Opinion ID: 2449953
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The width of Camps Canyon Road and the location of the Halvorsons' fence.

Text: Idaho Code § 40-2312 states that [a]ll highways, except bridges and those located within cities, shall be not less than fifty (50) feet wide, except those of a lesser width presently existing, and may be as wide as required for proper construction and maintenance.... This Court, in 1908, stated: the right acquired by prescription and user carries with it such width as is reasonably necessary for the reasonable convenience of the traveling public, and, where the public have acquired the easement, the land subject to it has passed under the jurisdiction of the public authorities for the purpose of keeping the same in proper condition for the enjoyment thereof by the public.... And, where the right is so acquired, such width must be determined from a consideration of the facts and circumstances peculiar to each case. However, it must be borne in mind that the statute fixes the width of highways at not less than 50 feet, and common experience shows that width no more than sufficient for the proper keeping up and repair of roads generally. Meservey v. Gulliford, 14 Idaho 133, 148, 93 P. 780, 785 (1908) (emphasis added). More recently, the Court reaffirmed the finding in Meservey that the fifty-foot width was no more than sufficient for the proper keeping up and repair of roads generally. Bentel v. Bannock Cnty., 104 Idaho 130, 133, 656 P.2d 1383, 1386 (1983) (quoting Meservey, 14 Idaho at 148, 93 P. at 785). The first question we must address, then, is whether I.C. § 40-2312 establishes a mandatory width of fifty feet for prescriptive highways or whether the extent of the use remains a question of fact. The district court regarded I.C. § 40-2312 as overriding the common-law to which Meservey applied a presumption of fifty-foot width to highways preexisting the enactment of the statutory predecessor to I.C. § 40-2312. However, for highways created after the statute's enactment, the statute establishes a mandatory width. As the district court noted, the Halvorsons have presented no evidence and made no argument that Camps Canyon Road existed prior to 1887 when the predecessor statute to I.C. § 40-2312 was enacted. The district court was correct. Meservey discussed a road that predated the enactment of the predecessor statute to I.C. § 40-2312, putting the scope of the use at issue in that case. Meservey, 14 Idaho at 140-41, 93 P. at 784. Here, however, the plain language of I.C. § 40-2312 prescribes a fifty-foot width to all highways and makes no distinction between highways established by prescription and highways laid out by the Highway District. The Halvorsons' argument that the failure to use the word public in I.C. § 40-2312 renders the statute inapplicable to Camps Canyon Road would effectively make the statute a nullity. Rather, our prior case law and our holding today are consistent with the conclusion reached by the Oregon Supreme Court: Whenever a statute prescribes the minimum width of public roads to be established in the future, and a public road is established by prescription, the width thereof is the minimum necessary to the establishment of a legal road in the absence of evidence of the taking of a greater amount. Huggett v. Moran, 201 Or. 105, 266 P.2d 692, 695-96 (1954) (citing Kritzberger v. Traill Cnty., 62 N.D. 208, 242 N.W. 913 (1932); City of Seattle v. Abrahamson, 109 Wash. 116, 186 P. 644 (1919); Pillsbury v. Brown, 82 Me. 450, 19 A. 858 (1890)). The case relied upon by the Halvorsons, District of Columbia v. Robinson, 180 U.S. 92, 21 S.Ct. 283, 45 L.Ed. 440 (1901), does not require a different conclusion. Robinson did state: Relying for right of way on use, the right could not extend beyond the use. Or, as it has been expressed, `if the right to the way depends solely upon user, then the width of the way and the extent of the servitude is measured by the character of the user, for the easement cannot be broader than the user.' 180 U.S. at 100, 21 S.Ct. at 286, 45 L.Ed. at 445 (quoting 1 Elliott, ROADS & STREETS § 174 (2d ed.1900)). However, the question considered in Robinson was in the context of a common law suit and there is no citation in Robinson to any statute that prescribed the dimensions of a public road. Although Robinson undoubtedly represents an accurate statement of the common law, the Legislature has exercised its power to prescribe a different result. The Highway District offered evidence, via the affidavit of Dan Payne, that all work occurred within Camps Canyon Road's fifty-foot right of way. Based on this and the lack of any evidence to the contrary in the affidavits submitted by the Halvorsons, the district court concluded that no genuine issue of material fact existed and that summary judgment was warranted. The district court further relied on evidence submitted by the Highway District that Camps Canyon Road follows the same approximate centerline as it has historically and determined that all activities occurred within the fifty-foot span of Camps Canyon Road. The Halvorsons dispute this, arguing that the word approximate does not describe the location of Camps Canyon Road. The issues in this case, however, do not require a precise determination of the location of the centerline of Camps Canyon Road at the time the Halvorsons acquired their property. Rather, the critical inquiry is whether the