Carlson v. Water Unlimited, Inc.

822 P.2d 1278, 1991 Wyo. LEXIS 196, 1991 WL 275623
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 30, 1991
Docket90-216, 90-217
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 822 P.2d 1278 (Carlson v. Water Unlimited, Inc.) 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
Carlson v. Water Unlimited, Inc., 822 P.2d 1278, 1991 Wyo. LEXIS 196, 1991 WL 275623 (Wyo. 1991).

Opinions

GOLDEN, Justice.

An appeal and a cross-appeal are taken from a judgment in a declaratory judgment action in which the trial court was called upon to declare the parties’ rights and duties under a water right agreement dated August 15, 1977.

The action was filed by Mr. and Mrs. Louis W. Carlson, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Egge, and Mr. and Mrs. Donnie Patton, each of whom own certain parcels of property which on August 15, 1977, comprised the Mountain View Trailer Court owned only by Carlsons. Water Unlimited, Inc. (W.U.), a Wyoming corporation, owns Carlson well No. 1, which is the source of the water right referred to in the agreement in question. In the action, W.U. filed a counterclaim seeking payment for the water furnished the Egges and the Pattons since they each became owners of their respective parcels of property.

The Carlsons, Egges, and Pattons asserted that the water right agreement was unambiguous and prevented W.U. from imposing any water line maintenance fee on the Egges and Pattons until such time as the Carlsons were no longer the owners of any parcel of the property that once comprised the Mountain View Trailer Court. Disputing that assertion, W.U. claimed that the water right agreement was ambiguous. Additionally, W.U. claimed that extrinsic evidence showed the parties to the agreement intended it to mean that once the Carlsons sold to any third party any part of the property comprising the Mountain View Trailer Court, then W.U. could charge the third party a water line maintenance fee based upon the amount of water consumed by the third party.

The trial court found that the water right agreement was ambiguous, took extrinsic evidence, and found in favor of W.U. Because of proof problems on the counterclaim, the trial court directed the parties to determine a price for the water consumed or, failing in that effort, to return for a hearing on that issue. The Carlsons, Egg-es, and Pattons appeal from that judgment. W.U. appeals from that part of the judgment directing the parties to determine a price or return for a hearing, claiming that it proved its monetary entitlement at trial.

We reverse the trial court’s judgment since our holding is in favor of the Carl-sons, Egges and Pattons and their construction of the water right agreement. We remand with direction to enter judgment in their favor in accordance with this opinion.

FACTS

In 1954, Mr. and Mrs. Carlson owned the Mountain View Trailer Court property (hereinafter called original property) described as follows:

[1280]*1280Lots 10 through 15, in Block 9, and Lots 1 through 10, in Block 10 of Duff Grey Addition, and Lot 1 in Block 17, and Lots 1, 2 and 3, in Block 18 of Washington Park Addition, in the City of Newcastle, Weston County, Wyoming.

On this property they built a brick home and established two trailer courts, one designated as Mountain View Trailer Court and called part A of the original property, and the other designated as Carlson Court and called part B of the original property.

From 1954 until 1962, the Carlsons obtained water for their home and trailer court tenants from the City of Newcastle. In April 1962, they drilled and completed an artesian well, identified as Carlson No. 1, that produces a flow of 1,500 gallons per minute. They constructed a pipeline to serve their property and discontinued the city water service.

In 1966, the Carlsons, Mr. and Mrs. Warren Voss, and Forest E. Ryder formed Water Unlimited, Inc. As shareholders, the Carlsons owned forty percent, the Vosses fifty percent, and Ryder ten percent. The purpose of the corporation was to market Carlson No. 1 water.

At a shareholders meeting on May 24, 1970, they resolved that water rights be granted to lands owned by the Vosses and to “Mountain View Trailer Park and all land adjacent thereto owned by” the Carl-sons. There was to be no charge for the water rights until the landowners “should sell their interest in the above lands to third parties.” In that event, a line maintenance fee of “15<p per 1000 gallons used” would be charged, that charge to be adjusted annually. At buyer’s expense, a meter was to be installed at the time of sale.

In the summer of 1977, the Carlsons negotiated with Peter Field for the purchase of their stock in Water Unlimited, Inc. On August 9, 1977, at a special shareholders meeting, the sale of Carlsons’ stock to Field was approved. On August 15, 1977, the water right agreement, the interpretation of which is at issue, was executed by the Carlsons and W.U. See Appendix A of this opinion.

In December, 1977, the Carlsons sold their brick house to Mrs. Egge. In February, 1978, the Carlsons also sold to Mrs. Egge part A of the original property. In January, 1988, the Egges sold to the Pat-tons (Mr. Patton is Mrs. Egge’s son) an interest in a portion of part A of the original property. Mr. Patton then took over management of the trailer court on part A. Thus, the Carlsons still own and live at part B (Carlson Court) of the original property, the Egges own and live in the brick house located on the original property and with the Pattons own an interest in part A of the original property.

In May, 1989, W.U. made demand on the Egges for $13,600 for water supplied to them since 1977. In June, 1989, W.U. notified the Egges that in August it would begin charging them for water usage at the rate of $8 per trailer per month. The Egges next received water useage bills covering the months of September and October, 1989, in the amounts of $240 and $248, respectively.

Meanwhile, on September 19, 1989, the Carlsons, Egges, and Pattons filed their declaratory judgment action against W.U. seeking a declaration of the meaning of the water right agreement. W.U. filed its counterclaim on October 26, 1989. On April 5, 1990, in denying a motion for summary judgment filed by the Carlsons, Egg-es, and Pattons, the trial court held that the water right agreement was ambiguous. The parties tried the case on July 5, 1990, and, on July 19, 1990, the trial court entered its judgment. These appeals followed.

DISCUSSION

The Carlson group contends the water right agreement is unambiguous and, as applied to the dispute between the parties, means that W.U. cannot impose a line maintenance charge on the Egges and Pat-tons until the Carlsons or their heirs no longer own any parcel of the original property. The trial court disagreed, as did W.U., and construed the agreement, with the aid of extrinsic evidence, to allow W.U. to impose the line maintenance charge on [1281]*1281the Egges and the Pattons from the dates on which they acquired their respective interests in the parcels of the original property-

This court has said,

[wjhether ambiguity exists is a question of law. We are, therefore, at liberty to make a determination as to the existence of ambiguity whether or not the parties here agree thereto one way or the other, and whether or not the trial court has reached a conclusion thereon one way or the other.

Amoco Production v. Stauffer Chemical Co. of Wyoming, 612 P.2d 463, 465 (Wyo.1980) (citations omitted). In determining whether an ambiguity exists, we apply those well-established principles set forth in numerous Wyoming decisions and nicely summarized in Amoco:

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Carlson v. Water Unlimited, Inc.
822 P.2d 1278 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
822 P.2d 1278, 1991 Wyo. LEXIS 196, 1991 WL 275623, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carlson-v-water-unlimited-inc-wyo-1991.