Opinion ID: 2363040
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Creation of Bunker Road

Text: [¶ 12] The district court issued its partial summary judgment order on April 23, 2008. The subject of the partial summary judgment was limited to whether or not the Commission's actions in 1912-13 were sufficiently in compliance with governing statutes so as to have actually created Bunker Road. The Kings and Hansen contend that the process was flawed and, therefore, Bunker Road never was created. The standard of review to be applied is this: [W]e examine the record from the vantage point most favorable to the party opposing the motion and give that party the benefit of all the favorable inferences which may be fairly drawn. Castleberry v. Phelan, 2004 WY 151, ¶ 8, 101 P.3d 460, 462 (Wyo. 2004). Summary judgment is appropriate when there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. Wilson v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 2007 WY 42, ¶ 12, 153 P.3d 917, 922 (Wyo.2007). [¶ 13] The statutes in effect at that time are found in Wyoming Compiled Statutes 1910, §§ 2513-2531. Section 2523 requires that a survey and record of the road be filed in the office of the county clerk. The Kings and Hansen contend that this step was not perfected, although the documentation required to be assembled by the governing statutes was in the possession of Fremont County at the time this action arose, as well as at all times in the interim between 1913 and the present day. However, it is not disputed that the grantor/grantee index did not provide those examining property titles any information about the road. Further, unless a title examiner inquired of a county clerk employee about the existence and actual location of the records pertaining to county roads, then whether or not a particular parcel of land was burdened by a county road would not be evident. It is this flaw that is the mainstay of the Appellants' contentions herein and on that basis, it is contended that the road should be declared not to have ever come into existence. With respect to this particular matter, the district court concluded thus: However, it is not the physical location of these records that create the ultimate issue in this case but whether or not they were made of record for purposes of providing constructive notice. [¶ 14] The district court relied in significant part on the case of Lakewood v. Mavromatis, 817 P.2d 90 (Colo.1991) in deciding to grant a partial summary judgment in favor of the Commission with respect to the validity, ab initio, of Bunker Road. Although that case differs from the present case on the facts because a road was never built on the tract of land in question, the Colorado Supreme Court concluded that placing the road petition and incorporated plat in the road book in the office of the county clerk was adequate to dedicate the tract as a public highway, but it did not provide constructive notice to bona fide subsequent purchasers of the governmental entity's interest in the disputed parcel of land. Id., 817 P.2d at 98. The entirety of that case is instructive with respect to issues such as those raised here, but its significance with respect to the instant case is limited to that noted above. Based on that case, the district court concluded that the remaining issues would be required to be tried; to wit: (1) whether or not Kings and Hansen had actual notice of Bunker Road, and (2) whether or not they are bona fide subsequent purchasers of the property they now own that may be subject to the Commission's interest in Bunker Road. The district court concluded that the Wyoming Legislature also intended to require the recording of the Bunker Road Petition in compliance with the Wyoming Recording Act. However, failure to do so did not void the establish[ed] Bunker Road, especially with regard to the parties in the initial road proceedings because they had actual notice of the road. The district court indicated that this case was complicated because it was unclear if Bunker Road was ever established on the ground. Moreover, while there was evidence that at least a faint track of Bunker Road could be found on the ground for most of its distance, it had been fenced over in places, it had been washed out in places, it was blocked by vegetation in places, a wellhead was in its course, and a building had been placed along its course so that Bunker Road disappeared into, and then re-emerged on the other end of, the building. [¶ 15] However, based on the totality of the circumstances set out above, we agree with the district court that there were no genuine issues of material fact as to whether Bunker Road had been created in the first instance.