Court Opinion

ID: 9645377
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:23:07.887742+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:26.909507
License: Public Domain

GOLDBERG, Justice,
with whom Justice LEDERBERG joins,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the decision of the majority finding that the state es*839tablished, by clear and convincing evidence that it had “acquired a portion of the lake bottom by adverse possession and that it had acquired, on behalf of the public, a prescriptive easement to use the boat ramp to access the lake for boating, fishing, swimming, and for other recreational purposes.” I do not believe that the majority has clearly defined the extent of the burden it has placed upon the servient estate. In my opinion the result in this case is the creation of a recreational easement upon the lake, with access through the boat ramp, to be enjoyed by anyone. I do not believe the facts in the record support such a broad grant that amounts to a prescriptive easement for recreational use on property indisputably held in private hands and for which the state never had claimed an interest and did so only after it was foiled in its attempts to purchase the lake.
A declaration of adverse possession of a portion of the lake bottom, coupled with a prescriptive easement to use the boat ramp should not amount to a recreational easement in the waters of the lake. Rather, a prescriptive easement to use the boat ramp merely provides for boat access to the lake and should not include the right to engage in any specific activity and certainly should not provide for any other access except the launching of boats. Further, in light of this Court’s obligation to create the least burdensome easement possible, the facts established at trial demonstrate that only abutting property owners and their legitimate customers and guests have used the boat ramp on a consistent basis and, in my opinion, the infringement should be restricted to the abutters. At best, the state failed to establish prescriptive use by anyone but actual abutters and legitimate occupiers of land abutting the lake. Indeed, the state produced only a single witness who was not an abutter who testified that he used the boat ramp for bass fishing on a sporadic basis. Every other user of the reservoir who testified in support of the state’s claims in this trial was an abutter or a customer of a commercial abutter. Bentel v. County of Bannock, 104 Idaho 130, 656 P.2d 1383, 1386 (1983) (“prescriptive easements are strictly limited to the actual use which gave rise to the easement”); Firebaugh v. Boring, 288 Or. 607, 607 P.2d 155, 157 (1980) (citing 5 Restatement of The Law of Property § 447 (1944); 3 R. Powell, The Law of Real Property § 416 (1979); 2 G. Thompson, Real Property § 349 (1961) (“the scope of the privilege of use arising from [a prescriptive] easement as against the owner of the servient tenement” is limited by the use which created it)); 25 Am.Jur.2d Easements and Licenses § 93 (1996) (when a “right of way is established by prescription, it is limited to the actual user * * * [a] use may be allowed [its] natural expansion in accordance with the purpose of the easement, but no greater burden may be placed on the servient estate.” A right of way by prescription is bounded by a line of reasonable enjoyment); see also McCullough v. Waterfront Park Association, Inc., 32 Conn.App. 746, 630 A.2d 1372, 1379 (1993) (citing Kuras v. Kope, 205 Conn. 332, 533 A.2d 1202 (1987) (stating that when an easement is created by prescription it must be reasonable and the least burdensome possible on the ser-vient estate)); and Klar Crest Realty, Inc. v. Rajon Realty Corp., 190 Conn. 163, 459 A.2d 1021, 1026 (1983) (quoting Kaiko v. Dolinger, 184 Conn. 509, 440 A.2d 198 (1981) (“[a] prescriptive right cannot be acquired unless the use defines its bounds with reasonable certainty”)).
It is axiomatic that one who obtains a right to pass and repass over the land of another does not ordinarily possess the right to conduct a specific activity or activities over the land by virtue of his right to *840traverse an easement. In my opinion, the decision of the majority amounts to a prescriptive easement for recreational use in this lake, a situation not favored in the law. See 25 Am.Jur.2d Easements and Licenses § 45 at 615 (1996) (“Prescriptive [easements] * * * are not favored in the law, since they necessarily work corresponding losses or forfeitures of the rights of other persons”).
