Opinion ID: 2544453
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: responsibility for maintenance of easement

Text: WRC contends that, even if it owns implied easements to drain surface water under Wailea Elua, the trial court erred in ruling that WRC was partly responsible for repairing and maintaining the easements. According to WRC, the trial court erroneously relied upon Henmi in its ruling. WRC is incorrect. The transcript indicates that the trial court relied on Henmi primarily for determining the existence of the easements in the first placenot for determining who was responsible for maintaining them. See supra at 104, 58 P.3d at 615 (the Hawai`i test [to determine whether an implied easement exists] seems to be really a more general test according to the intent of the parties); Henmi, 3 Haw.App. at 559, 655 P.2d at 885 (Whether an implied easement exists depends on the intent of the parties as shown by all the facts and circumstances under which the conveyance was made.). As COL No. 6 clearly indicates, the trial court's determination that WRC was responsible for sharing maintenance costs of the pipes was based upon Levy v. Kimball, 50 Haw. 497, 443 P.2d 142 (1968), and Powers v. Grenier Construction Inc., 10 Conn.App. 556, 524 A.2d 667 (1987). See supra at 105, 58 P.3d at 616. In Levy, the plaintiff fell while walking on the top of a seawall. Levy, 50 Haw. at 497-98, 443 P.2d at 143. The State of Hawai`i owned an easement over the seawall that had been obtained for the purpose of providing a path for public travel. Id. at 498, 443 P.2d at 144. The plaintiff sued the State, alleging that it had negligently maintained the wall. See id. In determining that the State had negligently maintained the wall, this court noted that [i]t is a well established rule that an owner of an easement has the right and the duty to keep it in repair. Id. Similarly, in Powers, the owner of the dominant estate, which possessed an express and implied drainage easement over the servient estate, was held liable for damages caused by failing to repair the drainage system on the servient estate. Powers, 524 A.2d at 668-69. Although Levy and Powers sound in torta circumstance in which one would expect most such cases to arise,they are consistent with the general equitable principle that the users of an easement have an obligation to help maintain the easement so as not to unreasonably burden the servient estate. According to Restatement (Third) of Property [hereinafter, Restatement ] § 4.13(1) comment b (1998): If the servient estate is being used by the servitude owner in common either with holders of other similar servitudes or with the owner of the servient estate, the owner of the servitude does not have an affirmative duty to make repairs, but does have a duty to contribute to the reasonable costs of repairs or maintenance undertaken by others. (Emphasis added.) In this case, the easement is being utilized by both the easement holder (WRC) and the servient (the Association). Accordingly, WRC has a duty to contribute the reasonable costs of repair and maintenance undertaken by the Association. See also Nixon v. Welch, 238 Iowa 34, 24 N.W.2d 476, 481 (Iowa 1946) (the owner of an easement in a drainage ditch was responsible for the cost of clearing it); Rehwalt v. American Falls Reservoir District No. 2, 97 Idaho 634, 550 P.2d 137, 139 (1976) (the owner of an easement for an irrigation canal and maintenance road had a duty to maintain and repair the easement so as not to create a burden on the servient estate). Thus, the trial court did not err in ruling that WRC was partly responsible for paying for the maintenance and repair of the drainpipes. Justice Ramil's concurring opinion contends that WRC owns Easements 61, 62, and 63 by express grant. We respectfully disagree. Initially, we note that the parties did not argue before the trial court, nor do they argue on appeal, that ownership of the easements was expressly conveyed to WRC. Nevertheless, as noted supra, Easements 61, 62, and 63 were expressly made appurtenant to Wailea Alanui Drive. However, nothing in the record indicates that the easements were made an express part of the conveyance of the Golf Course to WRC. Accordingly, there is neither evidence nor argument that WRC owns the easements by virtue of an express grant.