Baumbach v. Poole

511 P.2d 1219, 266 Or. 154, 1973 Ore. LEXIS 341
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 19, 1973
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 511 P.2d 1219 (Baumbach v. Poole) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baumbach v. Poole, 511 P.2d 1219, 266 Or. 154, 1973 Ore. LEXIS 341 (Or. 1973).

Opinions

McAllister, j.

This is an action for trespass allegedly committed by defendant during the construction of a roadway on an easement over plaintiffs’ property. The jury awarded plaintiffs $4,000 compensatory damages and $1,000 punitive damages. Defendant appeals. We reverse only as to the punitive damages.

The easement starts on the west at a public road and runs easterly through lands owned by persons not parties to this action, thence for about 1,450 feet through plaintiffs’ land and ends on the east at the boundary of defendant’s property. The easement was surveyed in 1959 and the survey filed with the county surveyor. The easement is described in defendant’s deed as being 25 feet on either side of a described center line. Plaintiffs purchased their property on a contract which, after a description of the property, recited:

“TOGETHER with and SUBJECT to an easement [156]*156to be used in common with others over the 50 foot roadway as surveyed in July of 1959, file No. 3059, Clackamas County Surveyors Office, in the County of Clackamas and State of Oregon.”

In 1969 defendant decided to subdivide his land and learned that in order to do so he would have to provide a better road than the one then in use which, for the most part, followed the surveyed easement referred to above. Defendant discussed with his neighbors the advisability of constructing a new road by using the old road in some areas, the easement in some areas, and a new route in some areas. He was unable to secure their consent however and decided to build a new road within the easement using some parts of the existing road which lay within the surveyed easement.

The complaint alleged that the trespass was intentional and malicious and damaged plaintiffs’ property by removing lateral support, by constructing slopes that encroached on plaintiffs’ land, by depositing fill and debris on plaintiffs’ land, by causing surface water to accumulate on plaintiffs’ property, by removing a number of trees from plaintiffs’ land and by placing an unauthorized fence on plaintiffs’ property. It was alleged that as a result of the trespasses the market value of plaintiffs’ land was decreased by $7,675. Plaintiffs demanded that amount in compensatory damages and $5,000 in punitive damages.

The defendant first attempts to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict for compensatory damages by assigning as error the denial of his motion for judgment n.o.v. or for a new trial. This court has repeatedly held that the suf[157]*157ficieney of the evidence to support a verdict cannot he raised for the first time by a motion for judgment n.o.v. or for a new trial, but must be raised during the trial by a motion for a nonsuit or by a motion for a directed verdict. See Paul v. McCudden, 256 Or 143, 471 P2d 437 (1970); Clariso v. Spada Distributing Co., Inc., 231 Or 516, 520-521, 373 P2d 689 (1962); Schafer v. Fraser, 206 Or 446, 489-490, 290 P2d 190, 294 P2d 609 (1955). Since the defendant did not move for a nonsuit or directed verdict we are unable to further consider this assignment of error.

However, because of the theory on which the case was tried in the court below, we think it well to point out that, even if properly raised, defendant’s first assignment of error would have no merit. The case was tried on the theory that in constructing the road defendant was restricted to the fifty-foot easement. Defendant did not contend that he had a right to build a fifty-foot roadway and to also require plaintiffs, as the servient owners, to furnish slope easements or permit defendant to deposit surplus soil adjacent to the right of way.

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Baumbach v. Poole
511 P.2d 1219 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
511 P.2d 1219, 266 Or. 154, 1973 Ore. LEXIS 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baumbach-v-poole-or-1973.