Rohner v. Niemann

Decision Date06 October 1977
PartiesRobert C. ROHNER and Vera M. Rohner, his wife, t/a Mason & Dixon Motel, Defendants below, Appellants, v. Edward NIEMANN, Jr. and Barbara F. Niemann, his wife, Plaintiffs below, Appellees.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Delaware

Upon appeal from Superior Court. Affirmed.

Melvyn I. Monzack of Walsh, Monzack & Owens, Wilmington, for defendants below, appellants.

James M. Tunnell, Jr. and James F. Waehler of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, Wilmington, for plaintiffs below, appellees.

Before HERRMANN, C. J., and DUFFY and McNEILLY, JJ.

McNEILLY, Justice (for the majority).

In this ejectment action defendants appeal from a Superior Court order granting judgment in favor of plaintiffs. Defendants also have moved to remand the case to the Superior Court for the taking of additional evidence discovered after the appeal was filed. There are three issues presented in this appeal, the first being the question of the proper interpretation of a 1941 deed found in plaintiffs' chain of title which delineates the property lines of the parties to this suit. The second issue is the correct measure of damages suffered by plaintiffs as a result of defendants' alleged trespass. Finally is the issue, raised by defendants' motion, of whether or not this case should be remanded for the taking of additional evidence. For the reasons stated herein, we deny the motion for remand and affirm.

I

Plaintiffs and defendants are record owners of adjacent tracts of land in Fenwick Island, Delaware, located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Delaware routes 14 and 58. Defendants operate a business establishment, known as the Mason and Dixon Motel, on part of their property. In connection with the operation of their motel defendants constructed certain improvements, including a chain link fence, a concrete sidewalk, and a loose stone parking area, on what they contend is part of their land. Plaintiffs claim that these improvements encroach upon their property, and constitute a trespass thereon. Plaintiffs instituted this suit in ejectment to force removal of the improvements, and to recover damages for the alleged trespass. Defendants admitted a minimal trespass, but claimed that they hold fee title to the major portion of the land upon which the improvements were made.

Of critical import to this case and plaintiffs' cause is a 1941 deed from N. Walter Suplee and his wife to L. P. Faucett, Inc. and Fred Worth, plaintiffs' predecessors in title. This deed is the document which initially defined and described the extent of the Faucett group's grant, and then necessarily plaintiffs' grant. The deed contained the following description of the subject property:

"All that certain lot, piece or parcel of land situate, lying and being at 'Fenwick Island' aforesaid at the Southwestern intersection of the State Highway leading from Bethany Beach to the Maryland Line and the State Highway leading from Selbyville to Fenwick Island, more particularly described as follows: Beginning at the Southwesterly intersection of the aforesaid two roads and running Southerly with the Westerly boundary line at the first mentioned road to its intersection with Delaware-Maryland State line ; thence with said State line westerly 100 feet; thence Northerly and parallel to the first mentioned line such distance as will reach the Southerly right of way line of the State Highway leading from Selbyville to Fenwick Island; thence with said Southerly right of way line in an Easterly direction 100 feet to the place of beginning, be the contents thereof what they may." 1 (emphasis supplied)

The basic problem in interpreting this deed is the construction to be placed upon the words ". . . westerly boundary line . . ." of Delaware route 14.

The facts surrounding the 1941 deed aid us in the interpretation thereof, and shall be set forth in some detail. We take judicial notice of the fact that in 1931, then Resident Judge of Sussex County, the Honorable Charles S. Richards, approved the original road leading from the southerly edge of Bethany Beach to the Delaware-Maryland line in accordance with Chapter 55 of the 1935 Revised Code of Delaware. The road was 40 feet in width when it was first constructed. On March 9, 1938, L. P. Faucett, Inc., and Fred Worth recorded a plot in the Office for the Recording of Deeds of Sussex County which depicted route 14 as being 60 feet in width as it passes along the easterly boundary of plaintiffs' property. On September 30, 1938, L. P. Faucett, Inc., and Fred Worth granted an option contract for consideration of one dollar to the State Highway Department, giving the Department the right to purchase for one dollar land sufficient to construct thereon, as a state highway, the road shown on the plan designated as contract number 550. 2 Contract number 550, dated July 30, 1936, was a plan for widening Delaware route 14, and showed the width of route 14 as it passes plaintiffs' property to be 100 feet. Although by its terms the option contract expired one year from date, and the State Highway Department never exercised its option to purchase the land in question, plots recorded in the Department's files and dated both prior and subsequent to the 1941 deed indicate that the State assumed it held a 100 foot right of way along plaintiffs' eastern boundary. The consideration for the option and the purchase price stated therein were nominal, and as expressed in the contract itself, the real benefit flowing to the Faucett group was the construction of an improved roadway by their property.