It should be noted that the state claimed a recreational easement in the entire lake by virtue of “(1) riparian rights, (2) navigability and the public trust doctrine, (3) prescription, (4) adverse possession and (5) dedication has been interfered with [sic ].” The state’s proof failed miserably on a number of issues. First, although the state indicated both at trial and again at oral argument and the trial justice declared that the state was not litigating the rights of the so-called riparian owners and was only pursuing the rights of the public, the state nonetheless attempted to litigate the issue of riparian ownership rights. However, the evidence adduced at trial firmly established that these abutters for the most part,5 have no right to the shores of the lake because defendant corporation owns the land surrounding the lake and these properties merely abut the land of defendant corporation. Moreover, as defendant’s evidence established, the wharves that serve these properties and where many of these recreational vessels are moored during the season were, in fact, constructed with the express permission of defendant’s predecessor and extend into the lake at the sufferance of defendant. Indeed, although many of these witness-landowners may enjoy a right to launch their boats from the state’s boat ramp after today, they ultimately may find they have no wharf at which to dock them. Secondly, the state presented no evidence respecting its public duty and navigability claims. Thirdly, the state’s rather convoluted dedication claim was rejected by the trial justice out of hand. The state posited that, by virtue of the fact that the defendant corporation conveyed some waterfront lots, it made an implied dedication of the reservoir for public purposes, with an acceptance by the “public” of this dedication, similar to the dedication of streets in a subdivision. The trial justice appropriately noted that “[d]edication is an exceptional and unusual method of passing title to [an] interest in land” and will not be inferred from mere permissive use of unenclosed land. The trial justice concluded that the state produced no evidence that the landowner intended to offer the reservoir to the public and denied the claim. The state has not pursued this argument on appeal.6 Accordingly, the issues that are appropriately before this Court do not include a recreational easement and ought to be strictly limited to whether the placement and use of the boat ramp amounts to a prescriptive easement for boat access only.7
Further, I disagree with the majority’s reliance on a selective portion of the trial *841justices decision entitled “facts and travel” as the controlling findings in this case. With respect to the adverse possession claim the trial justice made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law in this case:

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

“The [c]ourt, in its consideration of the claims that the State has achieved for itself and for the general public, an easement by prescription in, on, over and across the full length and breadth of the lake, makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law based on its careful consideration of the credible evidence, exhibits, and testimony heard at trial and the entire record. That the lake is owned in fee simple by the Corporation, holding good, valuable and exclusive title in and to the waters of the said lake, the lake bed or land over covered by the waters of the lake and the dam designated as Rhode Island Dam # 016. That the lake is an artificially created body of water made by and for the exclusive purposes of the Corporation’s predecessors in title in 1860.
“That the State has failed to prove by a preponderance of the credible evidence in a clear and convincing fashion that the public or any individual member of such public has gained or achieved any right, title or interest in the lake for any purpose whether by prescriptive easement or adverse possession.
“The [cjourt finds that no witness for the State, or the general public, has proven by clear and convincing evidence that their collective or individual use of the lake was pursued under a claim of right or was in any way hostile, open, notorious, or adverse to the interests of the Corporation. The [e]ourt also finds that in the absence of such proof and in the face of the overwhelming credible evidence provided by the documentary evidence introduced at trial by the defense, that the Corporation is the owner of said lake as aforesaid, and that any use engaged in by any member of the public of the lake, whether swimming, boating, or fishing was done at the sufferance of, and with the permission of, the Corporation and its predecessors in title from the time of its lake’s [sic ] formation to the withdrawing of said permission by the defendant in 1997.
“The [c]ourt further finds that the State has failed to prove by a preponderance of the clear and convincing evidence that the State has achieved for itself an easement by prescription, over, on, or in the lake.
“The State’s witnesses have established only those contacts which are incidental to the normal and legitimate authority of the sovereign such as patrolling the lake to enforce the laws of the State, issuing permits for the use of the State boat ramp, periodic maintenance and repair of the boat ramp and the stocking of some species of fish on an occasional basis and inspection of the dam # 016.
“The [cjourt finds that the State’s assertion or claim of right to either adverse possession or a prescriptive easement to the lake is of recent vintage, well within the ten years required by law to establish a claim of that nature and that fact notwithstanding, the State in no aspect of this case established by clear and convincing evidence that its claim of interest in either the lake, lake bed, or dam, were in any way made under a claim of right, hostile, or adverse to the owner Corporation or its predecessors in title from the construction of the boat ramp to the present.”
