Wentworth v. Sebra
| Decision Date | 31 July 2003 |
| Citation | 829 A.2d 520,2003 ME 97 |
| Parties | Thomas J. WENTWORTH et al. v. Earleen SEBRA. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Stephen P. Beale, (orally), Skelton, Taintor & Abbott, Auburn, for the plaintiff.
Richard Golden, (orally), Clifford & Golden, P.A., Lisbon Falls, for the defendant.
Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and RUDMAN, DANA, ALEXANDER, CALKINS, and LEVY, JJ.
[¶ 1] Thomas J. Wentworth, Bobbie J. Wentworth, and Earle C. Hildreth, Jr. (Wentworth)1 appeal from the summary judgment entered in the Superior Court (Androscoggin County, Gorman, J.) in favor of Earleen Sebra (Sebra) holding that a contested easement expired when the original grantee died. Wentworth contends that the Superior Court erred in: (1) applying the strict common law technical requirement that the word "heir" must be used to create a perpetual easement; (2) granting the summary judgment without first providing Wentworth the opportunity, through an evidentiary hearing, to establish the transferability of the easement by factual proof; (3) distinguishing between an easement affirmatively conveyed to the grantee and an easement retained by the grantor; (4) concluding that the use of the word "heirs" in the habendum does not enlarge the estate conveyed by the granting clause; and (5) failing to consider whether the easement may be "successively assigned." We disagree and affirm the judgment.
[¶ 2] Wentworth owns a parcel of land near the Bowdoinham Road in Lisbon. The lot does not abut Bowdoinham Road. Sebra owns a parcel of land that lies between the Bowdoinham Road and Wentworth's parcel (Sebra's parcel is bordered by the Bowdoinham Road on the north and Wentworth's property on the south).2 Wentworth claims an easement over Sebra's land by virtue of a right-of-way granted by Fred K. Small to U.G. Harding dated September 14, 1917, and recorded in the Androscoggin County Registry of Deeds.
[¶ 3] The 1917 deed conveyed the land, now owned by Wentworth, to Harding's "heirs and assigns," and also contained the following language specifically conveying an easement:
Said U.G. Harding and assigns to have right of way across land belonging to the grantor lying Northerly of said Potter brook [sic] to the Main road [sic].
[¶ 4] Notably, the easement clause did not contain the word "heirs." The deed also contained no description of the location, width, scope, or other details of the easement. Harding died prior to November 12, 1974. Subsequent deeds in Wentworth's chain of title describe and attempt to transfer the claimed easement.
[¶ 5] After a dispute arose concerning Wentworth's right to access his property by crossing Sebra's, Wentworth filed a two-count complaint against Sebra. In Count I, Wentworth sought a declaration from the court: (1) that he and his successors in title have an easement to their parcel from Bowdoinham Road over Sebra's parcel; (2) locating the easement on the face of the earth, its width, and the scope of its use; and (3) describing any and all other rights, easements, privileges, and appurtenances relating to the easement burdening Sebra's parcel or benefiting Wentworth's. In Count II, Wentworth sought injunctive relief to prevent Sebra from interfering with his use of the easement.
[¶ 6] Sebra's answer denied that an easement over her property existed. She also counterclaimed asserting that Wentworth had no easement because the deed that originally created the right-of-way did not contain words of inheritance. Pursuant to 33 M.R.S.A. § 772(2) (Supp.2002),3 she sought to "recover" the easement and vest herself with unencumbered title.
[¶ 7] Following discovery, Sebra moved for a summary judgment and Wentworth filed a cross motion for a partial summary judgment.
[¶ 8] Because the 1917 deed was drafted prior to the Maine Short Forms Deeds Act of 1967,4 the Superior Court applied the "unyielding" common law rule that the technical word "heirs" must be used to create a perpetual interest.5 Noting that in other places in the deed, the parties used the phrase "heirs and assigns," the court determined that the omission of "heirs" from the easement clause was conscious and could only suggest that the easement was not intended to be permanent. Furthermore, the court rejected Wentworth's reliance on O'Donovan v. McIntosh, 1999 ME 71, 728 A.2d 681, explaining that O'Donovan held only that an easement in gross could be assignable if that had been the parties' intent. In contrast, the issue here was not whether the easement was assignable but whether it was perpetual. The court concluded that there were "no contested issues of material fact concerning the duration of the easement" and that the easement expired when U.G. Harding died. The court granted Sebra's motion for a summary judgment and denied Wentworth's cross motion. Wentworth moved for reconsideration, and the court also denied that motion. This appeal followed.
