Opinion ID: 1219632
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Use of Easement By Third Party

Text: Although it is clear that the Irrigation District could make modifications to the ditch, it is unclear whether an easement holder may grant a license to third party to use the easement for its own purposes. While the district court held that the modifications made to the Savage Lateral do not create an additional burden to the servient estate, the district court failed to make an express determination of whether the school district had the right pursuant to the license agreement with the Irrigation District to make the modifications to the lateral on Abbotts' land. Since this is a question of law, we will exercise free review. This is an issue of first impression in this state. In this case the irrigation ditch easement is granted to the Irrigation District. As such it does not serve any land directly and is an easement in gross. The difference between an easement appurtenant and an easement in gross is summed up as follows: An easement . . . appurtenant is one whose benefits serve a parcel of land. More exactly, it serves the owner of that land in a way that cannot be separated from his rights in the land. It in fact becomes a right in that land and, as we shall see, passes with the title. Typical examples of easements appurtenant are walkways, driveways, and utility lines across Blackacre, leading to adjoining or nearby Whiteacre. Easements . . . in gross are those whose benefits serve their holder only personally, not in connection with his ownership or use of any specific parcel of land. . . . Examples are easements for utilities held by utility companies, street easements, and railroad easements. R. Cunningham, W. Stoebuck and D. Whitman, The Law of Property § 8.2, p. 440 (Hornbook Series Lawyer's Edition (1984)); see also Nelson v. Johnson, 106 Idaho 385, 679 P.2d 662 (1984). Easements in gross are personal to the holder, and determining whether a third party's use of that easement is an enlargement of the easement can be a difficult question. The authors of The Law of Property state the following: For easements or profits in gross, which have no dominant tenement, the corresponding question is whether they may be divided or apportioned by being transferred to more than one person. . . . The underlying problem is that, to allow more than one person to use an easement or to exploit a profit when it was created for only one, may work a surcharge or additional burden upon that granted. The key to solving the problem is to determine what is the measure of the easement or profit. When the grantee received an exclusive easement or profit, the right to make sole use of the easement or to take all of a substance from the land, then he may transfer to as many other persons as he wishes. No surcharge is worked by the division because any number of grantees cannot use any more than was granted; the measure was all. Similarly, it should follow that if the creating instrument established an absolute measure less than all, such as so many passages per day or so many tons of rock per day, the right may be divided. Usage by the several grantees could not exceed that granted. Divisibility problems are acute when the easement or profit is not exclusive and does not contain an absolute measure. Examples are an easement of passage or a right to remove rock. Courts sometimes say flatly that a non-exclusive easement of profit is not divisible. It seems more accurate, however, to say that whether a non-exclusive easement or profit may be divided depends ultimately upon the grantor's intent. If the creating instrument contains language that shows he anticipated or was willing that it might be divided, then it may be . . . . The fact that an easement for profit is non-exclusive is a powerful factor tending to show, or even raising a presumption, that divisibility was not intended, but it is not always conclusive. R. Cunningham, W. Stoebuck and D. Whitman, The Law of Property § 8.11, pp. 462-663 (Hornbook Series Lawyer's Edition (1984)). In this case the trial court expressly found that the School District's use of the Irrigation District's easement on Abbotts' property was consistent with the Irrigation District's easement and that there was no enlargement of the easement. The School District used the easement in a manner allowed by the easement grant and the School District did no more than the Irrigation District could have done on Abbotts' property. In this case the placement of a cement inlet collar and trash screen are consistent with the use of the irrigation ditch. The trial court found that the placement of the cement collar and trash screen on Abbotts' property was not an enlargement of the burden to Abbotts' property. Where the findings of the factfinder are supported by substantial, competent, though conflicting evidence, they will not be set aside on appeal. Stout v. Westover, 106 Idaho 533, 681 P.2d 1008 (1984). This holding is not inconsistent with the license agreement which states that the license is only for the benefit of the School District. Although the placement of the cement collar and trash screen on Abbotts' property benefits the School District directly, and the Irrigation District benefits indirectly from the improvement to its structure as well as from the promise from the School District to maintain the underground system. The irrigation district obviously could not allow a utility company to use its easement for a power line or a cable television firm to utilize the ditch easement because the addition of power lines and poles would certainly not be within the scope of the easement. The addition of a cement collar and safety screen on Abbotts' property however, is consistent with the nature of the irrigation ditch use and, as the trial court held, is not an expansion or enlargement of the easement or the burden on the servient estate. Placement of irrigation ditches in underground pipes or addition of gates, collars and safety screens, is common and necessary in modern irrigation practices and the finding of the district court that the improvements made to the irrigation ditch on Abbotts' property is not an expansion or enlargement of the easement it supported in the record and will not be disturbed on appeal. Thus, we hold a third party may obtain a license from an easement holder to use the easement without the notice to and consent from the servient estate owner so long as, and expressly provided that, the use of the easement is consistent with and does not unreasonably increase the burden to the servient estate.