*842This case is nothing more than a failure of proof on the part of the state that bore the heavy burden of establishing, by clear and convincing evidence that it possessed a portion of the lake bottom and had acquired a prescriptive easement to use the lake for recreational purposes and that its possession was open, notorious, hostile and under a claim of right for the full statutory period. See Burke-Tarr Co. v. Ferland Corp., 724 A.2d 1014, 1020 (R.I.1999); Palisades Sales Corp. v. Walsh, 459 A.2d 933, 936 (R.I.1983). It is fundamental that one who claims an interest in land through adverse possession bears a heavy burden of proof. See Donnelly v. Cowsill, 716 A.2d 742, 748-49 (R.I.1998) (actual, open, notorious, hostile and continuous use under a claim of right must be proven by clear and convincing evidence in order to establish an easement by prescription); see also Palisades Sales Corp., 459 A.2d at 936; Altieri v. Dolan, 423 A.2d 482, 483 (R.I.1980); Martineau v. King, 120 R.I. 265, 268, 386 A.2d 1117, 1119 (1978); Jerry Brown Farm Association, Inc. v. Kenyon, 119 R.I. 43, 51, 375 A.2d 964, 968 (1977); Russo v. Stearns Farms Realty, Inc., 117 R.I. 387, 391, 367 A.2d 714, 716-17 (1977); Foley v. Lyons, 85 R.I. 86, 90, 125 A.2d 247, 249 (1956); and see Daniels v. Blake, 81 R.I. 103, 109-10, 99 A.2d 7, 10-11 (1953) (“the admitted friendly relations between respondent and complainants while the latter were openly using the strip to pass to and from the shore and before they asserted the existence of a public easement tends to establish their use originally as merely permissive. We also think that the occasional passing of others to and from the shore was use of the same kind and not such as was calculated to put the title owner on notice that such passing was an adverse user under a claim of right”); Earle v. Briggs, 49 R.I. 6, 8, 139 A. 499, 500 (1927) (permissive use cannot ripen into an easement by prescription no matter how long it is continued); Tefft v. Reynolds, 43 R.I. 538, 542, 113 A. 787, 789 (1921) (the law presumes that a use originally permissive continues in the absence of conduct clearly indicating a change). Further, this Court has previously stated that,
“[U]nless the evidence also shows that [passers over a disputed strip of land] were adverse in the beginning they cannot avail these complainants in establishing a public easement by prescription. A use originally permissive cannot be converted into an adverse use by a later use and claim of that kind. The law presumes that a use originally permissive continues in the absence of conduct clearly indicating a change. * * * And such permissive use cannot ripen into an easement by prescription no matter how long it is continued.” Daniels, 81 R.I. at 109-10, 99 A.2d at 10-11.
There is simply no evidence in this case that demonstrates that the construction of the boat ramp was adverse at its inception.
The majority’s reliance on Talbot v. Town of Little Compton, 52 R.I. 280, 160 A. 466 (1932) and Burke-Tarr Co., 724 A.2d 1014 (R.I.1999) is incorrect and misplaced. Significantly, contrary to the majority’s conclusion, Talbot did not involve a prescriptive easement. Rather, the complainant, under the guise of a suit in equity to restrain a trespass was in actuality attempting to establish her own title to the disputed strip of land. Her efforts to establish record title failed because she was unable to demonstrate that she, not the town and the general public, actually possessed the property. The Court never declared a prescriptive easement on behalf of the town or anyone else; in reversing the decree of the trial court, this Court declared that legal title to the property rested with the Town of Little Compton on the ground that the town originally was *843under the jurisdiction of Plymouth Colony in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the land in question “was acquired by the original proprietors of Little Compton by deed of Constant Southworth, dated April 29, 1675.” Talbot, 52 R.I. at 287, 160 A. at 469. Further, the Court held that these proprietors were eventually given the status of a township named Little Compton, that eventually, in 1746, came under the jurisdiction of the State of Rhode Island. The Court noted that there was no evidence that the town ever conveyed the land to anyone and considerable evidence “tending to indicate that the land was never conveyed.” Id. Additionally, by way of dicta, the Court noted that the continuous and significant use of the beach by the town was also sufficient to establish an acquisition of title by adverse user, including a presumption of dedication of the common lands that the municipality held title to, in trust, for its inhabitants and the public. Significantly, the Court rejected the finding of the trial justice that the complainant held title acquired by adverse possession because “the great weight of the evidence shows that the town [and not the complainant] openly, notoriously and uninterruptedly used the entire tract under a claim of right for a length of time far in excess of the statutory period for obtaining title by adverse user.” Id. at 286, 160 A. at 468-69. I fail to see how this case has any relevance to the case at bar in which title to the lake has never been challenged, the state does not hold any title to this property, and the trial justice specifically found that the placement of the boat ramp was done with the permission of defendant’s predecessors.
