Opinion ID: 1172103
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: legal argument: conner, court of appeals

Text: On November 2, 1987, the court of appeals rendered an advisory committee opinion in which it partially affirmed and partially reversed the trial court's judgment. Most significantly, the court of appeals would have reversed the trial court's finding of an easement in the loop road belonging to Northrip, and would have reversed the trial court's award of attorney's fees. The trial court would have been affirmed in its dismissal of Conner's counterclaims, upholding, however, the trial court's quieting of title to the 10.68 acres in Conner's name. We follow the court of appeals' reasoning as to the easement, and hold that Northrip has no easement in the loop road. As was undisputed at trial, there were no easements of record anywhere on the entire property. Thus the trial court's finding that the easements were evident upon the ground is irrelevant. All of the documents signed by the parties at closing contained the proviso, Subject to any existing easements of record.  Therefore, the place to seek the meaning and effect of any easements is not upon the ground, but within the four corners of the warranty deed, which is the controlling document insofar as the final intention of the parties is concerned. All previous documents and all previous oral discussion merge into the deed, and thus it is within the four corners of the deed that one must look in order to find an interpretation of the easements in question. El Sol Corp v. Jones, 97 N.M. 645, 642 P.2d 1104 (1982). Barring any ambiguity, the existence of which has not been shown here, the trial court may not go outside the deed itself to interpret the parties' intentions. Perea v. Martinez, 95 N.M. 84, 619 P.2d 188 (1980); Komadina v. Edmondson, 81 N.M. 467, 468 P.2d 632 (1970). The warranty deed here is a model of clarity and precision. After reciting the description of the property, it states Subject to any existing easements of record, of which there were none. What the parties meant by such language is not ascertainable from the deed itself, but that is an oversight as to which the court can not speculate. We are bound by the language in the deed itself, and by that language Northrip is given no right to an easement in the loop road. We therefore hold that, since the survey has now determined that the loop road is on Conner's property, Northrip may no longer use the road or consider it as her easement across Conner's property. The trial court is reversed as to this issue.