Berthel Land & Livestock v. Rockies Express Pipeline LLC

2012 WY 52, 275 P.3d 423, 2012 WL 1175023
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedApril 10, 2012
DocketS-10-0227, S-10-0228
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 2012 WY 52 (Berthel Land & Livestock v. Rockies Express Pipeline LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Berthel Land & Livestock v. Rockies Express Pipeline LLC, 2012 WY 52, 275 P.3d 423, 2012 WL 1175023 (Wyo. 2012).

Opinion

GOLDEN, Justice.

[T1] Berthel Land and Livestock (Ber-thel) entered into a Pipeline Easement Agreement (Agreement) with Rockies Express Pipeline (Rockies Express). After completion of the pipeline, Berthel filed an action against Rockies Express asserting claims for breach of contract and fraudulent inducement. The breach of contract claims alleged a failure to remove rock from the property and a failure to provide required as-built drawings of the completed pipeline, and the fraudulent inducement claim alleged that Rockies Express never intended to remove the rock as required by the Agreement.

[T2] The district court granted Berthel summary judgment as to liability on the breach of contract claims, but required a trial on damages on those claims, and denied summary judgment on the fraudulent inducement claim. After a bench trial, the district court found that Berthel had not proven its fraudulent inducement claim or its damages for the rock removal breach. The district court awarded damages for the as-built drawings breach, but at a lesser amount than Berthel requested. Berthel appealed, and Rockies Express cross-appealed.

[T3] We affirm the district court's decision on the fraudulent inducement claim and rock removal damages. We affirm in part and reverse in part the award of damages for the as-built drawings breach.

ISSUES

[T4] Berthel presents the following issues on appeal:

I. Did the district court err as a matter of law by interpreting that the pipeline easement agreement T8(m), requires removal of "surface" rocks only?
II. Are the district court's factual determinations concerning damages for 1 8(m), rock removal, and/or 18(q), as-built survey, clearly erroneous?
III. Is the district court's conclusion that fraudulent inducement was not committed clearly erroneous?

[T 5] In its cross-appeal, Rockies Express presents these issues:

1. Did the trial court commit error by granting summary judgment for Berthel on the issue of liability for failure to provide Berthel with an as-built survey?
2. Did the trial court commit error by granting summary judgment for Berthel on the issue of liability for failure to remove rocks from the easement?
3. Did the trial court commit error by allowing evidence of "bids" from Berthel's contractors and engineers that failed to reflect the correct measure of damages?

FACTS

[T6] Berthel owns an 11,192-acre ranch located between Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyoming. In 2006, Berthel and Rockies Ex *428 press entered into a Pipeline Easement Agreement (Agreement), which, in exchange for $200,000, granted Rockies Express an approximately 3.5-mile easement through Berthel's land for the construction and operation of a natural gas pipeline. The Agreement provided for a 125-foot wide temporary easement during construction and a 50-foot wide permanent easement after construction.

[T7] Rockies Express completed construction of the pipeline in late summer of 2007. In September 2007, Berthel filed the present action alleging that Rockies Express failed to remove rock from the premises, as required by the Agreement, and failed to provide an as-built survey that would allow Berthel to determine the full distance covered by the pipeline, also as required by the Agreement. Berthel also alleged a claim for fraudulent inducement, contending that Rockies Express never intended to remove rock from the premises and fraudulently induced Berthel to sign the Agreement with its false representation that it would remove the rock.

[T8] The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, and the district court, the Honorable Edward Grant presiding, granted those motions in part and denied them in part. The court found no genuine issue of material fact as to whether Rockies Express violated the rock removal and as-built survey provisions of the Agreement. In so ruling, the district court did not explain the basis for its decision or provide its interpretation of the applicable Agreement provisions. The district court found genuine issues of fact as to the fraudulent inducement claim and ordered that the fraudulent inducement claim and Berthel's damages with respect to all of its claims be set for a bench trial.

[T9] Upon Judge Grant's retirement, the Honorable Thomas Campbell presided over the case, and on January 19-21, 2010, a bench trial was held. At the conclusion of the bench trial, the district court entered a decision letter ruling as follows:

® With respect to the rock removal claim, the court interpreted the Agreement to require removal of only the surface rock greater than two inches in diameter. The court agreed with Berthel that the measure of damages should be the cost of repairs, but it awarded no damages because Berthel had failed in its proof. The court found that Berthel had offered damages evidence only on the cost of removing both surface rock and subsurface rock to a depth of two feet, without separating out the cost of removing just the surface rock, and there was therefore no evidence from which the court could calculate damages.
e With respect to the as-built survey claim, the court also based its damages calculation on the cost of repair, or, that is, the cost to Berthel to have an as-built survey completed. Berthel presented evidence that that cost would be $75,284.65, and that was the amount it requested in damages for the as-built survey breach. The court concluded, though, that Berthel's proposed approach of having a backhoe dig 245 holes down to a natural gas pipeline to determine its depths and contours was dangerous and unreasonable. The court thus eliminated that cost item from the damages, substituted the cost of an alternative pipeline detection method, and awarded damages of $42,820.00.
e With respect to the fraudulent inducement claim, the district court concluded that Berthel had failed to prove any element of its claim and entered judgment for Rockies Express.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¥10] Because this case was tried to the court, we apply the following standard of review:

Following a bench trial, this court reviews a district court's findings and conclusions using a clearly erroneous standard for the factual findings and a de novo standard for the conclusions of law. Piroschak v. Whelan, 2005 WY 26, ¶ 7, 106 P.3d 887, 890 (Wyo.2005).
The factual findings of a judge are not entitled to the limited review afforded a jury verdict. While the findings are presumptively correct, the appellate court may examine all of the properly admissible evidence in the record. Due *429 regard is given to the opportunity of the trial judge to assess the credibility of the witnesses, and our review does not entail re-weighing disputed evidence. Findings of fact will not be set aside unless they are clearly erroneous. A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.

Piroschak, ¶ 7, 106 P.3d at 890.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2012 WY 52, 275 P.3d 423, 2012 WL 1175023, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berthel-land-livestock-v-rockies-express-pipeline-llc-wyo-2012.