Boykin v. Carbon County Board of Commissioners

2005 WY 158, 124 P.3d 677, 2005 Wyo. LEXIS 188, 2005 WL 3389666
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 13, 2005
DocketNo. 05-83
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 2005 WY 158 (Boykin v. Carbon County Board of Commissioners) 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
Boykin v. Carbon County Board of Commissioners, 2005 WY 158, 124 P.3d 677, 2005 Wyo. LEXIS 188, 2005 WL 3389666 (Wyo. 2005).

Opinion

KITE, Justice.

[¶ 1] After a contested case hearing, the Carbon County Board of Commissioners (Board) entered an order establishing a road, a portion of which crosses Randall K. Boy-kin’s land, as a county road and public right of way by adverse possession and prescription. Mr. Boykin filed a petition for review of the Board’s order in district court. The district court affirmed the Board’s decision and Mr. Boykin appeals the district court’s order. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶2] Mr. Boykin presents the following issues:

I. Are the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order entered by the Board of County Commissioners of Carbon County: (A) arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion or not otherwise in accordance with law; (B) in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority of limitations or lacking statutory right; (C) contrary to a constitutional right, power, privilege or immunity; (D) without observance of procedure required by law; or (E) unsupported by substantial evidence?
II. Can the county, by establishing a county road by prescription or adverse possession, expand the right of public use of the road beyond the use which has historically been made of the road?

The Board phrases the issues as:

1. Is there substantial evidence in the record supporting the Board of Carbon County Commissioners’ finding that County Road 648 was established under W.S. § 24-1-101 and the common law doctrine of adverse possession or prescription?
2. Are the rights to use a road acquired by a governmental entity under the common law doctrine of adverse possession or prescription limited to the road’s historical use?

FACTS

[¶ 3] Mr. Boykin owns property located in the NE1/4, T15N, R84W, in Carbon County; Wyoming. The road at issue in this case crosses Mr. Boykin’s property, passing between his ranch house and his barn. The road has existed in its present location for fifty years and the parties agree it has been used during that time by Mr. Boykin and his predecessors in interest, other landowners having property beyond the Boykin ranch to access their property, and the school district as a school bus route. The parties agree the road has also been used by the general public to some extent but disagree concerning how much the public has used it and during what time period.

[¶ 4] In 1999, the Board adopted and published Resolution 5, which was intended to identify all of the county roads in Carbon County. The road at issue here was one of the roads identified in the resolution as a county road.

[¶ 5] Sometime in 1999 or 2000, Mr. Boy-kin became concerned with what he perceived to be an increase in the general public’s use of the road. In May 2000, he posted no trespassing signs on the north and south boundaries of his property. In November 2001, the county removed the signs and told Mr. Boykin he could not post signs on a county road. The following May, Mr. Boykin filed a complaint against the county in district court. He sought judgment declaring the road was not a county road and quieting title in his name to the portion of the road located on his property.

[¶ 6] Although Resolution 5 identified the road as a county road in 1999, and people in the area historically referred to it as a county road, the Board took no formal action to establish it as a county road until after Mr. Boykin filed his action to have title to the road quieted in him. On November 19, 2002, the Board voted to formally establish the road as a county road by adverse possession or prescription pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 24-1-101 (LexisNexis 2005). In accordance with the statute, the Board published notice of its intent in the Rawlins Daily Times and the Saratoga Sun on December 11, 18 and 25, 2002. Mr. Boykin and the Kermit Platt Revocable Trust filed objections to the establishment of the road as a public right of way. Mr. Boykin’s action against [680]*680the county in district court was stayed pending the outcome of the Board’s proceedings.

[¶ 7] On October 28 and 29, 2003, the Board held a hearing on the objections. The county and Mr. Boykin presented evidence. Kermit Platt Revocable Trust, the other objector, did not appear at the hearing. On February 3, 2004, the Board entered findings of fact, conclusions of law and an order designating the road as a county road and public highway right-of-way pursuant to § 24-1-101(a) and the common law doctrines of adverse possession or prescription. Most significantly, the Board concluded from the evidence presented:

[T]he general public has openly, notoriously and continuously used the road for a variety of purposes for more than fifty years. In addition, Carbon County has openly, notoriously and continuously improved and maintained the road at public expense since 1973, and probably much longer. Although Boykin is entitled to a presumption that the general public’s use and Carbon County’s maintenance of the road were permissive, the proponent has established by a preponderance of the evidence that Carbon County regularly and exclusively improved, maintained and repaired the road from 1973 or earlier until 1985, a period in excess of ten years. Carbon County’s regular and exclusive maintenance of the road during this period was sufficient to place the adjacent landowners on notice that it was asserting control over the road in a manner that was inconsistent with their rights of private ownership. The adjacent landowners neither interrupted nor objected to Carbon County’s exclusive maintenance of the road prior to 1985. Instead, the adjacent landowners, including Boykin’s predecessor in title, relied upon Carbon County to maintain the road and, over time, came to believe that the road was a county road. Carbon County has successfully rebutted the presumption of permissive use in this case.

[¶ 8] Mr. Boykin filed a petition for review of administrative action in district court, raising the same issues he presents to this Court.1 Upon considering the parties’ briefs and arguments, the district court issued a decision letter upholding the Board’s findings. The district court stated:

While this Court may have some sympathy for the problems Boykin has encountered with the ever-increasing use by the public of the road in question, particularly where the road separates his house from the barn, it cannot substitute its judgment for that of the County in the face of the substantial evidence supporting the findings.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 9] Pursuant to § 24 — 1—101(b), Mr. Boykin’s appeal from the Board's decision to establish County Road 648 as a public road by adverse possession or prescription is governed by the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act. Therefore, we give no deference to the district court’s decision and consider the case as though it came directly from the Board. Lincoln County Bd. of Comm’rs v. Cook, 2002 WY 23, ¶ 33, 39 P.3d 1076, 1084 (Wyo.2002). Both Mr. Boykin and the county presented evidence at the hearing and so our review of the factual findings is limited to determining whether they were supported by substantial evidence. Kunkle v. State ex rel. Wyo. Workers’ Safety and Comp. Div., 2005 WY 49, ¶ 8, 109 P.3d 887, 889 (Wyo.2005). We have stated the substantial evidence test as follows:

In reviewing findings of fact, we examine the entire record to determine whether there is substantial evidence to support an agency’s findings.

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Bluebook (online)
2005 WY 158, 124 P.3d 677, 2005 Wyo. LEXIS 188, 2005 WL 3389666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boykin-v-carbon-county-board-of-commissioners-wyo-2005.