Busch v. Hurricane Deck Holding Co.

882 S.W.2d 723, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1240, 1994 WL 387438
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 27, 1994
DocketNos. 19002, 19004
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 882 S.W.2d 723 (Busch v. Hurricane Deck Holding Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Busch v. Hurricane Deck Holding Co., 882 S.W.2d 723, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1240, 1994 WL 387438 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

CROW, Judge.

Plaintiffs, Donald Edward Busch and Alta Wynnell Busch, husband and wife, sued Defendants, Hurricane Deck Holding Company (“HDHC”), Community Bank of the Ozarks, and Central Bank of Lake of the Ozarks, to establish a prescriptive easement for use of a roadway or, alternatively, a public road by common law dedication, across land owned by HDHC and encumbered by liens in favor of the banks. HDHC counterclaimed for breach of warranty of title. HDHC pled the claim was assigned to it by its predecessors in title, who could have asserted it against Plaintiffs.

The trial court heard the case without a jury and entered judgment for (a) Defen-’ dants on Plaintiffs’ petition, and (b) Plaintiffs on HDHC’s counterclaim.

Plaintiffs appeal from part “(a)” of the judgment; HDHC appeals from part “(b).” The issues presented by the appeals are easier addressed after a synopsis of the relevant evidence.

In 1941, W.H. McCorkle and his wife, Alta K. McCorkle, residents of Texas, bought a tract of land abutting the Lake of the Ozarks in Camden County. Plaintiff Alta Wynnell Busch (“Alta”), a daughter of the McCorkles, was born that year.

Alta testified she accompanied her parents on trips to the property from the time they bought it. Asked how frequently, she answered, “Probably on the average of two times a year, sometimes for a short period and others for as much as a month or two.”

An unpaved road crossed the tract at the time the McCorkles bought it. According to Alta, the road was then known as “Harmony Cove Road.”

Adjacent to the McCorkles’ tract, on land also abutting the lake, were a few rental cabins known as “LaHouquet’s Camp.” Alta recalled that the ownership of LaHouquet’s Camp changed in 1946. The new owners built a home, changed the name to “Harmony Cove Resort,” and continued renting the cabins to vacationers. On their trips to their property,, the McCorkles sometimes stayed at Harmony Cove Resort. Harmony Cove Road provided the only access to the resort.

About 1950 or 1951, Alta’s father began building a cabin on the McCorkle tract. When it was finished, they stayed there on their visits. They reached the cabin by Harmony Cove Road.

After Alta married, she, her husband and their children made trips to the cabin, reaching it by Harmony Cove Road.

Harmony Cove Resort remained in operation until sometime in the 1970’s. Throughout its existence, vacationers reached it by Harmony Cove Road.

On a date unrevealed by the record, but prior to July 28, 1981, W.H. McCorkle died. On July 28, 1981, his widow deeded the tract to the McCorkles’ three children: Alice Kathryn Stone, Jerry Willard McCorkle, and Alta.

[725]*725That trio owned the tract until November, 1984, when they divided it into two parcels. According to a survey, one parcel contained about 54 acres; the other, about 127.

The division was accomplished by two warranty deeds, each of which was signed by the trio and their respective spouses. By one deed, Alta and her husband, Plaintiff Donald Edward Busch, received the 54-acre parcel. By the other, Alice Kathryn Stone and Jerry Willard McCorkle — but not their spouses— received the 127-acre parcel.

The 54-acre parcel abuts what was formerly Harmony Cove Resort. Alta testified the resort land is now “privately owned individual properties.” The 54-acre parcel includes the site where Alta’s father built the cabin. Plaintiffs, who reside in Illinois, now have a trailer parked there.

Harmony Cove Road, as it proceeds away from the lake in a southwesterly direction across the 54-acre parcel, enters the 127-acre parcel. It continues generally south across the 127-acre parcel until it meets a county road identified as F-12-S. The intersection lies in the 127-acre parcel. Harmony Cove Road ends at the intersection.

Both of the 1984 deeds contained this proviso: “Subject to all restrictions, reservations, conditions and easements of record and to all existing roads and power lines, whether of record or not.”

According to one of HDHC’s pleadings, Alta’s brother, Jerry Willard McCorkle, and his wife subsequently deeded their interest in the 127-acre parcel to Alta’s sister, Alice Kathryn Stone, and her husband. We find no copy of that deed in the record.

The record does contain a warranty deed signed December 81, 1989, by Alice Kathryn Stone and her husband, conveying the 127-acre parcel to HDHC. That deed did not mention any existing roads.

Alta testified that she and her husband received a letter in March, 1991, from the president of HDHC “questioning our right to travel across the road.” Evidently, that led to this lawsuit.

A supervisor of the Camden County Road and Bridge Department testified that a part of Harmony Cove Road, beginning at its southern terminus at Road F-12-S and proceeding north, is now a . county road. It is designated F-12-SB. That came about at the instance of HDHC after it acquired the 127-acre parcel. Before that, none of Harmony Cove Road was a county road.

The segment of Harmony Cove Road that is now a county road does not extend completely across HDHC’s land to Plaintiffs’ land. The dispute in this case is about the segment that is not a county road, i.e., the segment extending northeasterly from the point where the county portion ends to the boundary of Plaintiffs’ land. We henceforth refer to that segment as “the disputed segment.”

The trial court ruled Plaintiffs failed to establish an easement by prescription over the disputed segment. The trial court also rejected Plaintiffs’ hypothesis that the disputed segment had become a public road by common law dedication. As to that theory, the trial court held:

“Clearly this road was never accepted by the Camden County Commission. Further, there was no evidence of any expenditure of public funds or labor on the road in question. Plaintiffs could not prove the establishment of a road under § 228.190, RSMo and so they alleged a common law dedication. One must examine the evidence to determine if the Plaintiffs proved an intent to dedicate the roadway and its use as a public road. The Court finds that the evidence was insufficient to establish the intent to make this a public road.”

The first of Plaintiffs’ three points relied on asserts the trial court erred in finding the evidence insufficient to establish the intent to dedicate the road to the public. Plaintiffs argue, “[Tjhe evidence presented by the Plaintiffs showing the intent to dedicate the road to the public was uncontrovert-ed, and met [their] burden of proof on this element as established by Missouri case law dealing with common law dedication of a road.”

Plaintiffs cite Whittom v. Alexander-Richardson Partnership, 851 S.W.2d 504, 507-08[4-7] (Mo. banc 1993), which holds:

[726]*726“Common law dedication awards the public the use of the land in dispute and is proven by showing: (1) that the owner, by unequivocal action, intended to dedicate the land to public use; (2) that the land dedicated was accepted by the public; and (3) that the land dedicated is used by the public. Haertlein, et al., v. Rubin, 195 S.W.2d 480, 483 (Mo.1946); Connell, et al. v. Jersey Realty & Investment Co., 352 Mo.

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Bluebook (online)
882 S.W.2d 723, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 1240, 1994 WL 387438, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/busch-v-hurricane-deck-holding-co-moctapp-1994.