I also disagree with the majority’s reliance on Burke-Tarr Co. as support for concluding that “[t]he facts in this case supporting the existence of a prescriptive easement are even stronger than they were in Burke-Tarr Co.” To begin with, the easement in Burke-Tarr Co. was for a six-inch underground pipe to supply water to Ferland’s entire apartment complex. There was no question that this installation was permanent and would be in constant use. Additionally, defendant had an existing right of way into the property under which most of the pipe was situated, with only a portion inadvertently extending under the leased seven and one-half-foot strip. Further, the plaintiff who negotiated the lease with Ferland testified at trial and never disputed Ferland’s claim of right to install the subterranean water line. At best, the plaintiff indicated that she was aware that a water line was installed under the existing right of way before it was repaved in accordance with the agreement of the parties. The trial justice rejected the claim of prescriptive easement and found that the installation “was at all times known by [Burke-Tarr] and was effected with [Burke-Tarr’s] tacit knowledge and consent,” and that she therefore “acquiesced to its location through the existence of the lease,” thereby defeating Ferland’s claim of prescriptive easement. Burke-Tarr Co., 724 A.2d at 1017, 1019. We rejected this finding for two reasons, first, the lease did not provide for the installation of subterranean drains and pipes and an inference of permissive use, which would defeat the element of hostile use, “cannot properly be drawn from the lone fact that the parties entered into a written lease for the seven and one-half foot strip of land,” (emphasis added) nor was plaintiffs “testimony that she was aware that a water line was being installed is not sufficient to establish that the water line was installed with her express or implied permission.” Id. at 1019. Significantly, the plaintiff never disputed Fer-land’s claim of right to install the water line under its own right of way, nor did she testify that the waterline was installed *844with her permission. This is inapposite to the ease before us, in which the state never made a claim of right nor did it present a scintilla of evidence that its construction of the boat ramp was hostile. Indeed, like the situation in Talbot, the evidence is quite to the contrary.
The trial justice found, and I wholeheartedly agree, that the state failed miserably in its attempt to meet its burden of proof. This failure, in my opinion, occurred because there is no evidence that the state did anything on that lake without the permission of the owners, express or implied. Indeed the trial justice specifically found as a fact that,
“the reasonable inferences to be drawn from the evidence adduced at trial as provided from testimony of the State’s primary witnesses * * * regarding the construction and maintenance of the boat ramp over some 32 years is that, until the controversy arose regarding the lake, generally in 1996-1997, the State asserted no right or property interest in the portion of the lake bed covered by the submerged portion of the boat ramp. There is no evidence that the State ever asserted or exercised any rights adverse to the owner of the lake bed.”
It is understandable that a fact-finder would wonder why the State of Rhode Island, the sovereign and the repository of all documents dealing with state property, including the construction of a boat ramp, could not produce a single piece of paper referring to this project. This is particularly telling when respondent has produced reams of solid evidence demonstrating that the lake owners jealously guarded their ownership of the lake and enjoyed a long-term, friendly and permissive relationship with the state through the plaintiffs predecessor agency. Significantly, as the trial justice noted, in 1938, the chief of the State Division of Fish and Game Department of Agriculture and Conservation, wrote to the owners of the lake concerning the low water level of the reservoir during a period when the dam was undergoing repairs and expressed his concern that the owners, like his agency “would be most anxious that nothing takes place in ponds or streams over which you had jurisdiction that would tend to destroy the fish life that makes up such a great part of the recreation for a large number of people.” (Emphasis added.) In their reply, the owners assured the state agency that the lake over which they had jurisdiction would be restored to its previous level after the necessary repairs were made to the dam. Further, the trial justice noted the numerous documents evidencing the fact that the corporation’s predecessor in title frequently granted permission to use the lake to individuals and groups that established a continuous record of active and affirmative control of the lake from 1937 through 1983 and informed the plaintiff or its predecessor of these grants. The trial justice referred to a series of letters that were introduced into evidence, establishing that abutting landowners frequently requested permission of the owners to construct retaining walls or wharves in front of their property, but on land controlled by the corporation, and noted that the response from the corporation to each request clearly outlined the rights retained by the corporation. Included in these exhibits are letters written in 1953 in which the owners reluctantly denied several requests for permission to construct retaining walls and wharves on various properties surrounding the reservoir, and concluded that if the water level in the reservoir was increased to the extent of the corporation’s flowage rights, abutting property would be adversely affected. The owners’ rationale for refusing these requests was:
*845“The dam at Pascoag Reservoir was built for the sole purpose of storing water to be used for industrial purposes by the several mill sites who own and control the operation of the Reservoir. The Reservoir Corporation has never relinquished any of its flowage rights which it has held since 1860 although we have tried through the years to be very considerate of the campers around the Reservoir, but all of them would be well advised to always keep in mind the prime purpose of the Reservoir.”
