Scott v. City of Newport, 2004 VT 64 (VT 7/29/2004), 2002-457.

• Decision Date: 29 July 2004
• Docket Number: No. 2002-457.,2002-457.
• Citation: 2004 VT 64
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court
• Parties: Richard and Daniel Scott and Bluffside Farms, Inc. v. City of Newport

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2004 VT 64

Richard and Daniel Scott and Bluffside Farms, Inc. v. City of Newport

No. 2002-457.

Supreme Court of Vermont

July 29, 2004

APPEALED FROM: Orleans Superior Court, DOCKET NO. 158-6-99 OsCv, Trial Judge: Dennis R. Pearson.

ENTRY ORDER

In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

¶ 1. Plaintiffs Richard Scott, Daniel Scott, and Bluffside Farms, Inc. (collectively, the Scotts) filed this action against defendant City of Newport, seeking a declaration that they are the owners of a 31-foot strip of land in the City, the traveled portion of which is known as Bigelow's Bluff Road. The court granted summary judgment in favor of the City, ruling that the ownership issue had been conclusively determined against the Scotts in an earlier adjudication in which plaintiffs had challenged a site plan application by their neighbors the Carriers, the trial court had ruled that Bigelow's Bluff Road was a public street, and this Court had affirmed. See In re Carrier, 155 Vt. 152, 157, 582 A.2d 110, 113 (1990). The Scotts contend the court erred in applying the doctrine of collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion. We affirm.

¶ 2. The facts of the Scott's and Carrier's procedurally complicated four-year litigation are provided in detail in Carrier, 155 Vt. at 154-56, 582 A.2d at 111-12. We present here only a summary of events related to the road. After purchasing a 10.5-acre parcel in the City, the Carriers applied for site-plan approval of a planned nine-lot residential subdivision. Plaintiffs here (Bluffside Farms, Inc., and its owners the Scotts) opposed the application, and later appealed the planning commission's partial approval of the project to superior court. See 24 V.S.A. §§ 4464, 4471 (giving "interested persons" party status to appeal decision of board of adjustment to superior court) (1993).¹ A central issue throughout the litigation was whether Bigelow Bluff Road was a public road and, if so, whether it and the development's interior roads could provide safe vehicular access and circulation into and throughout the subdivision as required by pertinent statutes and town bylaws. See id. § 4406(2) (prohibiting land development on lots without either frontage on a public road or waters, or permanent access by an easement of at least twenty feet in width); Newport City Zoning Regulation § 502 (same) (1987); id. § 352 (requiring "maximum safety of vehicular circulation between the site and the street network").

¶ 3. Throughout the earlier litigation — which involved two planning commission decisions, two appeals to superior court (including two trials and a partial re-trial), and the appeal to this Court — the Scotts argued, as they do now, that they owned Bigelow Bluff Road by virtue of a 1985 quitclaim deed from Rudolf Bigelow. Therefore, the Scotts contended that the Carrier's development was prohibited under 24 V.S.A. § 4406(2) and City zoning regulations. During the first appeal to superior court, the Carriers crossclaimed against the City, contending that the City had acquired title to the road by dedication and acceptance prior to 1985, and counterclaimed against the Scotts, asserting that the 1985 quitclaim deed was fraudulent and without consideration. The Orleans Superior Court, after a de novo hearing, concluded that Bigelow Bluff Road was dedicated to and accepted by the City prior to 1985, and was therefore public. The court thus determined that it was unnecessary to reach the Carrier's counterclaim against the Scotts. Regardless of the road's status, because it was too narrow to meet City safety requirements, and for other reasons, the court denied the site plan application and dismissed all claims with prejudice.

¶ 4. After the City denied Carrier's revised site plan application, the Carriers again appealed to superior court. The Scotts moved to dismiss the appeal, claiming among other things, res judicata regarding the ownership and safety status of Bigelow Bluff Road. The court rejected the Scott's motion. After a plenary three-day trial on all site plan issues, the court again concluded that the 31-foot strip of property known as Bigelow Bluff Road had been a public road since long before 1985. In amended findings issued a few months later, the court specifically found that an earlier Bigelow, Charles F. Bigelow, dedicated the road to the City of Newport in the early 1900s, and that the City accepted it by providing continual maintenance since 1949. Nonetheless, the court found that the road's existing twelve to seventeen foot width was insufficient to meet City traffic safety requirements and thus denied the site plan application. After a partial re-trial regarding planned reconstruction of the road, the court finally permitted the Carrier's development.

