Opinion ID: 1530103
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Second Ebbs Plat

Text: If the First Ebbs Plat was the only plat plan created by the trustees, our analysis would be much simpler. However, a series of events occurring after the filing of the First Ebbs Plat and subsequent sale of the subdivided lots is relied upon by Realty to support its contention that the roads were not dedicated for public use. In sum, Realty relies upon a deed, recorded after the lots were sold, as evidence that the trustees did not make an incipient dedication. In January 1923, the trustees recorded an instrument described as an Indenture (indenture deed) along with another plat, known as the Second Ebbs Plat, appended as exhibit No. 2. The indenture deed was a conveyance between and among the trustees and the buyers of the lots as depicted on the First Ebbs Plat, including the Newport Industrial Development Company. The parties to the indenture deed are described as the owners of certain land purchased from the trustees in accordance with and as laid out on a plat thereof entitled [the First Ebbs Plat]. The indenture deed acknowledged that certain ways known as Commercial Wharf and North Commercial Wharf are designated and delineated on [the First Ebbs Plat] and on a plat hereunto annexed  the Second Ebbs Plat. The indenture deed also reflected that Newport Industrial Development Company was desirous of erecting a building on part of the said way so designated and set forth[] as Commercial Wharf and on a small triangular piece of the way so designated and set forth as North Commercial Wharf. In return for a land swap to increase the size of its parcel, Newport Industrial Development Company agreed to release an additional strip to be used as part of the way known as North Commercial Wharf and an additional strip of land at the east end of its property. The 1923 indenture deed also contains a reservation clause guaranteeing that the land conveyed in exchange for portions of Commercial Wharf and North Commercial Wharf would remain open and be unobstructed: [T]he said parcels to remain open and be unobstructed forever with the right of way of the parties of the first part [the individual lot owners and trustees] hereinbefore granted as appurtenant to the several parcels of land owned by them respectively and their several and respective heirs and assigns, as owner of said parcels, to pass and repass over the same at any and all times on foot and with horses, carriages, automobiles, teams and other vehicles. Realty and the trial justice relied upon this deed restriction to support the conclusion that there was no dedication of the streets and ways by the trustees in the First Ebbs Plat and that the language in the indenture deed also granted a right of way to the other buyers in and to the streets and ways on the Wharf. Realty argues that this reservation was compelling evidence of the intent of the owners when the [F]irst Ebbs Plat was recorded and is tantamount to a `smoking gun.' According to Realty, this reservation reflects the understandings of all participating in the deed, both the trustees and their grantees, that the ways of the First Ebbs Plat were private. The state contends that a careful reading of the entire indenture deed reveals that the reservation clause contained in the deed was limited to the areas described in the land swap and not the entire Wharf. Because the indenture deed and Second Ebbs Plat were recorded together and the deed restriction refers to the areas set forth on that plat, the state maintains that the reservation clause only related to the small area actually traded in the indenture deed. This was confirmed by expert testimony at trial. The state's expert, attorney Alfred Thibodeau, maintained that the First Ebbs Plat remained a continuing offer of dedication of streets to the public and that the reservation of rights in the Second Ebbs Plat was limited to the areas depicted on the plat as described in the indenture deed.