Opinion ID: 889778
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the District Court improperly relied upon extrinsic evidence to determine legal title to the disputed property.

Text: ¶ 25 The court must interpret the plain language of an unambiguous deed. Tester v. Tester, 2000 MT 130, ¶ 25, 300 Mont. 5, 3 P.3d 109. The court cannot resort to extrinsic evidence of the grantor's intent to interpret an unambiguous deed. Id. The Mellen-Cummins Deed appears in Ethens' chain of title. Neighbors nevertheless argue that Ethens' deed from Cummins provides an unambiguous property description, and, therefore, the court improperly considered extrinsic evidence in the form of the Mellen-Cummins Deed. ¶ 26 Tester dealt with a boundary dispute similar to the dispute here. The Court in Tester looked first to the parties' chains of title. Id. at ¶ 15. The district court had interpreted one of the deeds in the chain of title contrary to the plain language of that deed. Id. at ¶ 27. The deed unambiguously set forth the disputed boundary. Id. at ¶ 28. The district court should have limited its analysis to the deed's unambiguous language. The district court instead improperly considered extrinsic evidence of the grantor's intent to locate the boundary that was not included in the language of the deed. Id. ¶ 27 Ethens' deed from Cummins describes the property as set forth in certificate of survey 521. A certificate of survey becomes part of the deed when a deed grants land according to an official survey. Olson v. Jude, 2003 MT 186, ¶ 46, 316 Mont. 438, 73 P.3d 809. COS 521 does not constitute extrinsic evidence of the grantor's intent. Tester, ¶ 27. COS 521 constitutes an essential part of Ethens' deed from Cummins. Olson, ¶ 46. The District Court properly examined COS 521. Id. ¶ 28 The parties dispute the meaning of the metes and bounds description in COS 521. COS 521 constituted a retracement survey of Ethens' parcel that originally had been created in the Mellen-Cummins Deed. Cummins commissioned COS 521 in order to resolve a dispute regarding the parcel's southern boundary. COS 521 states on its face that the survey serves to clarify omissions in previous deed transfers for this parcel of land. ¶ 29 The surveyor who created COS 521 testified that he had relied on the Mellen-Cummins Deed. In fact all of the surveyors who testified referred to the Mellen-Cummins Deed. Neighbors never objected to any reference to the Mellen-Cummins Deed by the surveyors. The parties also stipulated on the first day of trial that the court should admit any documents that described the parties' chains of title. The court admitted the parties' chains of title. Ethens' chain of title includes the Mellen-Cummins Deed. ¶ 30 Neighbors inconsistently argued their position regarding the Mellen-Cummins Deed. Neighbors presented the District Court with the Mellen-Cummins Deed in their first motion for summary judgment on October 22, 2008. Neighbors initially argued that the Mellen-Cummins Deed provided critical evidence relevant to the boundary dispute. They argued in their first summary judgment brief that the Mellen-Cummins Deed unambiguously excluded Ethens' access to Flint Creek. Neighbors changed course, however, by the time that they had filed their second summary judgment brief on November 25, 2008. They argued instead in their second summary judgment brief that the Mellen-Cummins Deed constituted extrinsic evidence. Neighbors failed to explain their change in position. ¶ 31 The District Court allowed the Mellen-Cummins Deed into evidence. The Mellen-Cummins Deed, prepared before Ethens' deed from Cummins, provides the first description of the disputed boundary. Ethens' chain of title includes the Mellen-Cummins Deed. Tester, ¶ 15. The information contained in the Mellen-Cummins Deed cannot be considered extrinsic evidence under these circumstances. Id. at ¶ 27. The District Court simply interpreted the plain language of the Mellen-Cummins Deed, the subsequent certificates of survey, and Ethens' deed from Cummins. The court properly examined the chains of title to the parties' properties in seeking to define the boundary. Id. at ¶ 15.