Opinion ID: 883948
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the holbert affidavit and pre-1971 use

Text: Rafanelli next argues that the District Court erred in relying on the Holbert affidavit as evidence of a claim of right to access to Beall Canyon across Whiterock Ranch. The District Court found that the affidavit should have put any post-1967 owners of the Whiterock Ranch on constructive notice that an adverse claim of access across the ranch to Beall Canyon was being asserted. Although Rafanelli did not object to the admission of the affidavit into evidence, he challenges the court's finding regarding its significance, arguing that the affidavit itself cannot, and does not, establish the elements of prescription. While Rafanelli is correct in this regard, the District Court did not determine that the affidavit proved the elements of prescription. Rather, the court used the affidavit as one piece of evidence supporting the Dales' assertion of a claim of right to use the access routes. When establishing a prescriptive easement, the element of adversity is proven by showing that the use of the easement was exercised under a claim of right. Rappold, 849 P.2d at 1019. A claim of right to an easement must be known to, and acquiesced in by, the owner of the land. Rappold, 849 P.2d at 1019. Although the Holbert affidavit does not speak specifically in terms of a claimed right to access Beall Canyon across Whiterock Ranch property, the Dales relied on the affidavit in asserting their claim of right to use the access roads after they purchased the Beall Canyon property in 1971. The October 16, 1972, letter from the Dales' attorney to the Carsons notified the Carsons of the existence of the Holbert affidavit and made it known to the Carsons that the Dales claimed a right to the access. The Carsons thereafter acquiesced in that claim of right when, although requesting the Dales to arrange for permission to use the access, they took no affirmative action to stop the Dales from crossing Whiterock Ranch. The District Court stated that the recorded Holbert affidavit was constructive notice to all post-1967 owners of Whiterock Ranch that a claim of right to access Beall Canyon via the ranch was being asserted. The Dales gave the Carsons actual notice that they were asserting a claim of access across the ranch by sending the Carsons a copy of the affidavit. The District Court neither found nor implied that the Holbert affidavit supported any element of a prescriptive easement other than a claim of right to use the access road in question. Rafanelli also advances a variety of arguments asserting that the District Court erred in finding that pre-1971 use of the access routes by the Dales' predecessors was adverse. We determined above that the District Court's finding that the Dales established that their use of Route B had been adverse to the Carsons' ownership of Whiterock Ranch since 1972 is supported by substantial credible evidence. Because the Dales proved that their use of the road had been adverse from 1972 forward, it is not necessary to determine whether pre-1971 use of the roads by the Dales' predecessors was adverse. Thus, we decline to address Rafanelli's arguments regarding pre-1971 use of the access routes.