Seven Lakes Development Co. v. Maxson

• Citation: 2006 WY 136,144 P.3d 1239
• Decision Date: 27 October 2006
• Docket Number: No. 06-6.,06-6.
• Parties: SEVEN LAKES DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.L.C.; and David W. Kuhn, Appellants (Defendants), v. John MAXSON and Marilyn Maxson, husband and wife, Appellees (Plaintiffs).
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming

144 P.3d 1239

2006 WY 136

SEVEN LAKES DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.L.C.; and David W. Kuhn, Appellants (Defendants), v. John MAXSON and Marilyn Maxson, husband and wife, Appellees (Plaintiffs).

No. 06-6.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

October 27, 2006.

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Representing Appellants: William L. Hiser, Kelly Neville Heck, and Lindsay Hoyt of Brown & Hiser LLC, Laramie, Wyoming. Argument by Mr. Hiser.

Representing Appellees: M. Gregory Weisz and Devon O'Connell Coleman of Pence and MacMillan LLC, Laramie, Wyoming. Argument by Mr. Weisz.

Before VOIGT, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL^*, and BURKE, JJ, and YOUNG, D.J.

VOIGT, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1] Appellants Seven Lakes Development Company, L.L.C. and David Kuhn ("the Appellants") appeal the district court's determination that Appellees John and Marilyn Maxson ("the Maxsons") hold a profit a prendre (profit) to hunt and fish on the Appellants' land and that such profit: (1) has not been abandoned; (2) has not been extinguished through adverse possession; (3) allows the use of motorized vehicles; and (4) allows access to adjacent federal lands. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] 1. Did the district court properly determine on summary judgment that the Maxsons held a profit in the Appellants' land?

2. Did the district court err when it found that the profit had not been abandoned by the Maxsons or their predecessors in interest?

3. Did the district court err when it found that the profit had not been extinguished through adverse possession?

4. Did the district court err when it found that the profit allows the use of motorized vehicles by the Maxsons while exercising their rights under the profit?

5. Did the district court err in its findings regarding the Maxsons' right to enter adjacent public lands from the Appellants' property while exercising their rights under the profit?

FACTS

[¶ 3] At the outset, we will generally describe the facts relevant to this appeal, but will discuss other facts relevant to each issue in the discussion of those issues. On April 4, 1955, Clarence McKinley ("McKinley") received a patent granting him title to 480 acres of land in Carbon County, Wyoming. The land is legally described as "N½N½, SW¼ NW¼, N½SW¼, SW¼SW¼" of section 22 and "W½W½" of section 27 in Township 18 North, Range 78 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, Wyoming. McKinley also owned an additional piece of land in section 22 that is now held by Seven Lakes.

[¶ 4] McKinley apparently intended to subdivide the land in sections 22 and 27 and form a small community he called "Woodedge." He created twenty-four 10-acre plots that were to be sold with the intent that the buyers would erect cabins thereon. McKinley intended to build certain improvements on the land he retained, including a road, a toboggan run, and a lodge; however, such improvements were never completed. Two of the parcels that McKinley conveyed in this manner are now owned by the Maxsons. As we will more closely examine in our discussion, infra, the deeds from McKinley to the Maxsons' predecessors contained language indicating that the original grantees were also granted a "privilege" to hunt and fish on the lands owned by McKinley. A large portion of the land in the Woodedge area that was subject to the "privilege" is now owned, through various conveyances, by the Appellants. Seven Lakes owns the land at issue in section 22 and David Kuhn owns the land in section 27.

[¶ 5] The instant appeal arose from an action filed by the Maxsons against the Appellants and Clear Creek Cattle Company.¹ The Maxsons sought a declaratory judgment on the legal status of their interest in the lands originally retained by McKinley and now owned by the Appellants. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court determined that the "privileges" to hunt and fish held by the Maxsons constituted a covenant running with the land, namely, a profit.

[¶ 6] The district court later held a bench trial to determine the scope of the profit and whether the profit had been extinguished in the time between the grant from McKinley in the 1950s and the filing of the present action. After the trial, the district court concluded, among other determinations, that the profit had not been abandoned by the Maxsons' predecessors in interest, had not been adversely possessed by the Kuhn family, allowed motorized vehicles to be used in the enjoyment of the profit by the dominant estate owners, and did not allow a general access easement across the Appellants' lands to adjacent public lands. The district court also determined, however, that the Maxsons could not be prevented from crossing into public lands during their proper use of the profit. The instant appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 7] Our standard of review for summary judgments is well known:

