Court Opinion

ID: 9541970
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:30:16.118155+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:05:30.572768
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice,
dissenting.
I cannot agree with the decision in this case according to the majority opinion. I am satisfied the trial court and this court have placed this jurisdiction in the minority with respect to the acquisition of an easement right-of-way by adverse possession. Annotation, Loss of Private Easement by Nonuser or Adverse Possession, 25 A.L.R.2d 1265, 1329 (1952). In relying upon Kolouch v. Kramer, 120 Idaho 65, 813 P.2d 876 (1991), the trial court and this court have rested upon unstable ground.
Kolouch expanded upon Castle Associates v. Schwartz, 63 A.D.2d 481, 407 N.Y.S.2d 717 (1978). The Idaho court and this court both ignored the severe limitation placed upon Castle Associates by the New York Court of Appeals in Spiegel v. Ferraro, 73 N.Y.2d 622, 543 N.Y.S.2d 15, 17, 541 N.E.2d 15, 17 (1989):
A narrow exception to this general rule [an easement created by grant may be extinguished by adverse possession] has evolved with regard to the extinguishment of easements that have not been definitively located through use. In Smyles v. Hastings, 22 N.Y. 217, 224, we held that an easement that was not so definitively located through use and which lead to a “wild and unoccupied” parcel, was not extinguished by adverse possession because the owner of the easement had had no occasion to assert the right of way during part of the prescriptive period. Relying on Smyles, the Appellate Division has held that such “paper” easements may not be extinguished by adverse possession absent a demand by the owner that the easement be opened and a refusal by the party in adverse possession (Castle Assocs. v. Schwartz, 63 A.D.2d 481, 490, 407 N.Y.S.2d 717; see also, Powlowski v. Mohawk Golf Chib, 204 App.Div. 200, 198 N.Y.S. 30; Consolidated Rail Corp. v. MASP Equip. Corp., 109 A.D.2d 604, 606, 486 N.Y.S.2d 4, aff'd. on other grounds 67 N.Y.2d 35, 499 N.Y.S.2d 647, 490 N.E.2d 514). In Castle, the court held that an easement created by grant as the result of a subdivision, but never located, was not extinguished by adverse possession because the owner of the easement had never demanded that the easement be opened.
Then, following the language quoted by the majority, slip op. at 11, the New York Court of Appeals reversed a holding by the Appellate Division that denied extinguishment of an easement and ruled the case did not fall within the Castle exception.
In this case, the trial court found, among other things:
2. That the legal description for the previously described easement by deed is set forth as follows:
“The North 20 feet of S1/2NW1/4; The North 20 feet of SW1/4NE1/4 and the West 20 feet of the north 338.8 feet of the SE1/4NE1/4 of said Section 30, Laramie County, Wyoming.”
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4. That the above described easement has been fenced off since the Defendant, Dale H. Mueller’s purchase of the servient estate on May 21,1969. In addition, Dale H. Mueller has cultivated the area encompassed by the easement with crested wheat.
5. That in November of 1977, the Defendant, Dale H. Mueller drilled a water well within a portion of the area encompassed within the above described easement. This water well has never become operational.
*511While the trial court also found Mueller’s conduct of fencing off and cultivating the easement was not sufficient to result in forfeiture of the easement by adverse possession, that conclusion is clearly contrary to the rule of adverse possession in vogue in Wyoming, articulated in Doenz v. Garber, 665 P.2d 932 (Wyo.1983). The clear implication of Doenz is that fencing plus cultivation results in gaining title in fee by adverse possession.
My analysis of Kolouch leads me to conclude the Idaho court was reasoning to a decision that ingress and egress to a valuable commercial project should be protected. It would have been well advised to at least acknowledge that it was expanding upon the ratio decidendi of Shelton v. Boydstun Beach Ass’n, 102 Idaho 818, 641 P.2d 1005 (Ct.App.1982), by alluding to the record in Shelton to incorporate information not contained in the reported decision. Shelton, of course, follows the majority rule and affirms a ruling of extinguishment by the trial court.
The product of the majority decision in this case is to adopt as the rule in Wyoming for extinguishment of an easement by adverse possession a very narrowly confined rule in New York as it apparently has been liberalized by the Idaho court. Consequently, the rule of adverse possession for acquiring fee title to land in Wyoming is disparate and quite different from the rule with respect to extinguishing an easement by adverse possession. I can find no logic or justifiable public policy in this departure. To the extent the decision appeal's to be justified by Joe Johnson Co. v. Landen, 738 P.2d 711 (Wyo.1987), my disagreement with the majority in that case is recorded and, at the very least, I would limit it to its unique facts.
In the instant case, the majority reversed that aspect of the trial court’s decision which extinguished the easement for 100 feet on the east, west, and south of the well. The trial court’s decision in that regard clearly is justified by the majority rule with respect to permanent structures in the claimed easement. Annotation, 25 A.L.R.2d 1265. I would affirm that part of the trial court’s decision, but I would reverse the ruling that the balance of the claimed easement had not been extinguished by adverse possession. The other property owners are not without remedy in Wyoming (Ferguson Ranch, Inc. v. Murray, 811 P.2d 287 (Wyo.1991)), and holding that the entire easement has been extinguished avoids the anomaly of requiring an action for a private road to fill in the remaining 200 feet. Furthermore, extin-guishment of the entire easement comports with the usual rule in Wyoming with respect to adverse possession.
I would reverse and remand and order the entry of judgment that the entire easement had been extinguished by adverse possession.