Court Opinion

ID: 9479582
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:22:28.962623+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:08.021879
License: Public Domain

BRUNETTI, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I disagree with the majority’s holding that the Army’s erection of a fence, gate and guardhouse next to the roadway was insufficient to put a reasonable landowner on notice of a claim. As the district court noted the fence, guardhouse and gate manifest a government claim of right to control access to the roadway, whether exercised or not.
The majority incorrectly interprets Park County as holding that the government must manifest a claim of interest in a right of way by an actual physical interference or a complete prohibition of the public’s use to the roadway. In Park County we stated that the posted sign “put [the appellants] on notice that the United States claimed control over at least a substantial portion of the right-of-way. This claim should have put the appellants on constructive notice and alerted them to make reasonable inquiry as to the remainder of the purported right-of-way.” Park County, 626 F.2d at 721 n. 6. We held that the statute of limitations contained in the Quiet Title Act barred the county’s suit even as to the portion of the road in front of the rock barrier and sign which was not blocked or posted. Id. at 721.
As in Park County, Shultz and his predecessors in interest were alerted by the fence, gate and guardhouse to make a reasonable inquiry as to the government’s *1162claim to an interest in the roadway behind the structures. The Army need not have blocked Shultz’s or his predecessors’ path in order to communicate an interest in the roadway. The interest was amply shown by the structure and “should have put the appellants on constructive notice and alerted them to make reasonable inquiry as to the [government’s claim].” Id. at 721 n. 6.
Neither the open gate structure in this case or the painted boundary lines in Howell v. United States, 519 F.Supp. 298, 304 (N.D.Ga.1981), physically prevent the public use of the government property, but the open gate like the painted boundary line gave notice of the government’s claimed ownership of the road.
I disagree with majority’s conclusion that the construction of a gate and guardhouse next to a roadway indicates only the military’s interest in securing the adjoining property. True, the closing of the gate also blocks access to the land adjoining the road, but that is irrelevant to the notice given by the structure that the gate can block use of the road. Access can not be had to the adjoining land without using the road. If the government had wanted to block access to the adjoining land, they could have fenced it off from the road without erecting a guardhouse and gate to block the road.
The Brockman affidavit, submitted by Shultz, states that the military fenced the road and “allow[ed] us to use” it. Accordingly, there is no genuine issue of fact as to the permissive use of the roadway by Shultz and his predecessors nor is there a genuine issue of fact that Shultz and his predecessors had reason to know of the government’s claim of a right to control access to the roadway.
Because I would hold that the structures sufficiently manifest the government’s claim to the roadway, the factual issues of when the government imposed a pass requirement or restricted access is not material. I would affirm the district court.