Thus, as of 1953, there was no question that the owners were cognizant of the full extent of their ownership rights and had every intention of asserting those rights when appropriate. Further, in 1962, three years before the construction of the boat ramp, the owners of the lake wrote again to the State Division of Harbors and Rivers (the same state agency that purchased the lot in 1964 and erected the boat ramp in 1965) and indicated that, as the entity that controls the water rights of the Pas-coag Reservoir, permission had been given to the Pascoag Ski Club to hold an exhibition of water skiing events at the Reservoir on August 26, 1962.8 The abundant evidence in the record that clearly demonstrated that the owners of the lake routinely granted permission to members of the public to use the reservoir for recreational purposes, defendant’s permissive relationship with the state and the lack of any evidence supporting the state’s position led the trial justice to draw the only reasonable inference in this case: that the placement of the boat ramp and the collective and individual use of the reservoir was not done under a claim of right but rather these activities were done with the permission of the owners, thereby defeating the state’s claim of adverse possession and prescriptive easement.
This Court frequently has held that a trial justice sitting as a fact-finder is charged with the duty to draw inferences from established facts and that his or her “conclusion will be accepted by this [Cjourt if the inference he [or she] drew was reasonable even though other equally reasonable inferences might have been drawn.” Jerry Brown Farm Association, Inc., 119 R.I. at 51, 375 A.2d at 968; see also Belliveau Building Corp. v. O’Coin, 763 A.2d 622, 626 (R.I.2000) (espousing the well-settled principle that this Court will not disturb the findings of fact of a trial justice sitting without a jury in a civil matter unless such findings are clearly erroneous or unless the trial justice overlooked or misconceived material evidence); see DiLuglio v. Providence Auto Body, Inc., 755 A.2d 757, 765 (R.I.2000); Paradis v. Heritage Loan and Investment Co., 701 A.2d 812, 813 (R.I.1997) (mem.); Harris v. Town of Lincoln, 668 A.2d 321, 326 (R.I.1995); Gross v. Glazier, 495 A.2d 672, 673 (R.I.1985); Lisi v. Marra, 424 A.2d 1052, 1055 (R.I.1981). Here, the majority is rejecting this very reasonable inference drawn from the overwhelming proof in favor of defendant and instead, drawing its own inference to support the desired result. This is contrary to our established precedent and, based on the failure of the state’s proof in this case, is not warranted. See Providence & Worcester Co. v. Exxon Corp., 116 R.I. 470, 485-86, 359 A.2d 329, 338 (1976) (trial justice’s conclusions will be accepted by this Court if the inference was reasonable, even if other equally reasonable inferences could be drawn).
Accordingly, the trial justice found that the state had failed to meet its burden of *846establishing by clear and convincing evidence, the actual, open, notorious, hostile and continuous use under a claim of right on behalf of the general public simply by virtue of a boat ramp constructed in 1965 and the fact that people who resided around the reservoir used the ramp to launch their boats. The trial justice rejected the state’s claim of an easement by prescription in light of the well-accepted rule that prescriptive rights are not favored in the law because they work a forfeiture on the rights of landowners. Here, the trial justice found that the state failed to demonstrate that the placement and use of the boat ramp was by claim of right. Indeed, he found it to have been at the sufferance of the owners and further found that the state failed to produce any evidence to the contrary. The record is clear that not a single witness testified about the circumstances that led to the construction of the boat ramp, and no witness even suggested that its placement or the use of the lake by the public was by claim of right. Indeed, a fair reading of the record in this case suggests that the state was stunned by the voluminous documentary proof offered by the respondent establishing a long history of beneficence toward the abutters and the public to use and enjoy the reservoir. Tellingly, the argument by the state sums up the result the majority has reached today:
“Well, the mills have gone south and times have changed, so what is the economic utility of this [reservoir] now? It’s to support residential subdivision along the shores.”
