seems to be about 7 to 15 feet east of the easterly line of lot 209. At the Superior Court trial during December 1975, Mr. Pelletier testified that the macadamized strip on 208A measured about 20 feet in width and ran to within 8 feet of the Robidouxes' house. Mr. Pelletier said that the roadway had been installed a "long time before Lapan owned it." One of the owners of lot 209 reported that she had used the roadway to gain access to her property throughout the 27 years she and her husband had owned the lot. Up to June 1974, the area designated as Hey Road served as the only means of access to the Walsh lot.

After filing Section 7, Spring Lake Beach, Inc., proceeded to sell its numbered parcels. In each of its conveyances Spring Lake Beach, Inc., included a reference to the plat. Each deed also contained certain covenants, conditions, and restrictions regarding the buyer's use of his lot and several clauses granting the buyer various rights, including access to the lake and fishing, swimming, and boating privileges. One of the enumerated rights conferred upon each buyer was:

"The right to pass and repass (in common with this Grantor, its successors and assigns) over and upon any street, or road, as shown on any plat recorded by this Grantor in Records of Land Evidence in said Town of Burrillville."

Every deed also provided that should the buyer subsequently sell the lot, he would include within the deed to his purchaser all the covenants, conditions, and restrictions that Spring Lake Beach, Inc., had imposed upon the property. Finally, the corporation declared that all the restrictions and rights mentioned in the deed would inure to the benefit of, and bind, not only the immediate parties but "also their respective heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns, whether or not included in any subsequent deeds of conveyance."

In September 1971, Spring Lake Beach, Inc., conveyed lot 208 to the Pelletiers by a deed which referred to the recorded plat and contained all of the standard deed terms to which we have alluded. The Pelletiers were no newcomers to the area. They had occupied the cottage on lot 208 during the previous 20 summers.

In June 1974, Raymond F. Walsh and his wife, Lila, by quit-claim deed conveyed title to their lot to Spring Lake Beach, Inc., and the corporation immediately reconveyed the parcel to the Walshes. In both deeds the parcel is described as being "lot number 9 on the south shore line to the road, along Spring Lake, so-called, on unrecorded Plat of Arnold Seagrave 1938 * * *." The deed to the Walshes also included all the covenants, conditions, restrictions, and rights that can be found in all of the corporation's conveyances of lots located on its Section 7 plat, including the right "to pass and repass * * * over and upon any street, or road, as shown on any plat recorded by this Grantor in Records of Land Evidence in said Town of Burrillville." In addition, Spring Lake Beach, Inc., expressly granted to the Walshes a 10-foot-wide right-of-way which is located at the extreme westerly portion of lot 208A. The right-of-way begins on the northerly side of Black Hut Road and runs the entire length of lot 208A to the Walsh property with its westerly boundary being the lot line that separates lot 208A from lot 209.

Three months later, in mid-September 1974, the Robidouxes purchased the Walsh lot. The deed referred to the 10-foot right-of-way but did not mention the restrictions and rights found in the Spring Lake Beach, Inc., deed to the Walshes.

Thereafter, in late September 1974, a "corrective quit-claim deed" from Spring Lake Beach, Inc., to the Walshes was recorded with the town clerk. In the original conveyance, the Walsh lot had been incorrectly described as being located on the "southwesterly" side of Black Hut Road. The corrective deed rectified this error and properly placed the lot to the north of this roadway.

In mid-December 1974, Spring Lake Beach, Inc., sold lot 208A to the Pelletiers. The deed referred to the recorded plat, stated that the conveyance was subject to the 10-foot right-of-way, and included the standard clauses regarding restrictions and lot owners' rights. Later, in the spring of 1975, the Pelletiers built a fence across the northern boundary of lot 208A. The fence runs in a westerly direction up to the Robidouxes' right-of-way and then continues southerly along the easterly line of the right-of-way to a termination point alongside Black Hut Road. The fence effectively bars any motor vehicles from traveling along Hey Road. A photograph of the Pelletiers' fence indicates that there is an overlap between the paved strip and the right-of-way.

Subsequently, on August 1, 1975, two events took place. The Robidouxes commenced this suit, and a second "corrective deed" was filed with Burrillville's town clerk. The grantors were the Walshes, and the grantees were the Robidouxes. The sole purpose of the August 1 deed was to specifically set forth all the covenants, conditions, restrictions, and rights that can be found in the June 1974 deed from Spring Lake Beach, Inc., to the Walshes.

In the Superior Court the Robidouxes rested their claim to the continued use of Hey Road on three grounds: (1) an easement by way of prescription; (2) dedication to a public use; and (3) rights granted them by deed. The trial justice was of the opinion that the Robidouxes could not prevail on any one of these theories and consequently entered judgment for the Pelletiers. As far as the Robidouxes' ingress to and egress from their property was concerned, the trial justice found that the 1974 grant of the 10-foot right-of-way amply served the needs of the Walshes and their successors.

The Robidouxes challenge the trial justice's rulings on two grounds. They claim, in the first instance, that he erred in not finding that Hey Road was dedicated to the public use. Secondly, they maintain that he was incorrect when he stated that they had no private easement over Hey Road by reason of the filing of the plat and the representations made in the various deeds. ¹

Turning first to the issue of dedication to public use, we can find no reason to fault the trial justice's decision on this facet of the controversy. Dedication of private property to the public is, of course, an exceptional and unusual method by which a landowner passes to another an interest in his property. Volpe v. Marina Parks, Inc., 101 R.I. 80, 220 A.2d 525 (1966). In order for there to be an effective dedication, two elements must exist: (1) a manifest intent by the landowner to...