Opinion ID: 901858
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The 1890 Deeds without Reversionary Language

Text: [¶ 39.] In 1890, Rudolph Kroll and Allie Clark executed separate quit claim deeds to FEMV. Both deeds use a standard form. The deeds grant, remise, release and quitclaim . . . all . . . estate, right, title, interest, claim, property and demand of, in and to the following real property . . . The Right of Way one hundred (100) feet wide for the [FEMV] being fifty (50) feet in width on each side of the center line of the said Railroad through over and across the North half of the North East quarter (N 1/2 NE 1/4) of Section six (6) in Township five (5) North of Range four (4) East of the B.H.M as said line of Railroad is located over said tract of land. (Emphasis added.) The circuit court held that the deeds conveyed an easement to the railroad based on the use of the words Right of Way and the lack of specificity in the property description. NHRRA, however, contends that, among other things, an easement was not intended because the absence of reversionary language indicates a conveyance in fee. [¶ 40.] This Court has previously construed private deeds to railroad companies. Tripp, 2008 SD 78, ¶ 9, 755 N.W.2d at 109; Meyerink, 391 N.W.2d at 182; Nystrom v. State, 78 S.D. 498, 499-500, 104 N.W.2d 711, 712 (1960); Sherman v. Sherman, 23 S.D. 486, 122 N.W. 439, 442-43 (1909). In each case, we held that fee title was intended. [29] These deeds, however, are unlike the deeds construed by this Court in Tripp, Sherman, Nystrom, and Meyerink. The Kroll and Clark Deeds contain no language warranting, defending, waiving, or releasing all claims against all persons. [30] Moreover, the deeds grant to the railroad a Right of Way through, over and across a tract of land where said line of Railroad is located. The right of way language and lack of certainty in the strips of land conveyed strongly suggests only a surface right. See Polk v. Ball, 149 F.2d 263, 266 (5th Cir.1945); Hash II, 403 F.3d at 1320-21; New Orleans & Ne. R.R. v. Morrison, 203 Miss. 791, 35 So.2d 68, 70 (1948); Morsbach v. Thurston County, 152 Wash. 562, 278 P. 686, 687 (1929). [¶ 41.] Because these deeds conveyed to the railroad an easement, we next consider whether the railroad abandoned its easement interest. [31] The question of abandonment for the easements conveyed by these deeds involves the same review we conducted in Issue 1. In view of our holding on Issue 1, the easements granted by these 1890 Deeds without reversionary language were abandoned. CNW exhibited its intent to abandon the Right of Way in 1970, and thereafter, relinquished its interests in the Right of Way by removing the tracks and facilities and not using the Right of Way after 1970 for railroad purposes. Upon abandonment, the easement extinguished. Therefore, the court did not err when it quieted title in certain plaintiffs to the property described by these deeds. [32]