In the period from 1938 to 1941 there developed a controversy between N. Walter Suplee and L. P. Faucett, Inc., each party claiming the same tracts of land. The dispute was settled by an exchange of deeds wherein Suplee gave Faucett the 1941 deed in question, and, in return, Faucett quitclaimed to Suplee all lands west of the land contained in the 1941 grant. Faucett received a lot having a depth of 100 feet westerly from the "western boundary" of route 14 and Suplee received the land to the west of Faucett's lot, being the same land now owned by defendants and the subject of this litigation.

Plaintiffs contend that the phrase ". . . westerly boundary line . . ." of route 14 refers to the western end of the right of way of route 14, as described in the option granted by the Faucett group to the State, and in certain contracts of the State Highway Department. Defendants interpret the clause as referring not to the right of way, but to the actual physical end of the road as it existed in 1941. 3 Since it appears the road was only 40 feet in width in 1941, the right of way would have extended 30 feet further to the west than the physical end of the road. (And the right of way would have extended 30 feet further east than the road bed giving the right of way a total width of 100 feet). Thus, under plaintiffs' interpretation, the beginning of their westerly extension is pushed 30 feet further west and their grant would include the land which defendants improved. In contrast, defendants' interpretation shifts plaintiffs' lot 30 feet eastward putting the improvements almost entirely within the boundaries of their grant, any trespass being minimal.

The Trial Court concluded that plaintiffs' interpretation of the deed was correct, and, therefore, defendants had trespassed to the greater extent. The Court also accepted plaintiffs' evidence concerning the temporal extent of the trespass, and the fair rental value of the property upon which the trespass occurred. Accordingly the Court rendered a money judgment in plaintiffs' favor in the amount of $10,636.44.

II

Defendants' first argument is that the Trial Court erred in its construction of the language of the 1941 deed in that applicable legal principles were ignored by the Court when it made its interpretation. We find no error in the Trial Court's interpretation of the deed.

The construction of a deed is a question of law upon which the court must rule. Belcher v. Elliott, 6 Cir., 312 F.2d 245 (1966); Cragin v. Woollett, 104 N.H. 202, 182 A.2d 457 (1962). The deed interpretation being a legal question, this Court must review the Trial Court's decision for errors of law. duPont v. duPont, Del.Supr., 9 Storey 206, 216 A.2d 674 (1966). The scope and extent of a grant contained in a deed depends upon the meaning of the language of the deed, and where that language contains ambiguities the deed must be read in the light of the intent of the parties as determined by the facts and circumstances surrounding the transaction. Maciey v. Woods, Del.Supr., 38 Del.Ch. 528, 154 A.2d 901 (1959); Richard Paul, Inc. v. Union Improvement Co., Del.Supr., 33 Del.Ch. 113, 91 A.2d 49 (1952). Where uncertainties appear in the grant, they must be resolved in favor of the grantee as long as such a construction does not violate any apparent intention of the parties to the transaction. Maciey v. Woods, supra.

Applying these rules of construction to the Suplee to Faucett deed, we too agree with the plaintiffs' contention that the parties intended the grant to extend westerly from the western end of the proposed 100 foot right of way of route 14. Both the Faucett group and the State Highway Department considered the land necessary for the improvement of route 14 to have been dedicated to public use, even though no actual conveyance of that property had been made. 4 The Faucett group apparently regarded the option contract as an actual conveyance, and confirmed their belief that the State held a 100 foot right of way by recording various plots which described it including an undated plot filed with the Recorder of Deeds office on September 20, 1949. In addition, it was to the Faucett group's advantage to have the roadway improved and widened, as evidenced by the express language of the option, and the nominal price stated therein. It is unreasonable to assume, we think,...

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