Travis v. Madden
| Decision Date | 05 October 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 17764,17764 |
| Citation | 493 N.W.2d 717 |
| Parties | John C. TRAVIS and Joyce E. Travis, Husband and Wife, Plaintiffs and Appellees, v. Dennis MADDEN and Goldie Madden, Husband and Wife, and Terry Madden, Defendants and Appellants. . Considered on Briefs on |
| Court | South Dakota Supreme Court |
Jack R. Von Wald, Selby, for plaintiffs and appellees.
A.N. Buckmeier of Bormann, Buckmeier, Bauer & Todd, Mobridge, for defendants and appellants.
Dennis and Goldie Madden (Madden) appeal the circuit court's final judgment enjoining Madden from interfering with the use of a 58-foot easement area by John and Joyce Travis (Travis). We affirm in part and reverse in part.
In 1965, John and Joyce Travis purchased real estate from Michael and Ruth Madden, described as follows:
The South 110 Feet of Lot Nineteen (19) of the Auditor's Plat of the lands adjacent to the Town of Mound City, Campbell County, South Dakota.
The Travis residence is on this location.
On October 3, 1990, Travis purchased additional real estate adjacent to the South 110 feet of Lot Nineteen from Clarence and Helen Fadness (Fadness). That real estate is described as follows:
The West 248 Feet of Lot Eighteen (18), and the North 168 Feet of Lot Twenty-six (26), Auditor's Plat of the lands adjacent to the Town of Mound City, Campbell County, South Dakota, according to the recorded plat thereof.
The conveyance to Travis also included an easement pertaining to the above-described property. The easement, originally conveyed by Madden to Fadness on October 7, 1977, is described as follows:
Grantors convey to the Grantees an easement over the North Fifty-eight Feet (N 58') of Lot Nineteen (19), Auditor's Plat of the land adjacent to the Town of Mound City, South Dakota, for ingress and egress to the above described property, over and upon the roadway presently existing and situated on the North 58 feet of said Lot 19. (Emphasis added.)
Madden owns the property, including the property on which the easement exists, immediately to the north of the property owned by Travis. Madden's property is described as:
Lot Eighteen (18), except the West 248 Feet (W 248') thereof, Auditor's Plat to the Town of Mound City, South Dakota; and the North 58 Feet (N 58') of Lot Nineteen (19), Auditor's Plat to the Town of Mound City, South Dakota.
This property was originally owned by Dennis Madden's parents, Michael and Ruth Madden. Dennis assumed ownership after Michael's death in 1984. Dennis' son Terry has resided on the property since that time.
The easement across the Madden property includes a gravel roadway along the property's southern border. This roadway goes past a garage owned by Madden and continues west to a pole shed owned by Travis on the West 248 Feet of Lot Eighteen (18). John Travis uses the easement to move machinery and equipment to and from the pole shed.
Travis also owns a shed just south of the property line between his property and Madden's property. This property line was fenced by John Travis in 1966 from the west end up to approximately sixteen feet from the shed. Since that time, John Travis has used the sixteen-foot-gate area to gain access to his backyard from the easement area.
In the spring of 1990, Terry Madden fenced in the gate to the west of Travis' tool shed with woven wire and planted elm trees in the easement area just north of the property line, thereby prohibiting Travis from crossing onto the easement area. In addition, Terry Madden obstructed the roadway by parking buses and other vehicles on the 58-foot area of Lot 19 and placed mink cages and other property along the west end of the easement area, blocking passage to the pole building.
On December 6, 1990, Travis filed a complaint asking the court to issue a permanent injunction restraining Madden from interfering with Travis' use of the easement. Travis contended that the easement area is the entire fifty-eight feet described in the grant; Madden argued that the easement is only over the existing roadway. The court found the easement to be over the entire fifty-eight feet and issued the injunction prohibiting interference by Madden. Specifically, Madden was required to remove the fence placed across Travis' gate, remove trees planted in the easement area, and remove mink cages and other personal property obstructing use of the easement. The court further found that Terry Madden's interference with the easement was vindictive, obnoxious, and destroyed a close neighborly relationship. Madden appeals, alleging that the easement is limited to the existing roadway over the 58-foot area.
1) Whether the trial court erred in finding that the easement granted was 58 feet wide?
2) Whether the trial court erred in granting Travis a prescriptive easement?
At issue in this case is the extent or width of Travis' easement and the locations from which the easement may be entered. Travis contends his easement is the entire fifty-eight feet described in the grant, while Madden contends the easement is only the roadway that existed at the time of the grant of the easement and described therein. Further, Travis alleges that his rights to the easement, including ingress to and egress from his backyard, have arisen by prescription as well as by grant. We will first address the express terms of the grant as to the determination of the extent of the easement.
The extent of an easement is determined by the terms of the grant or by the nature of the enjoyment by which it was acquired. SDCL 43-13-5. " '... The terms of the grant, as they can be learned either by words clearly expressed, or by just and sound construction, will regulate and measure the rights of the grantee.' " Salmon v. Bradshaw, 84 S.D. 500, 505-06, 173 N.W.2d 281, 284 (1969) (quoting Witman v. Stichter, 299 Pa. 484, 149 A. 725, 727 (1930)).
The terms of this grant seem somewhat inconsistent. The grant initially states that the easement is "over the North Fifty-eight Feet (N 58')" of Lot 19. However, any inconsistency is cured by the language restricting the easement "for ingress and egress to the above described property, over and upon the roadway presently existing and situated on the North 58 feet of said Lot 19." (Emphasis added.) We find that the language specifically stating that the use of the easement shall be "over and upon the roadway presently existing" indicates that the easement is limited to the use of the roadway and not the entire fifty-eight feet of land. The "North Fifty-eight Feet of Lot 19" merely describes the parcel of land on which the easement is located and not the easement itself.
"Ordinarily a grant or reservation of a right of way by instrument...
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Wolff v. Secretary of South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Dept., 19057
...statutory period. The statutory period for prescriptive easements, like that for adverse possession, is twenty years." Travis v. Madden, 493 N.W.2d 717, 720 (S.D.1992) (citations omitted).1 This case differs from the cases cited in Isakson, 526 N.W.2d at 733-34. In those cases, the parties ......
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...asserted under a contract for deed, the extent of permissive use and occupation is determined by the terms of the grant. Travis v. Madden, 493 N.W.2d 717, 719 (S.D.1992). We have long recognized that a claim for adverse possession does not require a good faith belief or an intention to clai......
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Vivian Scott Trust v. Parker, 23020.
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