Opinion ID: 2581353
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: summary judgment in favor of harwood

Text: Talbert asserts that the district court erred when it granted partial summary judgment to Harwood declaring a valid easement existed and that the roadway was in existence at the time of the granting of the easement. Talbert argues the district court committed legal error by sua sponte granting summary judgment to Harwood because (1) Talbert did not put the issue of the existence of the road in her motion for summary judgment and (2) Harwood did not file his own motion for summary judgment. Harwood, in turn, argues that Talbert's motion for summary judgment put all issues on the table. Further, Harwood asserts Talbert waived her right to claim the existence of the road was not at issue by arguing against the road's existence in her pretrial motions. In an appeal from an order granting summary judgment, this Court's standard of review is the same as the standard used by the district court in passing upon a motion for summary judgment. Baxter v. Craney, 135 Idaho 166, 170, 16 P.3d 263, 267 (2000). Summary judgment is appropriate if the pleadings, affidavits, and discovery documents on file with the court, read in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, demonstrate no material issue of fact such that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. See id.; I.R.C.P. 56(c). The burden of proving the absence of material facts is upon the moving party. See Petricevich v. Salmon River Canal Co., 92 Idaho 865, 452 P.2d 362 (1969). In this case, partial summary judgment was granted to Harwood, the non-moving party. This Court has determined [s]ummary judgment may be rendered for any party, not just the moving party, on any or all the causes of action involved, under the rule of civil procedure thus allowing trial courts flexibility in determining the form of relief granted in summary judgment orders. Brummett v. Ediger, 106 Idaho 724, 726, 682 P.2d 1271, 1273 (1984) (citing I.R.C.P. 56(a), (b), (c), (d)). The district court may grant summary judgment to a non-moving party even if the party has not filed its own motion with the court. A motion for summary judgment allows the court to rule on the issues placed before it as a matter of law; the moving party runs the risk that the court will find against it, as in this case. In instances where summary judgment is granted to the non-moving party, this Court liberally construes the record in favor of the party against whom summary judgment was entered. Allen v. Blaine County, 131 Idaho 138, 141, 953 P.2d 578, 580 (1998); Post Falls Trailer Park v. Fredekind, 131 Idaho 634, 637, 962 P.2d 1018, 1021 (1998). The party against whom the judgment will be entered must be given adequate advance notice and an opportunity to demonstrate why summary judgment should not be entered. Idaho Endowment Fund Inv. Board v. Crane, 135 Idaho 667, 671, 23 P.3d 129, 133 (2001) (citing Mason v. Tucker and Assoc., 125 Idaho 429, 432, 871 P.2d 846, 849 (Ct. App.1994)); see also Kelly v. Hodges, 119 Idaho 872, 876, 811 P.2d 48, 52 (Ct.App.1991). It is also true that a district court may not decide an issue not raised in the moving party's motion for summary judgment. Thomson v. Idaho Ins. Agency, Inc., 126 Idaho 527, 530, 887 P.2d 1034, 1037 (1994) (holding non-moving party is not required to respond to issues not raised by the moving party even if the non-moving party ultimately has the burden of proof at trial). In this case, Talbert filed a motion for summary judgment against Plaintiff on all Plaintiff's claims for relief set forth in Plaintiff's Complaint. Talbert, however, asserts that she was only seeking summary judgment as to the issue of the legal significance of the lines marked on Exhibit A (i.e., whether the lines in question on Exhibit A depicted a road at all) and that the issue of the existence of the road was not raised because she knew there was conflicting evidence on that dispute. Further, Talbert asserts she was denied the opportunity to raise factual and legal defenses as to the existence of the easement and road because she had no notice that the district court was considering this issue on her motion for summary judgment. She claims that her factual defense was that the road did not exist in its entirety when the easement was created and it petered out before it reached Harwood's property. The legal defenses Talbert would have asserted were that the road was not a road because the easement's Exhibit A map showed a dotted line rather than a solid line like the other roads on the map, and the easement was for an access when Harwood had access to his property through another road. Talbert also claims the district court erred by failing to give her notice that it was considering the issue of the existence of the road so she could raise her defenses as required by Mason. See Mason, 125 Idaho at 432, 871 P.2d at 849. The district court found the legal significance of the dotted line on the map was that the road was in fact a road in existence at the time of the creation of the easement and that the dotted line merely indicated the road was unimproved, not that that the road did not exist. The district court additionally found an express easement existed because the road in question was a road for purposes of the easement and was in existence at the time the easement was created. Talbert's assertion that her motion only raised the legal significance of the dotted line in Exhibit A is flawed. Her motion and supporting memorandum filed with the district court challenged all of the claims in the plaintiff's complaint. Although the motion stated the issue to be decided, is the legal significance of the `dotted line' in the ... easement, the motion went on to contest all of the bases (express easement and easement by implication, necessity or prescription) raised by Harwood's complaint. Talbert's motion for summary judgment essentially called Harwood's entire case into question and ultimately asked the district court to dismiss the case. By challenging Harwood's entire case, Talbert made the existence of the road at the time of the creation of the easement an issue properly before the district court. Mason requires a notice sufficient to alert a party to present evidence to show why summary judgment should not be entered against him. Talbert had such notice. The district court found that the road in question existed at the time of creation of the easement because Talbert raised and addressed this issue in her motion for summary judgment and supporting memorandum. This Court affirms the district court's grant of partial summary judgment to Harwood by finding that the road existed at the time the easement was created.