Opinion ID: 883948
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: interrupted use

Text: Although the majority of Rafanelli's arguments are directed toward whether the District Court erred in finding that the Dales' use was not permissive, he also makes vague assertions that the Dales did not prove the element of uninterrupted use. This assertion is apparently based on the Carsons' act of plowing up a portion of Route A in 1972 and allegedly giving the Dales permission to use Route B thereafter. The District Court found that the Dales ceased to use Route A after 1972, and, as a result, the court did not grant the Dales a prescriptive easement over that road. Thus, any act of the Carsons which may have interrupted the Dales' use of Route A is not relevant to whether the Dales established an easement by prescription over Route B. In addition, the District Court rejected Rafanelli's position, advanced through the Carsons' testimony, that Claude Dale soughtand the Carsons gavepermission to use Route B in 1972. Indeed, as discussed above, the District Court found that the Dales had been using Route B without permission and adversely at least since the Carsons purchased Whiterock Ranch in 1972 and substantial credible evidence supports those findings. Moreover, there is no evidence of record reflecting any post-1972 act by the Carsons, the Thomases, or Rafanelli himself which interrupted the Dales' adverse use of Route B to access their Beall Canyon property until Rafanelli locked the gate at the entrance to the ranch in October of 1991. Even then, however, the Dales simply cut the lock off the gate and continued to use the road. Moreover, Rafanelli's act of locking the gate occurred long after the running of the statutory five-year period for establishing a prescriptive easement. We conclude that the District Court's finding that the Dales established uninterrupted use of Route B for the statutory five-year period is supported by substantial credible evidence. In summary, the Dales and Rafanelli presented substantial and conflicting evidence in this case, primarily about the adverse versus permissive nature of the use of Route B across the Whiterock Ranch to access the Dales' Beall Canyon property. [A] district court sitting as a fact finder, is in the best position to determine whether use was permissive or adverse. Swandal Ranch Co., 915 P.2d at 845 (citation omitted). We conclude that the District Court's findings of fact that the Dales had established the elements of a prescriptive easement over Route B across the Whiterock Ranch to access their Beall Canyon property are supported by substantial evidence and are not otherwise clearly erroneous. We hold, therefore, that the court did not err in concluding that the Dales had acquired a prescriptive easement over Route B. 2. Did the District Court err in not concluding that the Dales' prescriptive easement had been extinguished? Rafanelli argues that, even if a prescriptive easement existed at one time over either Route A or Route B, that easement was extinguished when the Carsons plowed up a portion of Route A in 1972 and gave the Dales permission to use Route B instead. A servitude may be extinguished by the destruction of the servient tenement or an act by the owner of the servitude, or with his consent, which is incompatible with the nature of the servitude. Section 70-17-111, MCA. We have held, on the basis of that statute, that if a prescriptive easement exists, subsequent acts inconsistent with the claim by prescription, support the conclusion that the prescriptive easement has been extinguished. Public Lands, 856 P.2d at 531-32. The District Court found that the Dales had stopped using Route A in 1972 and, therefore, no easement was established over that road. Because the District Court did not grant the Dales a prescriptive easement over Route A and the Dales did not appeal that determination, it is not necessary to address whether any easement over Route A was extinguished by the Carsons' act of plowing up a portion of that road. Rafanelli relies on Public Lands for the proposition that acquiescence in a change of the use of an easement extinguishes that easement and argues that, by allowing the Carsons to move the access from Route A to Route B, the Dales acquiesced in a change of use which extinguished any prior easement. In Public Lands, we concluded that, if an easement had existed, it would have been extinguished by the land owner's act of blocking the road and creating a walk-in only policy. Public Lands, 856 P.2d at 532. Such a change in use, when cooperated with and adhered to by the owner of the easement, is inconsistent with a claim of a prescriptive easement and works to extinguish it. Public Lands, 856 P.2d at 532. Rafanelli's reliance on Public Lands is misplaced. The Dales did not acquiesce in any change in their use of Route B. The record reflects that the Dales had used Route B regularly since purchasing the Beall Canyon property in 1971 and continued that use after the Carsons purchased Whiterock Ranch in 1972. The obliteration of Route A did not affect or alter the Dales' continued use of Route B and the District Court found that, contrary to their assertions, the Carsons did not permit the Dales to relocate the access from Route A to Route B. Thus, the act of plowing under a portion of Route A did not create a change in the Dales' use of Route B similar to the change in use which occurred in Public Lands. The only change that transpired here was that the Dales rarely, if ever, used Route A from that time on. Moreover, even if there had been an act by the Carsons during 1972 which was inconsistent with the Dales' claim of a prescriptive easement, the Dales' continued adverse use of Route B for more than five years after that time would have created a new prescriptive easement over Route B. See Glenn v. Grosfield (1995), 274 Mont. 192, 196, 906 P.2d 201, 204. We held in Glenn that, if a change in location or modification of the use of an easement occurs and the owner of the previous easement uses the modified easement in the same manner for the statutory five-year period, a new prescriptive easement over the modified route is established. Glenn, 906 P.2d at 204. The District Court found that the Dales' use of Route B was adverse to the Carsons and the subsequent owners of Whiterock Ranch since 1972. Thus, even if a previous easement over that route had been extinguished, the Dales would have acquired a new prescriptive easement after five years of adverse use. Glenn, 906 P.2d at 204. We hold that the Dales' prescriptive easement over Route B was not extinguished by the Carsons' plowing up of Route A in 1972 and that the District Court was correct in not concluding that the easement was extinguished. 