Williams Pipeline v. Allison & Alexander

• Decision Date: 23 July 2002
• Docket Number: No. WD 59453.,WD 59453.
• Citation: 80 S.W.3d 829
• Parties: WILLIAMS PIPELINE COMPANY, Respondent, v. ALLISON & ALEXANDER, INC., Don D. Alexander Jr., Faye L. Alexander and J.A. Renner, Inc., Appellants.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

80 S.W.3d 829

WILLIAMS PIPELINE COMPANY, Respondent, v. ALLISON & ALEXANDER, INC., Don D. Alexander Jr., Faye L. Alexander and J.A. Renner, Inc., Appellants.

No. WD 59453.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

July 23, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Christopher J. Molzen, Kansas City, for Appellants.

Douglas S. Laird, Kansas, City, for Respondent Williams Pipeline.

Before: HOLLIGER, P.J., ULRICH and HARDWICK, JJ.

LISA WHITE HARDWICK, Judge.

This appeal arises from a judgment enjoining Allison & Alexander, Inc., Don Alexander, Faye Alexander, and J.A. Renner, Inc. (collectively "Appellants") from unreasonably interfering with easement rights granted to Williams Pipeline Company ("Williams Pipeline"). Appellants claim the trial court lacked jurisdiction to order equitable relief because: 1) an adequate remedy at law existed; 2) all necessary and indispensable parties were not, joined in the action; and 3) J.A. Renner, Inc. and Allison & Alexander, Inc. had no ownership interest in the property subject to the easement and therefore could not he enjoined. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural History

The subject easement originated on October 7, 1930, pursuant to a "Right of Way Agreement" between Great Lakes Pipe Line Company ("Great Lakes") and the Renner family, owners of a 13.5-acre tract of land ("property") located in Riverside, Missouri. The easement gave Great Lakes and its successors or assigns "the right to lay, maintain, operate, re-lay and remove at any time a pipeline or pipelines for the transportation of oil products, gas and water, and if necessary, to erect, maintain, operate and remove telegraph and telephone lines, with right of ingress and egress to and from the same, on, over and through [the 13.5 acre property]." The easement further provided that "said grantors heirs or assigns are to fully use and enjoy the said premises except the easement for the purposes hereinbefore granted to the said Great Lakes Pipe Company, its successors and assigns."

Sometime in the 1950's, four pipelines were laid across the property pursuant to the easement. The pipelines were originally placed three to four feet below the surface of the ground level, which was approximately 742 feet above sea level. This depth of placement allowed for cultivation of the land, as well as access for repair and maintenance of the lines. The pipelines were laid parallel to one another and are situated four to eight feet apart, such that the total width of distance between the four pipelines is approximately thirty feet.

In 1966, Williams Pipeline acquired the subject easement rights from Great Lakes, as well as ownership of the four pipelines. Currently, Williams Pipeline owns two of the pipelines, both of which carry petroleum products. The remaining two pipelines carry fiber optic cables and are owned by Williams Communications and MCI WorldCom. Williams Pipeline sold these two pipelines but retains ownership of the easement.

The subject property and easement area lie within the flood plain of the Missouri River. Due to the risk of flooding, the City of Riverside does not issue building permits for development in the flood plain until the ground level is raised to at least 757 feet above sea level.

In 1997, Don and Faye Alexander ("the Alexanders") agreed to purchase the 13.5-acre property from the then titleholder, J.A. Renner, Inc. Although the purchase was not completed until sometime between October and December 1999, the Alexanders, through their closely held corporation of Allison & Alexander, Inc., began planning in 1997 to transform the property for commercial development. They intended to place seventeen feet of compacted fill over the entire property, part of which would then be paved and used as a parking lot. Allison & Alexander, Inc., prepared a preliminary site development plan and obtained a letter of agreement from J.A. Renner, Inc., which authorized placement of fill on the property. The City of Riverside issued a filling and grading permit in September 1997.

Over the next several months, Allison & Alexander, Inc. placed, compacted and graded approximately 200,000 cubic yards of fill over most of the property to raise it to approximately 758 feet above sea level. The fill was comprised of interlocking chunks of concrete, asphalt, bricks, iron rebar, rocks and dirt. Some of the concrete sections were as large as eighteen inches thick and several square feet in surface area.