[¶ 9] "We review the grant of a motion for summary judgment de novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment has been granted, to decide whether the parties' statements of material facts and the referenced record material reveal a genuine issue of material fact." Rogers v. Jackson, 2002 ME 140, ¶ 5, 804 A.2d 379, 380 (citations omitted). We give the party opposing a summary judgment the benefit of any inferences that might reasonably be drawn from the facts presented. Curtis v. Porter, 2001 ME 158, ¶ 9, 784 A.2d 18, 22. If the record reveals no genuine issue of material fact, then a summary judgment is proper. Id. ¶ 6, 784 A.2d at 21. When the moving party is the defendant, the burden rests on that party to show that the evidence fails to establish a prima facie case for each element of the cause of action. Stewart ex rel. Stewart v. Aldrich, 2002 ME 16, ¶ 8, 788 A.2d 603, 606.
[¶ 10] Moreover, the interpretation of a deed is a question of law subject to de novo review. ALC Dev. Corp. v. Walker, 2002 ME 11, ¶ 10, 787 A.2d 770, 774. When interpreting a deed, a court first gives the words of the deed their "general and ordinary meaning to see if they create an ambiguity." Id. If no ambiguity exists, then those words alone determine the parties' intent. Id. However, if the terms are ambiguous, then the court looks to extrinsic evidence to determine the parties' intent. Id.
[¶ 11] Wentworth contends that the Superior Court erred when it applied the "unyielding" common law rule that the term "heirs" must be used in a clause conveying an easement to create an interest of perpetual duration. He relies on our decisions in Stickney v. City of Saco, 2001 ME 69, 770 A.2d 592; O'Neill v. Williams, 527 A.2d 322 (Me.1987); and O'Donovan, 1999 ME 71, 728 A.2d 681, to support his argument that the court should have disregarded the technical failure of the easement clause and determined the parties' intent from the wording of the entire deed or from the surrounding facts.
[¶ 12] The law recognizes two different types of easements or rights of use over the property of another: easements appurtenant and easements in gross. Stickney, 2001 ME 69, ¶ 31, 770 A.2d at 605. Grantors create easements appurtenant to benefit a dominant estate and such easements run with the land. Id. To be appurtenant, the easement must be attached or related to a dominant estate. Id.
[¶ 13] In contrast, easements in gross are personal interests in land or the right to use another's land. Id. ¶ 32, 770 A.2d at 605. They are "not appurtenant to any estate in land" and do not belong "to any person by virtue of his ownership of an estate in other land." Id. (quoting LeMay v. Anderson, 397 A.2d 984, 987 n. 2 (Me.1979)). An easement in gross is generally not assignable and terminates upon the death of the grantee. Id. However, when evidence demonstrates that the parties clearly intended that an easement in gross be assignable, it is. Id. This policy is grounded in the general principle of property law favoring free alienability of property. Id.
[¶ 14] When construing deeds created prior to the enactment of the Short Forms Deeds Act, we look to the laws in effect at the time the deed was drafted.6Id. ¶ 39, 770 A.2d at 607. In 1917, the common law strictly required the use of the technical word "heirs" in a deed to an individual to create an interest in land of perpetual duration. Id. ¶ 34, 770 A.2d at 605. Without the word "heirs," courts could only construe the interest created as a life interest in the grantee, regardless of how clearly the deed otherwise expressed an intent to create an interest of perpetual duration. Id.
[¶ 15] However, in O'Neill, we explained that we have long recognized that this technical requirement often frustrated the parties' intent; therefore, we have "routinely construed a provision in a deed purporting to reserve an easement for the benefit of land retained by the grantor as the creation of an easement appurtenant to that land ... obviat[ing] the requirement of the technical word `heirs' to preserve an interest of perpetual duration." O'Neill, 527 A.2d at 324; see e.g., Hall v. Hall, 106 Me. 389, 392-93, 76 A. 705, 707 (1910).
[¶ 16] More recently, in Stickney, we considered a reserved right-of-way7 and determined that even though the easement clause omitted the term "heirs," the easement was perpetual because the grantor's intent to make it perpetual could be presumed from the facts at play. Stickney, 2001 ME 69, ¶ 41, 770 A.2d at 607. We applied the longstanding rule that, in the context of a reservation of an easement for the benefit of land retained by the grantor, the failure to include the term "heirs" may be overlooked if the parties' intent is clearly discernible from the deed or the facts of the case. Id. ¶¶ 36-41, 770 A.2d at 606-07.
[¶ 17] Here, unlike the granting clauses in O'Neill and Stickney, the easement clause does not "reserve" an...
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