Opinion ID: 2600153
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Adversity and Claim of Right

Text: In 1931, we formally recognized that the public must make some public claim of right in order to establish a prescriptive easement. [6] Mayer v. San Luis Valley Land & Cattle Co., 90 Colo. 23, 26, 5 P.2d 873, 874 (1931). However, we did not fully address this requirement until 1984 when we discussed public prescriptive rights generally in Simon v. Pettit, 687 P.2d 1299 (Colo.1984). In order to satisfy the requirements of section 43-2-201(1)(c), the public must use a road adversely, under a claim of right, and without interruption for the statutory period of twenty years, and the landowner knows of but does not object to the use. Id. at 1302. This quote appears before we began discussing the definition of a road in Simon. At that point in the opinion, we were first explaining the necessary elements for a public prescriptive right. Simon was published a week after Flickinger. As demonstrated by the commas in between the phrases, we clearly intended that adversity and claim of right constitute separate requirements for a public prescriptive right. We held that public maintenance of the road, or the inclusion of the road on a public road system map, would serve as strong evidence in favor of a public prescriptive right. Id. at 1303. Prior to the case now before us, the court of appeals has addressed the claim of right requirement as well as the adversity requirement. See Littlefield v. Bamberger, 32 P.3d 615 (Colo.App.2001). In Littlefield, the court of appeals recognized that a county's use and maintenance of a mail delivery route might qualify for a prescriptive easement, but upheld the trial court's determination that the evidence in the case did not support this conclusion. Id. at 620. In Alexander v. McClellan, 56 P.3d 102 (Colo.App.2002), the court of appeals affirmed the trial court order finding a public prescriptive right in the road at issue. Id. at 105. In support of its holding, the court of appeals cited to evidence showing continuous public use and maintenance of the road for at least the statutory twenty year prescriptive period. Several witnesses testified to the public's continuous use of [the road] and the [public] maintenance of it for over twenty years. [The landowner] even testified that he was aware of traffic on [the road]; he admitted that, prior to acquiring the disputed property, he saw approximately ten cars per week, in addition to regular school bus traffic, using [the road]. Id. at 104. In Board of County Comm'rs v. Kobobel, 74 P.3d 401 (Colo.App.2002), the claimants presented very little evidence of public use of the road, and no evidence of a public claim of right, therefore, no public road by prescription existed. Id. at 404-05. In State v. Cyphers, 74 P.3d 447 (Colo.App.2003), the court of appeals addressed both the issue of adversity and claim of right. Affirming the trial court's holding in favor of a public prescriptive right, the court of appeals deferred to the trial court's findings of fact of continuous public use and public use of the road without the landowner's permission. Id. In Board of County Comm'rs v. W.H.I., Inc., 992 F.2d 1061 (10th Cir.1993), the Tenth Circuit focused on whether the public had acquired a prescriptive right to a road pursuant to section 43-2-201(1)(c). Although the record was sparse on the issue, evidence did exist that the public used the road for the requisite period of time. Id. at 1065. The evidence also showed that the Board of County Commissioners had enacted a resolution declaring an intention to claim the road as a public road. The prescriptive period began, so the court ruled, when the Board passed its resolution. Id. at 1066. Although the resolution was improperly recorded, the court held the landowner to this notice of a public claim. Id. (Section 43-2-201(1)(c) does not require that public use be based on color of title or properly recorded resolutions. The [resolution served] to illustrate notice of adverse, open, and notorious use by the public.). While a public claim of right is a separate and necessary requirement for establishing a public prescriptive right to a road, the claim of right requirement is integrally intertwined with the adversity requirement. Sporadic use of the road is not enough to establish adversity or put the property owner on notice of a public claim of right. Turner v. Anderson, 130 Colo. 275, 274 P.2d 972 (1954). In Turner, we held that occasional use of the road by members of the public did not rise to the level of a prescriptive right. Id. at 278-79, 274 P.2d at 974 (a prescriptive right to the use of [a] road ... was not established by the evidence, because the use of said road was irregular, infrequent, sporadic, and far more permissive than adverse.). While evidence of a fence or gate on the road gives rise to a strong indication that any public use of the road is permissive, their existence does not provide the landowner with a conclusive presumption that the use is permissive. In Mayer v. San Luis Valley Land & Cattle Co., 90 Colo. 23, 5 P.2d 873 (1931), the landowners kept unlocked gates on the road at issue. When the landowners eventually locked the gates, the claimant brought an action seeking to have the road declared a public highway pursuant to section 43-2-201(1)(c). Id. at 24-26, 5 P.2d at 874-75. We observed that mere proof of public use of the land for the statutory period does not rise to the level of a prescriptive right. Id. at 26, 5 P.2d at 875. Addressing the requirement of adversity, we held that obstructing free travel with gates or fences will ordinarily prevent the public from acquiring a highway by prescription. Id. By constructing a gate across a road, a landowner conveys the clear message that any public use of that road is with the landowner's permission only; and the public's use is not adverse. In Martino v. Fleenor, 148 Colo. 136, 365 P.2d 247 (1961), we addressed the requirement of adversity and plainly held that public use for the prescriptive period is not alone sufficient to establish a public prescriptive right. Claimants, their relatives, friends, employees, and southern neighbors had used the road for more than forty-two years without the objection of the landowners. Because the landowners placed three wire gates across the road, thus obstructing travel, rendering the use permissive only, no public prescriptive right was established. Id. at 141-42, 365 P.2d at 250. Similarly, in Lang v. Jones, 191 Colo. 313, 552 P.2d 497 (1976), the road was consistently blocked by a gate, although the gate was not locked. Id. at 315, 552 P.2d at 499. The public's access was permissive because where gates obstruct free travel along the road, even if the gates are unlocked, the use of the road is not adverse. Id. Nevertheless, in Flickinger, we said that the existence of a gate did not give rise to a conclusive presumption of permissive use. There, the landowners used the gate to keep livestock in, rather than to keep the public out. Board of County Comm'rs v. Flickinger, 687 P.2d 975, 981 (Colo.1984). In Walter v. Hall, 940 P.2d 991 (Colo.App. 1996), the court of appeals followed our reasoning in Flickinger that evidence of a gate is not conclusive evidence that use was only permissive. Id. at 995. Similarly, in Littlefield v. Bamberger, 32 P.3d 615 (Colo.App.2001), the court of appeals again held that evidence of a fence, in and of itself, does not necessarily prove permissive use. Id. at 620.