Opinion ID: 1541319
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Common Law Abandonment

Text: [¶ 3] Shadan urges us to conclude that the Richardson Road is a town way. We affirm the court's conclusion that even if the Richardson Road were once a town way, it has been abandoned by operation of the common law of abandonment. [2] It is therefore unnecessary to decide whether the Town ever accepted the portion of the Richardson Road that abuts Shadan's property. [¶ 4] The common law of abandonment recognizes that rights in public ways may be lost through neglect. Under the doctrine of common law abandonment, a presumption of a public intent to abandon a road may be raised by evidence of nonuse for twenty years or more, intentional and voluntary desertion of a road, or acquiescence, even for a few years, in the discontinuance of an old road combined with use of a new road. Lamb v. Town of New Sharon, 606 A.2d 1042, 1046 (Me.1992). [3] This presumption, once raised, may be rebutted by evidence of a contrary intent on the part of the public. We will not disturb the trial court's determination that Shadan failed to meet his burden of rebutting the presumption of abandonment unless the evidence compelled the court to find in Shadan's favor. Id. at 1047. [¶ 5] Donald Whitten of the Maine Department of Transportation testified that MDOT records indicated that the last expenditure of funds by the Town of Skowhegan on improvements to the Richardson Road was in 1940. [4] Whitten further testified that MDOT records showed that by 1966 the Richardson Road had become impassable. Several former owners of land abutting the Richardson Road testified that the road was passable until the mid 1940s and that the Town had plowed the road until 1950, when the last house on the Richardson Road burned. Even if the Town had plowed the road after 1950, such evidence would be insufficient to rebut the presumption of abandonment. Whalen v. Town of Livermore, 588 A.2d 319, 321 (Me.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 959, 112 S.Ct. 422, 116 L.Ed.2d 442 (1991). Because of the twenty year period of non-use of the Richardson Road beginning in 1950, the town abandoned the road in 1970. Shadan failed to meet his burden of persuasion, and the court did not err by ruling that if the Richardson Road were ever a town way it was subject to common law abandonment by 1970.