Berg v. Ting

850 P.2d 1349, 68 Wash. App. 721, 1993 Wash. App. LEXIS 55
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedFebruary 16, 1993
DocketNo. 29351-6-I
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 850 P.2d 1349 (Berg v. Ting) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Berg v. Ting, 850 P.2d 1349, 68 Wash. App. 721, 1993 Wash. App. LEXIS 55 (Wash. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

Pekelis, J.

Norman and Marjorie Berg appeal from an order granting summary judgment in favor of Robert Y. and Kathy Ting and dismissing the Bergs' action to quiet title to an easement across the Tings' property. The Bergs contend that the trial court erred in concluding that (1) the descriptions of the servient estate did not satisfy the statute of frauds, (2) the inadequate descriptions were not subsequently cured, and (3) the Bergs were not entitled to equitable relief. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I

The Bergs filed this action to quiet title to an easement across the Tings' property. The Tings' property is located [723]*723directly northeast and adjacent to the Bergs' property. In 1983, the Tings' property (hereinafter referred to as the "Cahill property") was owned by John L. and Beverly J. Cahill. Situated directly northeast and adjacent to the Cahill property was a parcel of property owned by Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth Hanson (Hanson property), who had signed a contract that year to sell it to Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Young.

Later that year, the Cahills and Youngs together submitted an application to the City of Seattle (City) for a short plat that would enable them to subdivide the Cahill property and the Hanson property. They proposed subdividing the two properties into seven lots to be accessed by a 20-foot-wide private driveway. Of the seven proposed lots, five were to be located on the Hanson property and two were to be located on the Cahill property.

The Bergs publicly opposed the short plat application. They wrote letters of opposition to the City and to other neighborhood property owners and expressed their opposition at neighborhood meetings. However, in a 1984 meeting with the Cahills and the Youngs, the Bergs orally agreed to withdraw their opposition to the short plat application in exchange for a grant of an easement down the subdivision's private driveway and across the Cahills' property to their own property. On March 3, 1984, the parties executed a document memorializing their agreement along with a document granting the easement. The Bergs thereafter dropped their opposition to the application.

Shortly afterward, on April 25, 1984, the City gave conditional approval to a modified version of the short plat application. The conditionally approved plan still contemplated seven lots. However, the lots were reconfigured.

On June 8, 1984, the parties executed an updated agreement prepared by the Bergs' attorney, in which the Cahills and Youngs agreed to execute and deliver a grant of easement in favor of the Bergs in exchange for the Bergs' discontinuance of their opposition to the short plat application. The grant of easement was executed on the same day. Paragraph 5 of the grant of easement provided as follows:

[724]*7245. Grant of Easement. For value received, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged by Grantors, Grantors hereby grant, convey and warrant to Grantees and their licensees, invitees, heirs, successors and assigns a perpetual nonexclusive easement in, under and over the following tracts:
TRACT A: The area designated as the private driveway across Lots A, B, C and F, the exact location of which shall be determined by reference to the conditionally granted Application when the same is finally approved and recorded; and
TRACT B: That portion of Lots F and G of the Short Subdivision applied for under the Application as the same is finally approved and recorded situated between the private driveway referred to in TRACT A above and the shore of Lake Washington, the upland boundary of which portion shall be a line commencing at the northwest comer of Lot G and running southerly to the point of intersection with the southerly boundary of the private driveway referred to in TRACT A above, thence westerly 50 feet along the southerly boundary of said private driveway, thence southerly, in a line parallel to the westerly boundary of Lot G, to the southerly boundary of Lot F;
to provide ingress and egress and for utilities to and for the benefit of the Berg Property, ....

(Italics ours.) The grant also provided that:

A. With respect to Tract B, Grantees shall have the right,... to locate and construct a 20-foot road across Tract B between any point on the private driveway referred to in Tract A and Grantees' property line. . . .

Moreover, the grant provided that, in the event of litigation, the prevailing party would be entitled to costs and attorney fees. The grant of easement was recorded on June 18, 1984.1

On May 2, 1988, the City granted final approval of the short plat application. The finally approved application was somewhat different from the conditionally approved application. Specifically, the approved application eliminated one of the seven lots, changed the lot designations, and shortened the private driveway referred to in tract A by 30 feet while [725]*725extending lot F approximately 30 feet in a westerly direction. The finally approved application was recorded on May 6, 1988.

Later that year, on October 6, 1988, the Cahills sold their property to the Tings. The deed to the property did not refer to the Bergs' easement. Shortly after the Tings closed the transaction, Norman Berg mentioned the easement to Robert Ting. However, the Tings subsequently refused to acknowledge the easement.

In March of 1990, the Bergs brought this action to quiet title to the easement across the Tings' property. The Bergs and the Tings then cross-motioned for summary judgment. The Bergs argued that the grant of easement was valid as a matter of law because the parties intended to create an easement. In a supporting affidavit, Norman Berg stated his belief that the easement "would go down the private roadway of the subdivision and over the back of the Cahill property to the edge of our property." He also stated that "I intended that if the subdivision configuration were to change prior to final approval, the easement description would change in a corresponding manner so as to go down the subdivision roadway as finally approved (tract A) and still go across the same back portion of the original Cahill property (tract B)." He stated further that:

In the negotiations leading up to the granting of the easement, I discussed with the Cahills and agreed with them that the upland border of Tract B of the easement was to be fixed to coincide with (i) the top of the steep slope on the Cahill property and (ii) the top of the narrow concrete road that zig-zags down the steep slope on the Cahill property, so that my wife and I would have the right to tie into that existing concrete road at any point along its length.

Attached to Berg's affidavit was a map on which he highlighted what he said was the intended location of tracts A and B.

The Bergs also submitted several other affidavits in support of their motion.2 The affidavit of Steven A. Hitchings, a [726]*726licensed land surveyor, stated that the location of tracts A and B as described in the grant of easement was clear to him. According to Hitchings, any "ambiguities exist only if an interpretation other than the most obvious and reasonable one is given to the words used in the description of the tracts."

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Related

Berg v. Ting
886 P.2d 564 (Washington Supreme Court, 1995)
Sea-Van Investments Associates v. Hamilton
861 P.2d 485 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
850 P.2d 1349, 68 Wash. App. 721, 1993 Wash. App. LEXIS 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berg-v-ting-washctapp-1993.