3. Did the District Court abuse its discretion in admitting Exhibit 29 into evidence? Exhibit 29 consisted of three hand-written pages of notes dated August 8, 1973, allegedly written by Claude Dale during or immediately after a telephone conversation he had with his brother Hal. The notes refer to comments Claude made to Hal regarding access to their Beall Canyon property. As foundation for the exhibit, Hal Dale testified that the notes were in Claude's handwriting, that Claude was in the habit of always making notes of his telephone conversations, and that Hal had found the notes with other possessions that Claude had brought with him when he moved to the Beall Canyon property after retiring from his work with a mining corporation. The Dales offered Exhibit 29 under the business records exception, as well as other exceptions, to the hearsay rule. Rafanelli objected to the exhibit on the grounds that it was hearsay, that the Dales had failed to properly authenticate it, and that it did not qualify under any of the exceptions to the hearsay rule. The District Court admitted Exhibit 29 under Rule 803(6), M.R.Evid., the business records exception to the hearsay rule. It quoted the notes in its findings of fact and relied on them as part of the evidence showing that Claude Dale did not request permission from the Carsons to improve and use Route B or to build the bridge over Beall Creek. The court also found that the notes were indicative of adverse use by the Dales. A district court has broad discretion in determining whether evidence is relevant and admissible. We will not reverse such a determination unless the court has abused that discretion. Galbreath v. Golden Sunlight Mines, Inc. (1995), 270 Mont. 19, 22, 890 P.2d 382, 384. Under Rule 803(6), a document kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity may be admitted into evidence, even though it is hearsay, when it is the regular practice of that business activity to create the document. Although Hal Dale testified that Claude made notes of all of his telephone conversations, the record does not reflect that Exhibit 29 was made by Claude in the course of any business activity; indeed, a review of the notes establishes that they were in the nature of a memorandum made for personal use. While district courts have broad discretion in admitting evidence, the record before us is totally lacking in foundation for admission of Exhibit 29 as a business record under Rule 803(6), M.R.Evid. Thus, the District Court abused its discretion in admitting Claude Dale's notes under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. The Dales also argued, however, that Exhibit 29 was admissible under the so-called state of mind exception to the hearsay rule. We recently have discussed state of mind evidence, distinguishing between hearsay state of mind evidence, admissible only under an exception to the hearsay rule, and nonhearsay state of mind evidence. In State v. Losson (1993), 262 Mont. 342, 348, 865 P.2d 255, 259, we determined that whether such evidence is hearsay or not depends on whether the statement is direct evidence proving the declarant's state of mind or only circumstantial evidence of the declarant's state of mind. If the evidence circumstantially proves the declarant's state of mind, then the evidence is not offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted and the evidence is not hearsay. .... Alternatively, when the evidence directly proves the declarant's state of mind, the evidence is introduced to prove the truth of the matter asserted and is hearsay. Losson, 865 P.2d at 259. For example, if a person said X threatened to kill me, the statement is circumstantial evidence of that person's state of mind regarding X to the extent it is used only to show that the person was afraid of X and not to prove that X actually threatened the person. As such, the statement is not hearsay as defined in Rule 801(c), M.R.Evid., and it is generally admissible if relevant. See Rule 402, M.R.Evid. Conversely, if the person said I hate X, the statement directly shows the person's feelings about X and is offered to prove that the person hates X. In that case, the statement is hearsay under Rule 801(c), M.R.Evid., and is admissible only if it comes within an exception to the hearsay rule. The District Court's finding of fact #14 contains the following quote from Claude Dale's notes of his telephone conversation with Hal on August 8, 1973, in which he advised Hal: establish a road that we want to use and go ahead with its use. I advised Hal to make no commitment to Carson. Go up established roadcut lock or fence if necessary. Carson has changed road thru [sic] farm and is trying to get it established that this new road is a private road. This not sojust because he changed it. County maintenance on the ranch road fives [sic] better access to us than any other. I think, anyway, don't commit us to anything and keep all avenues open til [sic] we move there. The District Court used Claude Dale's notes in support of its finding that Claude did not request permission from the Carsons to use Route B. In other words, the court's finding was that the notes reflected Claude's state of mind that the Dales had the right to use the access