Brizendine v. Paitsel

108 S.E. 842, 130 Va. 639, 1921 Va. LEXIS 182
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedSeptember 22, 1921
StatusPublished

This text of 108 S.E. 842 (Brizendine v. Paitsel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brizendine v. Paitsel, 108 S.E. 842, 130 Va. 639, 1921 Va. LEXIS 182 (Va. 1921).

Opinion

Saunders, ,J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal from a decree of the Circuit Court of Roanoke county, pronounced at its January term, 1921, establishing the right of the appellee (F. A. Paitsel) to the use of a roadway across the lands of the appellant, Mrs. M. Z. Brizendine, and directing the said M. Z. Brizendine to remove any and all obstructions in and across the roadway referred to in complainant’s bill, and to permit said complainant to have the free and unrestrained use of said roadway, as the same appears upon a survey filed with the deposition of R. E. Magee, and made a part of this record.

This, decree was entered in a suit brought by F. A. Paitsel (appellee) against the said M. Z. Brizendine (.appellant) alleging that he^was entitled to the roadway, supra, described as a “right of ingress and egress through and over the road lying between Rowan and Williamson, and also over and through the lands of C. T. Lukens, sold by Mrs. Gertrude Watts to the said Lukens.”

Paitsel was the vendee of one Harriet McGeehan, who was the vendee of Mrs. Watts. Rowan is the same as Brizendine, the Brizendine tract having been bought by the former, and conveyed by Mrs. Watts to the latter. Williamson was a contiguous owner to the Watts land, his farm adjoining that portion of the said Watts land which was later conveyed to Mrs. Brizendine. After setting up in detail the grounds on which a roadway was claimed through the Brizendine tract, complainant proceeded to allege that Mrs. Brizendine, or some one acting for her, had [641]*641obstructed this road by erecting a fence across its course, thereby completely blocking same. An injunction was asked against this interference, and an order directing Mrs. Brizendine to remove the obstructions.

The defendant answered this bill, denying that she had closed, or interfered with, a public roadway, or the private right of way of the complainant, or of any other party. As, affirmative matter, the answer alleged that defendant’s fence, as shown by her plat, was on her line. The case was heard upon the bill, answer, exhibits and depositions, and the decree, supra, was awarded. From this decree an' appeal was secured by Mrs. Brizendine, and the entire controversy is now before this court for review and determination.

The roadway set out in the bill of complaint lies between the curved lines on the survey referred to, supra. This survey will be reproduced later in the appropriate connection. The history of the roadway is as follows:

Some years ago J. Allen Watts owned a large boundary of land north of the village of Big Lick, later to become the city of Roanoke. At the beginning of the year 1906, Mrs. Gertrude Lee Watts, in her own right and as executrix of J. -Allen Watts, was seized and possessed of a large part of this Watts land, and in her own right and as executrix she thereafter sold off from the inclusive boundary so held by her various small parcels to successive vendees. The first of these sales was made as of February 8, 1906. By deed of that date Mrs. Watts conveyed to Mrs. Zadok Brizendine a small parcel of land, containing two and one-tenth aeres, more or less. The metes and bounds of this tract are given in the deed, and the description concludes as follows: “And containing 2.104 acres, as is shown by the map which is hereto attached, and made a part of this deed.” It will be observed that this tract was not sold subject to a right of way for the benefit of the balance of Mrs. Watts’ lands. [642]*642The map which was referred to and made a part of the above deed shows a road eighteen feet wide, north of and entirely outside of Mrs. Brizendine’s land, and lying between her land and the Williamson land. This map which was made by Mcllwaine & Smith, civil engineers, and identified by Smith in his deposition in the case, is reproduced at this point.

In this connection the following citations are made from the testimony of the witness Smith:

Direct Examination.
“Q. I here hand you a plat, or survey, made by Mcllwaine & Smith, and ask if you are the same Smith there mentioned ?
“A. I am.
“Q. Did you make that plat, and if so, did you do the surveying from- which the plat was made ?
[643]*643“A. Yes.
“Q. Does that plat correctly show the land of Mrs. Z. Brizendine?
“A. Yes. It does according to the description in the deed.”

On February 27. 1906. Mrs. Watts conveyed to Harriet McGeehan a tract of ten acres, a portion of the Watts land, swpra. This deed contains the following grant of a right of egress and ingress over the road between Williamson and Rowan (i. e. Mrs. í rizendine).

“The said McGeehan is hereby expressly granted the right of ingress and egress through and over the road lying between said Rowan and Williamson; and also over and through the lands of C. T. Lukens, sold by the said Watts to the said Lukens.”

This right of egress and ingress is not given, or undertaken to be given over the land sold to Mrs. Brizendine, but is “through and over the road (italics supplied) between said Rowan and Williamson” — that is to say, through and over the road lying between the lands of said Rowan (i. e.: Brizendine) and Williamson.

It seems to have been the practice of Mrs. Watts to make and deliver a map, or plat, of the land sold, as a part of her conveyance. The description of the land sold to Harriet McGeehan concludes with these words: “As shown by plat hereto attached and which is made a part of this deed.” This map is herewith reproduced.

It will be noted that this map shows an eighteen foot road, but the northern edge, or line, of this road is apparently coincident, for a distance not indicated, with the outside boundary of the Williamson land.-

The salient facts relating to the roadway across the land of Mrs. Brizendine are that at one time, when the lands afterwards sold to F. A. Paitsel, Mrs. Brizendine and C. T. Lukens were component parts of the Watts farm, there was [644]*644a farm road beginning on the said farm, and in its course running successively in the order of the above names, over the lands subsequently sold to said parties. This road was

used by Col. William Watts and his successors in title to the Watts lands as an outlet on that side of the farm to the turnpike.

In this connection the following extracts from the testimony of C. T. Lukens will be helpful:

[645]*645 Examination of C. T. Lukens.
“Q. Did the south line of the Williamson estate join the southeastern part of the Watts farm?
“A. It did, yes.
“Q. Is there an old fence along that line?
“A. Yes, there is a fence there.
“Q. About how old is that fence?
“A. I don’t know; it has been there ever' since I have known that. farm., i think, in a more or less condition, it has been there twenty-five years or longer. It has been there ever since I have known the place.
“Q.

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Bluebook (online)
108 S.E. 842, 130 Va. 639, 1921 Va. LEXIS 182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brizendine-v-paitsel-va-1921.