Opinion ID: 1530103
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Public User

Text: Additionally, even though an owner makes an incipient dedication by recording a plat with streets and roads and then sells lots with reference to the plat, the dedication must be completed by one of two ways: the municipality must formally accept the offer; or it is accomplished by public user. Mill Realty Associates, 721 A.2d at 891. Recently, in Mill Realty Associates, this Court reaffirmed the law of incipient dedication of public streets; quoting Parrillo v. Riccitelli, 84 R.I. 276, 279, 123 A.2d 248, 249 (1956), we held: The law with regard to platted streets and their dedication is well settled in this state. Where a plat is recorded with streets delineated thereon and lots are sold with reference to the plat, there is, so far as the public is concerned, an incipient dedication of such streets. Brown v. Curran, [83 A. 515 (R.I.1912)]. To complete such a dedication and establish as public highways the streets that appear on the recorded plat, there must be an acceptance on the part of the public. Such an acceptance may be accomplished by public user or by appropriate action on the part of public authorities. Brown [, 83 A. 515]; Marwell Construction Co. [, 61 R.I. at 321, 200 A. at 979]. Mill Realty Associates, 721 A.2d at 891. When there has been no showing of acceptance by the public, this Court has not hesitated to declare that a disputed right of way was not a public road. In such instances, a claim of title by adverse possession can be entertained. Parrillo, 84 R.I. at 279, 123 A.2d at 249 (citing Marwell Construction Co., 61 R.I. at 323, 200 A. at 980); M & B Realty, Inc. v. Duval, 767 A.2d 60, 64-65 (R.I.2001). Therefore, in determining whether a street or roadway has been offered to the public, a finding of incipient dedication is the first step, and if so, was there acceptance by the public? In this case, however, the latter element, acceptance by the public, is not disputed. Although the trial justice found that there was a total lack of evidence of public acceptance, in reaching this conclusion, he erred in two distinct ways. First, he overlooked the overwhelming and uncontested evidence of public use of the streets on the Wharf. Second, the record clearly shows that the parties stipulated to this fact. A stipulated fact, agreed upon by counsel relative to an evidentiary fact or an element of a claim, is conclusive upon the parties and removes the issue from the controversy. In re McBurney Law Services, Inc., 798 A.2d 877, 881-82 (R.I.2002). The stipulated fact is no longer a question for consideration by the tribunal. Id. at 882. The trial justice was obliged to accept this fact as true. Not only did he fail to do so, but the trial justice also ignored the stipulation and erroneously overlooked the abundant evidence of public use and declared that there was no evidence of public acceptance. We vacate this finding as clearly wrong. Accordingly, the second prong of the analysis has been conclusively established, and we shall confine our discussion to the issue of the dedicatory intent of the trustees.