roads regardless of what the Carsons did or said about such use. Thus, to the extent that the District Court admitted Claude's statements to show that his state of mind was such that he would not have asked permission from the Carsons to use Route B, the statements are not hearsay. The statements were not offered to prove that Claude told Hal to cut the lock or fence; nor were they offered to prove that the Carsons changed the road or that Claude Dale told Hal not to commit to anything about the access. The statements circumstantially indicated Claude's state of mind both about the Carsons and about the Dales' right to use the road, and they were offered to show that Claude did not seek permission from the Carsons to use Route B in exchange for maintaining the road and installing a locked gate. To this extent, Exhibit 29 is not hearsay under Losson. Rafanelli's objection to Exhibit 29 was limited to the hearsay nature of the evidence and its lack of admissibility under any exception to the hearsay rule. Having determined that the exhibit was not hearsay to the extent it was offered to show Claude's state of mind regarding the Dales' right to use Route B, we conclude that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Exhibit 29 for that purpose. The District Court also found that Claude's notes were persuasive evidence of adverse use not permissive. In making this finding, the court went beyond using the notes as circumstantial evidence of Claude's state of mind regarding the Dales' right to use Route B and used Claude's statements, such as that he had told Hal to establish a road that we want to use and go ahead with its use and to cut lock or fence if necessary, as directly showing that the Dales' use of the access was hostile and adverse to the Carsons. In doing so, the court accepted the contents of the statements as being true and, for that purpose, the notes are hearsay. Therefore, the notes are inadmissible unless they come within an exception to the hearsay rule. As noted above, the Dales argued that the notes were admissible under the state of mind exception contained in Rule 803(3), M.R.Evid. Under Rule 803(3), M.R.Evid., a statement is not excluded by the hearsay rule if it is [a] statement of the declarant's then-existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition (such as intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain and bodily health), but not including a statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed. In Losson, we concluded that a declarant's statements to a Naval Reserve officer that he thought his wife was going to kill him and that he was afraid of her were hearsay because they were introduced as direct evidence to prove that the declarant was afraid of his wife. We concluded, however, that the statements met the Rule 803(3), M.R.Evid., exception to the hearsay rule because they were offered to show the declarant's state of mind at the time he sought to reenlist in the Navy. Losson, 865 P.2d at 259. In the present case, the notes do not come within the Rule 803(3) state of mind exception to hearsay because the court interpreted the statements to be evidence of adversity, rather than an explanation of or reason behind any of Claude's actions. In order to fall under the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule, the statements must be used to show the declarant's then-existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition.... Rule 803(3), M.R.Evid. In Losson, the hearsay statement met the Rule 803(3) exception because it explained the reason behind the declarant's subsequent actions. Here, the court did not connect Claude's statements to a state of mind reason for any of Claude's actions. Rather than finding that Claude told Hal to do certain things or that Claude himself did certain things because Claude thought their use of Route B was adverse to the Carsons, the court simply found that the statements themselves evidenced adverse use. We conclude that the District Court abused its discretion in admitting Claude Dale's notes as direct evidence that the Dales' use of Route B was adverse rather than permissive. The question remains, however, whether the District Court's error in admitting Exhibit 29 for this purpose was reversible error. No civil case shall be reversed by reason of error which would have no significant impact upon the result. Where there is no showing of substantial injustice, the error is harmless and may not be used to defeat the judgment. Paternity of W.L. (1995), 270 Mont. 484, 489-90, 893 P.2d 332, 336 (citations omitted). Rafanelli attempted to show at trial that the access across Whiterock Ranch had always been on a permissive basis and, therefore, that the Dales could not prove the adverse use element necessary to establish a prescriptive easement. The District Court found Rafanelli's evidence that the Carsons had granted the Dales permission to use Route B less credible than the Dales' evidence that they did not request permission. The evidence that the Dales had disregarded the Carsons' two letters requesting the Dales to arrange for permission to cross the ranch, that the Carsons took no affirmative action to stop the Dales' use of the access, and that the Dales had improved and maintained Route B, is substantial evidence supporting the court's finding of adverse use. The further finding that Claude's notes were evidence of adverse use was merely cumulative and not necessary to the District Court's determination that the Dales' use of Route B was adverse rather than permissive. Thus, the court's finding that Claude Dale's hearsay notes were direct evidence of adverse use did not have a significant impact on the result that the court reached and did not cause substantial injustice to Rafanelli. We conclude that the District Court's abuse of discretion in admitting Exhibit 29 as direct evidence of adverse use was harmless and did not constitute reversible error. Affirmed. TURNAGE, C.J., and TRIEWEILER, HUNT and LEAPHART, JJ.