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

Heading: Requirements for Obtaining a Public Road by Prescription

Text: The claimant of a prescriptive right for a public road across private property has the burden of proving compliance with the requirements for such a right by a preponderance of the evidence. [3] In Board of County Comm'rs v. Flickinger, 687 P.2d 975 (Colo. 1984), we construed section 43-2-201(1)(c) to require the claimant to meet a three-part test for the establishment of a public road by prescription: (1) members of the public must have used the road under a claim of right and in a manner adverse to the landowner's property interest; (2) the public must have used the road without interruption for the statutory period of twenty years; and (3) the landowner must have had actual or implied knowledge of the public's use of the road and made no objection to such use. Id. at 980 (emphasis added). The first part includes both adversity and claim of right. Flickinger presented a factual situation very different from the case before us now. In 1953, the county included the road as part of the county road system. [4] After proper notifications and hearings, the Board adopted the map as the official map of the Saguache County road system. Because the road was now included in the county road system, it became eligible for state maintenance funds and Saguache County began receiving funds in order to maintain the road. Id. at 978-79. During the 1960s and 1970s, county employees graded the road using county equipment several times. Additionally, the county installed two culverts under the road in 1953, and cleared snow from the road at the request of local ranchers. The Flickingers were always aware that the public used the road for recreational purposes and that governmental employees used it to access adjacent federal land. The Flickingers knew that public employees were keeping the road in good repair. Some users sought the Flickingers' permission to use the road; most did not. Id. at 979-80. Occasionally the Flickingers had to tell users to leave their property if they camped on it or left trash, but they never interfered with the use of the road until 1977. In 1977, because of concerns about the increasing number of people crossing their property via the road, the Flickingers locked an existing gate. In 1978 the Department of Highways struck the road from the public highway inventory and ceased contributing payment of funds to Saguache County to maintain the road. Id. at 979. Saguache County then sought an injunction barring the Flickingers from locking the gate to prohibit public access to the road. Ruling that the road was indeed a public road by prescription, the trial court issued the requested injunction. Id. at 980. We affirmed under section 43-2-201(1)(c), holding that this section codifies the common law method by which the public can obtain a property interest for a public road by prescription. We identified the requirements necessary for such an acquisition: the public must have used the road: (1) under a claim of right and in a manner adverse to the landowner's property interest; (2) without interruption for the statutory period of twenty years; and (3) the landowner had actual or implied knowledge of the public's use and did not object to such use. We added that when a claimant shows that the use has continued for the prescriptive period of time, the claimant is afforded a presumption that the use was adverse. [5] Id. The Flickingers argued that the gate at the foot of the road prevented the public from establishing the requirement of adversity, despite the fact that they had never locked the gate until 1977. We concluded that the placement of the gate does not conclusively establish the character of the public use as permissive and nonadverse. A gate, in other words, may be erected for purposes other than obstruction of public travel. Id. at 981. The evidence in Flickinger showed that the primary purpose of the gate was to benefit a rancher who used the Flickinger's property as pasture for his livestock. Additionally, since the Flickingers had never made any attempt to lock the public from their property prior to 1977, we concluded that the purpose of the gate was to keep livestock away from a nearby highway, not to keep the public off of the Flickingers' land. Id. We held that sufficient evidence existed to find that the public had used the Flickingers' road under a claim of right and in a manner adverse to [their] property interests since at least 1953. Id. at 980. The evidence showed that the county asserted the public character of the road when it incorporated it into the county road system. In addition: (1) the county received state funds to maintain the road; (2) the public continuously entered the property and used the road for recreational purposes as well as to access adjacent lands; and (3) the Flickingers had actual knowledge of the public use of the road and generally acquiesced in it. Id. at 981. Hence, both the requirement of adversity and the requirement of a claim of right were met in regard to a prescriptive right for a public road on Flickingers' property.