In my opinion, the owner should be compensated.
Finally, the trial justice also appropriately concluded that the state’s claim of a prescriptive easement is of recent vintage and was the result of unsuccessful efforts to reach an amicable resolution between defendant and the state with respect to a prospective purchase of the lake coupled with the state’s demand that defendant undertake a multimillion-dollar dam rehabilitation project. The trial justice noted that in 1998, the state dam inspector sent a letter to the attorney for the corporation, noting that respondent was the owner and/or operator of the dam and included a series of recommendations for the maintenance of the dam. The state also sent a pamphlet entitled “Dam Ownership, Responsibility and Liability,” which forewarned defendant that any problem with the dam would result in the imposition of strict liability for damages.
On April 22, 1998, a temporary restraining order was entered in the Superior Court, enjoining and restraining the corporation from any unauthorized alterations of the freshwater wetlands on the property surrounding the reservoir without prior approval of DEM, including but not limited to draining the water from the reservoir and returning the gate of the dam to its previous setting. A supplemental restraining order was entered on April 27, 1998, ordering that DEM be given access to the gate of the dam, and the gatehouse, no more than twice per day for inspection purposes. On June 30, 1998, a justice of the Superior Court gave respondent the full responsibility to regulate the gates of the dam and insure that the reservoir maintained a specified water level at all times. On August 13, 1999, that same justice of the Superior Court entered a temporary restraining order enjoining and restraining the corporation from interfering with the operation of the gate of the dam, thereby preventing respondent from raising or lowering the water level in the reservoir. Further, on July 8, 1998, a preliminary injunction was granted ordering the corporation to maintain a particular water level from March 1 to October 15, and another level was to be maintained *847for the remainder of the year. On October 28, 1998, the trial justice found that respondent was in violation of the July 8, 1998 order and ordered the corporation or its agents to manipulate the gates of the dam to reduce the water level for the reservoir to achieve and maintain a particular water level. All these orders were entered at the instance of the state and were intended to maintain the water level in the reservoir at a level conducive to boating activities during the spring and summer and to drain the reservoir during the winter for the convenience of the abut-ters. Thus, respondents have been placed in the unenviable position of bearing strict liability for any damage resulting from a failure of the dam, have been burdened with an easement for recreational boating over the entire lake and because of this easement, have been precluded from draining the lake to avoid these hazards. This is the very situation that the corporation sought to avoid, as evidenced by letters dating as early as the 1950’s, in which the corporation expressed concerns about people infringing on their property rights without permission, thus imposing liability on the corporation. The result created by the majority amounts to a taking by the state without compensation.
In his conclusion, the trial justice stated,
“It is well recognized by this [cjourt that Echo Lake, so called, has played an important role in the lives of many citizens of Rhode Island. This [c]ourt has determined that its use by the public has been permissive through the assent of both the defendant Corporation and its predecessors in title. Private property rights are among the most important and hallowed rights enjoyed by citizens of this State. It is beyond this [c]ourt’s authority to deprive a private landowner of the rights inherent in ownership because a landowner has chosen to allow others to benefit from his property. To do so would be to penalize the generosity of private landowners.”
I agree with the findings of the trial justice and am of the opinion that the decision of the majority is incorrect and unjust. Consequently, I dissent.

. This situation may be different with respect to those owners who acquired lots directly from the defendant corporation.

. This claim has been transmuted into an estoppel argument, not raised below, that the combination of public use and overt acts by the private landowner that give rise to reasonable reliance amounts to an estoppel that works to preclude defendant from denying the public nature of the reservoir. Obviously, the issue is not appropriately before the Court and flies in the face of the state's assurances that it was not litigating the rights of the lakefront owners.

.Indeed, the state acknowledges this in its brief when it cites to the testimony of John O’Brien, the deputy chief in the Division of Fish and Wildlife who testified that the purpose of the boat ramp was to provide boating access to the water.

. The trial justice found this exhibit to be in direct contradiction to a witness for the state "who testified that he was involved in these ski exhibitions for three years and never sought or received permission from the Corporation to hold these water ski events.”