Summary judgment is appropriate when no genuine issue as to any material fact exists and the prevailing party is entitled to have a judgment as a matter of law. Eklund v. PRI Environmental, Inc., 2001 WY 55, ¶ 10, 25 P.3d 511, ¶ 10 (Wyo. 2001); see also W.R.C.P. 56(c). A genuine issue of material fact exists when a disputed fact, if it were proven, would have the effect of establishing or refuting an essential element of the cause of action or defense that has been asserted by the parties. Williams Gas Processing-Wamsutter Co. v. Union Pacific Resources Co., 2001 WY 57, ¶ 11, 25 P.3d 1064, ¶ 11 (Wyo.2001). We examine the record from the vantage point most favorable to the party who opposed the motion, and we give that party the benefit of all favorable inferences that may fairly be drawn from the record. Id. We evaluate the propriety of a summary judgment by employing the same standards and by using the same materials as were employed and used by the lower court. Scherer Constr., LLC v. Hedquist Constr., Inc., 2001 WY 23, ¶ 15, 18 P.3d 645, ¶ 15 (Wyo.2001). We do not accord any deference to the district court's decisions on issues of law. Id.

Trabing v. Kinko's, Inc., 2002 WY 171, ¶ 8, 57 P.3d 1248, 1252 (Wyo.2002).

[¶ 8] When reviewing findings of fact and conclusions of law after a bench trial, we apply the following standard of review:

"The factual findings of a judge are subject to a broader scope of review than a jury verdict, and the appellate court may examine all of the properly admissible evidence in the record." R.C.R., Inc. v. Rainbow Canyon, Inc., 978 P.2d 581, 586 (Wyo. 1999) (citing Hopper v. All Pet Animal Clinic, Inc., 861 P.2d 531, 538 (Wyo.1993)). The findings of fact made by the district court will not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. Hopper, 861 P.2d at 538. The district court's conclusions of law are not binding on the reviewing court and are reviewed de novo.

Baker v. Pike, 2002 WY 34, ¶ 9, 41 P.3d 537, 541 (Wyo.2002).

DISCUSSION

Legal classification of the Maxsons' interest in the Appellants' lands

[¶ 9] We must first determine whether the district court erred in construing the Maxsons' interest in the Appellants' lands as a profit. The issue is one of law and comes before us on a grant of summary judgment in favor of the Maxsons; therefore, our review is de novo. See Smith v. Nugget Exploration, 857 P.2d 320, 323 (Wyo.1993). We find that the district court properly applied the law and agree that a profit was created.

[¶ 10] All parties agree that whatever interest the Maxsons have was created by McKinley's warranty deeds to the original purchasers of the Maxsons' land. Our rules of construction for deeds are well known:

We interpret a warranty deed like a contract "from specific language of the deed," and "begin by looking at the instrument itself." Bixler [v. Oro Mgmt., L.L.C., 2004 WY 29], ¶ 16[, 86 P.3d 843, 849 (Wyo. 2004)]. We must first examine the terms of the deed and give them their plain and ordinary meaning. Plain meaning is that "meaning which [the] language would convey to reasonable persons at the time and place of its use." Id., ¶ 14. When the provisions in the contract are clear and unambiguous, the court looks only to the "four corners" of the document in arriving at the intent of the parties. Determining the parties' intent is our prime focus in interpreting or construing a contract. Boley v. Greenough, 2001 WY 47, ¶ 11, 22 P.3d 854, ¶ 11 (Wyo.2001).

Gilstrap v. June Eisele Warren Trust, 2005 WY 21, ¶ 12, 106 P.3d 858, 862 (Wyo.2005).

[¶ 11] Before we analyze the language of the original warranty deeds, however, we must review certain non-possessory privileges and interests in land.

A license is a privilege to do certain acts of a temporary character on the land of another which is revocable at the will of a licensor unless a definite time has been specified, or unless it is coupled with an interest. Coumas v. Transcontinental Garage, 68 Wyo. 99, 230 P.2d 748, 758 (1951). A license does not give any interest in the land, but means that one who possesses a license is not a trespasser. Anthony Wilkinson Live Stock Co. v. McIlquam, 14 Wyo. 209, 226-27, 83 P. 364, 369 (1905); Metcalf v. Hart, 3 Wyo. 513, 527, 27 P. 900, 905 (1891). A license may be created by parol, a writing, or can be implied from the acts of the parties, from their relations, and from usage and custom. Kendrick v. Healy, 27 Wyo. 123, 148, 192 P. 601, 610 (1920).

Sammons v. American Auto. Ass'n, 912 P.2d 1103, 1105 (Wyo.1996). Licenses are distinguishable from servitudes, which are interests in land:

(1) A servitude is a legal device that creates a right or an obligation that runs with land or an interest in land.

(a) Running with the land means that the right or obligation passes automatically to successive owners or occupiers of the land or the interest in land with which the right or obligation runs.

(b) A right that runs with land is called a "benefit" and the interest in land with which it runs may be called the "benefited" or "dominant" estate.

(c) An obligation that runs with land is called a "burden"...