Highway District's operations took place outside of the fifty-foot width of the road. It is reasonable to draw the inference in favor of the Halvorsons that the centerline of the traveling surface of Camps Canyon Road has shifted somewhat as a result of the approximate four foot widening of the road on the north and south sides. There is no evidence susceptible of the reasonable inference that the centerline has shifted far enough that the Highway District's operations, which resulted in damage to the Halvorsons' fence, fell outside of the fifty-foot width of Camps Canyon Road as it existed at the time the Halvorsons acquired their property. [7] There are two further reasons that the Halvorsons argue there is a genuine issue of material fact. First, they point to the statements by Ole Hanson that Camps Canyon Road has changed so much in the recent years; it is hard to remember exactly how it used to run, but it looks nothing like it did a few years ago and by Joe Yockey that [t]he Highway District has made so many changes to Camps Canyon Road by the Halvorsons [sic] corral that it is hard to remember what the old road looked like. There is no dispute that significant changes have occurred. However, these affidavits conspicuously fail to allege that the centerline of Camps Canyon Road has changed to the degree that the Highway District's activities occurred outside the fifty-foot right of way. The second argument raised by the Halvorsons is that the rock outcropping on the Wagner side of Camps Canyon Road was blasted with little success in 2006 and remains an obstacle for widening [Camps Canyon Road] symmetrically even if [the Highway District] had a 50 foot right of way to do so. In making this argument, the Halvorsons do not point to any part of the record that would suggest that Dan Payne's statement that the road has been widened by approximately four feet on both the north and south sides of the road is incorrect. They do cite to Payne's first and second affidavits but those suggest that the widening has been approximately symmetrical. The Halvorsons have identified no other evidence in the record that would demonstrate an issue of material fact. In sum, Camps Canyon Road is a highway with a fifty-foot width. I.C. § 40-2312. The Highway District put forth substantial evidence that the Halvorsons' fence lies within Camps Canyon Road's right of way. The evidence pointed to by the Halvorsons, even drawing all reasonable inferences in their favor, fails to demonstrate a genuine issue of material fact. We therefore find that the district court did not err in granting the Highway District's motion for summary judgment as to the Halvorsons' tort claims.
The Halvorsons argue that their substantive due process rights have been violated through the application of I.C. § 40-2312. This argument must fail. Where no fundamental right or suspect classification is involved or when dealing with legislation involving social or economic interests, courts apply the rational basis test's deferential standard of review. In this context, this Court has stated that: Substantive due process means that state action which deprives [a person] of life, liberty, or property must have a rational basisthat is to say, the reason for the deprivation may not be so inadequate that the judiciary will characterize it as `arbitrary.' Bradbury v. Idaho Judicial Council, 136 Idaho 63, 69, 28 P.3d 1006, 1012 (2001) (quoting Pace v. Hymas, 111 Idaho 581, 586, 726 P.2d 693, 698 (1986)). The Halvorsons argue that there is no rational basis for the mandatory fifty-foot width of Idaho's highways. However, the statement in Meservey provides exactly that rational basis: the statute fixes the width of highways at not less than 50 feet, and common experience shows that width no more than sufficient for the proper keeping up and repair of roads generally. 14 Idaho at 148, 93 P. at 785. The Highway District may require additional space beyond the edge of the traveling surface of the roadway for upkeep, repair, or improvements to the road and these are all factors that the legislature might reasonably have considered when establishing a statutory fifty-foot requirement for Idaho's highways. More importantly, to the extent that the Highway District's actions that led to the creation of Camps Canyon Road as a public highway deprived any person of a property right, the deprivation occurred no later than 1979, prior to the Halvorsons' acquisition of their property. The Halvorsons' purchase did not vest them with greater rights in the property than their predecessor possessed. The Halvorsons' other constitutional and administrative claims regarding Camps Canyon Road's width are defeated by the disposition of the other issues in this case. Because the road was established as fifty feet wide at the time it became a public highway, long before the Halvorsons bought the property, there has been no additional taking and the Halvorsons' claims are without merit, as discussed above. Similarly, the Halvorsons' predecessors had the right to be heard and were put on notice through the use of the road during that period. Due process has, therefore, been accorded. Finally, no additional administrative procedure was necessary to establish the width of Camps Canyon Road as that width was defined by operation of I.C. § 40-2312. We find that the district court properly concluded that all claimed injuries occurred within the Camps Canyon Road right-of-way.