In November 1997, when the elevation of approximately five acres of the 13.5-acre property had been raised, Don Alexander requested Williams Pipeline to mark the location of the pipelines in the easement. Williams Pipeline told Don Alexander there was a 100-foot wide easement and that no more than six feet of fill should be placed over the pipelines. Don Alexander responded that he had seen property surveys which indicated the easement was only thirty feet wide. After several months of discussion, Williams Pipeline and the Alexanders were unable to resolve this discrepancy because the original Right of Way Agreement did not specify dimensions for the easement.

In the spring of 1998, Williams Pipeline requested that filling and grading on the property cease, and that all fill material be removed from within fifty feet of the centerline of the pipelines, consistent with a 100-foot easement. The Alexanders agreed to remove all fill directly above the thirty-foot width of the pipelines but directed Allison & Alexander, Inc. to continue filling and grading the remainder of the property. A depth of seventeen feet of fill was left in place surrounding the area where the pipelines lay, leaving a sloping thirty-foot wide trench on the property.

In November 1998, Allison & Alexander, Inc. applied for renewal of the filling and grading permit. The City of Riverside denied the permit and subsequently placed a moratorium on all building and grading in the Missouri River bottom flood plain. The moratorium was imposed in conjunction with the Riverside Quindaro Bend Levee District, which was created as a regional authority to combat and protect the entire area from flooding.

On May 10, 1999, Williams Pipeline filed an Application for Injunctive Relief, requesting the Platte County Circuit Court to restrain Appellants from placing additional fill on the property and to order removal of the fill from within fifty feet of the centerline of the pipelines. An Amended Application, seeking the same relief, was filed August 19, 1999. Appellants answered and counter-claimed, seeking to limit the easement to a thirty-foot width. Appellants also raised the affirmative defense that injunctive relief should not be granted because Williams Pipeline had an adequate remedy at law.

Allison & Alexander, Inc. filed a Motion to Dismiss asserting no judgment could be entered against the corporation because it did not own the property subject to the easement. Appellants also collectively filed a Motion to Dismiss for failure to join as indispensable parties the owners of the other two pipelines, Williams Communications and MCI WorldCom, and other entities with easement rights to the property. The trial court denied all of the dismissal motions.

A three-day bench trial was held in May and June 2000. Williams Pipeline presented evidence that the placement of seventeen feet of fill over the property impeded its reasonable access granted in the easement to inspect, maintain and repair the pipelines. The depth and chunky composition of the fill made it extremely difficult to dig through and move. While it would normally take a few hours to excavate several hundred yards of dirt, the concrete-laden fill would take several days to remove.

Although Appellants had removed the fill over a thirty-foot wide area directly above the pipelines, the resulting narrow, sloping trench increased the danger, expense and time required to reach the pipelines, as well as the risks of undetected or belatedly detected petroleum leaks. Such leaks could have disastrous environmental consequences for the surrounding land and nearby waterways, including Line Creek and the Missouri River. Witnesses testified that repairmen would require at least a 100-foot wide space to excavate the area and safely access the pipelines in an emergency situation. Thus, Williams Pipeline argued the placement of fill within fifty feet on either side of the center of the pipeline corridor constituted an unreasonable restriction of its rights under the easement.

Despite filing a counterclaim to limit the easement to a thirty-foot width, Appellants' counsel requested in opening statement at trial that the court declare a fifty-foot wide easement:

Bottom line is they want a hundred feet. They don't need it. We're gonna ask you to declare if for fifty-feet wide and then we're gonna ask you to enter an order allowing us to proceed with the remainder of the fill. And should they choose to want to supervise it, that's fine with us. But we're gonna ask you for those two declarations. Thank you.

(emphasis added)

During their case in chief, Appellants presented expert testimony from Jim Watson, a licensed mechanical engineer. Watson testified that a forty-nine-foot wide easement "would be necessary for Williams Pipeline ... to excavate and repair and maintain its pipes." Upon further questioning from Appellant's counsel, Watson stated that the pipeline repairs could "probably" be made with an easement as narrow as thirty feet wide "if you absolutely had to." Based on Watson's testimony, Appellants requested in closing arguments that the court declare the subject easement to be thirty feet wide and deny injunctive relief.

On July 28, 2000, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Williams Pipeline. The court declared a 100-foot wide easement and concluded that Appellants' placement of fill on the property constituted a "substantial encroachment" upon the rights granted to Williams Pipeline. The judgment...