¶ 5. The Scott's then appealed to this Court arguing, inter alia, that the court lacked jurisdiction to determine the status of Bigelow's Bluff Road as a public street, and that necessary parties were absent. We rejected these claims, concluding that the road's status as a public highway was a "threshold requirement for obtaining site plan approval" under the zoning regulation and state law, and that it was "perfectly proper" for the court to address the issue. See Carrier, 155 Vt. at 162, 582 A.2d at 116. We also found that "all parties necessary for the court's declaration concerning the road were present." Id.

¶ 6. Almost ten years later, the Scotts commenced this declaratory relief action against the City, seeking a determination that they held title to the identical 31-foot strip of land that included Bigelow's Bluff Road. The City moved for summary judgment, asserting that the issue had been conclusively adjudicated against plaintiffs in the Carrier action. The Scotts filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. The court ruled in favor of the City and against the Scotts, concluding that the Scotts were precluded under the doctrine of collateral estoppel from relitigating the status of the road. Accordingly, the court entered judgment in favor of the City. This appeal followed.

¶ 7. In their brief, the Scotts state nine separate "arguments" on appeal (labeled "A" through "I"), sixteen "issues" for review, and seven "claims of error." Many of the assertions overlap or represent the same argument differently stated. As consolidated, the Scotts claims are that the trial court erred in applying the doctrine of collateral estoppel because: (1) neither they or the City were "parties" to the earlier judgment; (2) the prior decision was not a personal judgment binding against them; (3) it was not a final judgment because the site-plan approval eventually expired; (4) the two cases did not involve the same issue; (4) they were not given a full and fair opportunity to litigate ownership of the road in the earlier action; and (6) issue preclusion is inapplicable and unfair since they were unaware that participating in the zoning decision could affect their personal claim to title.

¶ 8. "Collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, bars the subsequent relitigation of an issue that was actually litigated and decided in a prior case where that issue was necessary to the resolution of the dispute." Alpine Haven Prop. Owners Ass'n v. Deptula, 2003 VT 51, ¶ 13, 830 A.2d 78; see also Mellin v. Flood Brook Union Sch. Dist., 173 Vt. 202, 209-10, 790 A.2d 408, 416 (2001) ("'When an issue of fact . . . is actually litigated and determined by a valid and final judgment, and the determination is essential to the judgment, the determination is conclusive in a subsequent action between the parties, whether on the same or a different claim.'") (citing Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 27 (1982)). Whether issue preclusion applies to a given set of facts is a question of law, which we review de novo. In re Cent. Vt. Pub. Serv. Corp., 172 Vt. 14, 19, 769 A.2d 668, 673(2001). Application of the doctrine requires that:

(1) preclusion is asserted against one who was a party or in privity with a party in the earlier action; (2) the issue was resolved by a final judgment on the merits; (3) the issue is the same as the one raised in the later action; (4) there was a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the earlier action; and (5) applying preclusion in the later action is fair.

Bull v. Pinkham Eng'g Assocs., 170 Vt. 450, 461, 752 A.2d 26, 35 (2000) (quoting Trepanier v. Getting Organized, Inc., 155 Vt. 259, 265, 583 A.2d 583, 587 (1990)). We conclude that the trial court here correctly determined that all of the requirements were satisfied.

¶ 9. Regarding the first element, party status, the Scotts assert that issue preclusion is inappropriate because the City was not a party to the earlier proceeding. As we have abandoned the doctrine of mutuality, however, the City's status as a party in the earlier proceeding was not necessarily required to bind the Scotts in a subsequent litigation against the City. Alpine Haven, 2003 VT 51, at ¶ 14 (first element of issue preclusion applies to party to be bound by earlier litigation, not party asserting issue preclusion); Trepanier, 155 Vt. at 264-65, 583 A.2d at 587 (abandoning doctrine of mutuality). Moreover, although not initially a party, the City was brought into the Carrier case by the trial court, and we concluded on appeal that "all parties necessary for the court's declaration concerning the road were present." Carrier, 155 Vt. at 162, 582 A.2d at 116.

¶ 10. Additionally, the Scotts argue that their status as "interested persons" in challenging the site-plan application, see 24 V.S.A. § 4464 ("interested person" may appeal zoning decisions), is different from that of being a "party" for purposes of issue preclusion. We discern no meaningful difference. Plaintiffs participated in the litigation, had full appeal rights, and actively contested the ownership issue, asserting title to the property in question and opposing the Carriers' claim that the land had been dedicated to, and...