White v. Pines Community
Decision Date | 10 January 2008 |
Docket Number | No. 29, Sept. Term, 2007.,29, Sept. Term, 2007. |
Citation | 403 Md. 13,939 A.2d 165 |
Parties | Stuart P. WHITE, et al. v. The PINES COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, INC., et al. |
Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
William M. Simmons, Annapolis, Tarrant H. Lomax (Tarrant H. Lomax, Annapolis), on brief, for petitioners/cross-respondents.
Christopher F. Drummond, Centreville, Mary Beth Gleaves (Karl D. Gleaves, Arnold), on brief, for respondents/cross-petitioners.
Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, JOHN C. ELDRIDGE, (retired, specially assigned), ALAN M. WILNER, (retired, specially assigned), DALE R. CATHELL, (retired, specially assigned), JJ.
More than a hundred and thirty years ago we described the common law of riparian rights in B. & O.R.R. Co. v. Chase, 43 Md. 23, 34-36 (1875). There we said:
"By the common law it is well settled, that where land lies adjacent or contiguous to a navigable river, in which there is an ebb and flow of the tide, any increase of soil formed by the gradual and imperceptible recession of the waters, or any gain by the gradual and imperceptible formation of what is called alluvion, from the action of the water in washing it against the fast land of the shore, and there becoming fixed as part of the land itself, shall belong to the proprietor of the adjacent or contiguous land." 2 Bl. Com. 261; Giraud v. Hughes, 1 G. & J. 249. And the right to accretion, thus formed, is considered as an interest appurtenant to the principal land, and belonging, in the nature of an incident, to the ownership of that, rather than as something acquired by prescription or possession, in the ordinary legal sense of those terms. And in addition to this right by reliction or accretion, the riparian proprietor, whose land is bounded by a navigable river, whether his title extends beyond the dry land or not,1 has the right of access to the navigable part of the river from the front of his lot, and the right to make a landing, wharf or pier for his own use, or for the use of the public, subject to such general rules and regulations as the Legislature may think proper to prescribe for the protection of the rights of the public, whatever those rights may be. This is well established doctrine by both Federal and State courts.
(Some citations omitted.) (Some emphasis added.)
Almost a hundred years later, in Bd. of Public Works v. Larmar Corp., 262 Md. 24, 37, 277 A.2d 427 (1971), we restated the common law of riparian rights, adding, in part:
2 (Emphasis added.)
See also, Worton Creek Marina, LLC v. Claggett, 381 Md. 499, 509, 850 A.2d 1169, 1174-75 (2004).
While other doctrines (i.e., "ouster," "adverse possession," and "easements") are presented by the parties in this case, the real fight, as it usually is in riparian rights issues, is over access to water and who has it.
This case requires this Court to consider the various property rights of a waterfront community, as between the individual landowners and the Pines Community Improvement Association, Inc. Two petitions and one cross-petition for writs of certiorari from the Court of Special Appeals' decision have been granted. White v. The Pines, 399 Md. 595, 925 A.2d 634 (2007). The first petition, consisting of petitioners Stuart White, Sondra White, Gayle Clow, Gill & Associates, Allen Carey Garman, Steven G. Garman, Joseph Donahue and Cynthia Donahue3, all of whom were owners of individual lots that, but for a strip of community property separating their lots from the waters of Chase Creek, would have been waterfront properties which would have inherently had riparian rights.4 Petitioner A presents the following questions:
The second petition for certiorari, filed by petitioners Douglas W. Johnston, Jr., William C. Simmons and Mary J. Simmons5, presents the following questions for our review:
Finally, the Pines Community Improvement Association, Inc., ("respondent/cross-petitioner") presents the following questions for our review:
We affirm, in part, the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals, and hold that the lot owners in this case have only easements in common with all other like lot owners in the community to riparian rights, that PCIA is the owner of all portions of the piers adjacent to the Community Lands and Community Lot that are situate over or that abut channelward from Community Lands or the Community Lot, and that consequently, such piers are equally available to all lot owners in common with all other lot owners, including PCIA, with such availability limited to access from Community Land or the Community Lot. For the reasons stated infra, we shall vacate that part of the trial court's order that conferred upon the PCIA express management authority over those piers not situate adjacent to the Community Lot.6 We further hold that the Court of Special Appeals was correct in reversing the decision of the trial court awarding damages equal to the amount of the past rental value of the pier slips.
The facts and procedural history, as found by the trial court, indicate that the development process began in 1922. At that time, a Plat was recorded in the Land Records of Anne Arundel County by a Mr. Leonidas Turner, then a principal of The Severn River Company, and his wife, Amelia A. Turner. They evidently intended to create a new residential community to be known as "Pines-on-the-Severn" ("the Pines") wherein some access to the waterfront for all Pines' residents would be an important feature. To that end, they created via that Plat a ring of land between Chase Creek and lots near the water, which was referred to as "Community Land". A second Plat was recorded in 1924. That had the effect of expanding the community property to the entire waterfront of the Pines. In 1926, The Severn River Company was evidently succeeded by The Pines Company. The relevant grant to that entity included:
"[a]ll parts thereof marked Community Land or Community Lot, and all the...
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