Fike v. Shelton

860 So. 2d 1227, 2003 WL 22290101
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedOctober 7, 2003
Docket2002-CA-00668-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 860 So. 2d 1227 (Fike v. Shelton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fike v. Shelton, 860 So. 2d 1227, 2003 WL 22290101 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

860 So.2d 1227 (2003)

John D. FIKE, Appellant,
v.
James B. SHELTON, III, Appellee.

No. 2002-CA-00668-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

October 7, 2003.

*1228 John D. Fike, Pro Se, attorney for appellant.

John Hinton Downey, Jackson, attorney for appellee.

Before McMILLIN, C.J., THOMAS and CHANDLER, JJ.

CHANDLER, J., for the court.

¶ 1. James B. Shelton, III filed a complaint in the Chancery Court of Hinds County for establishment of an easement. Shelton named John D. Fike, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors and any parties interested in the property formerly owned by Levi Sturgis, Sr. as defendants in the action. Shelton petitioned the chancery court to decree an easement by necessity across the Fike and Sturgis properties or, alternatively, if the court held that Shelton was required to proceed under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 65-7-201 (Supp.2002), that the court order the board of supervisors to construct a private road. Shelton and Fike agreed to a bifurcated hearing in which the court would first rule as to whether Shelton was entitled to an easement. If the court ruled that Shelton was entitled to an easement, the court would then reconvene to decide *1229 the remaining issues of width, nature and location of the easement.

¶ 2. In the first hearing, the chancery court held that Shelton was entitled to an easement by necessity across the Fike and Sturgis properties. At the second hearing, the court ordered that the easement should be fifty feet wide. The ditches, shoulders and width of the road were limited to twenty-five feet with the remaining width to be used for utilities and making repairs. Feeling aggrieved, Fike appeals the following errors to the Court:

I. WHETHER THE AWARD BY THE CHANCELLOR OF AN EASEMENT BY NECESSITY TO APPELLEE WAS IMPROPER AND AN ABUSE OF THE COURT'S DISCRETION AS APPELLANT PROVED APPELLEE HAD ACCESS AND PERMISSION TO USE OTHER AVAILABLE ROUTES FOR INGRESS AND EGRESS INTO HIS PROPERTY.
II. WHETHER APPELLEE HAD PROPER STANDING BEFORE THE CHANCERY COURT AS HE FAILED TO EXHAUST ALL MANDATORY ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES PRIOR TO FILING LITIGATION, AND FAILED TO JOIN ALL NECESSARY PARTIES TO HIS SUIT.
III. WHETHER THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN AWARDING APPELLEE A FIFTY FOOT WIDE UTILITY EASEMENT OVER APPELLANT'S PROPERTY WHEN STATUTORY AUTHORITY ONLY ALLOWS FOR INGRESS AND EGRESS.
IV. WHETHER THE CHANCELLOR ABUSED HIS DISCRETION BY FAILING TO AWARD APPELLANT COMPENSATION FOR THE TAKING OF HIS PROPERTY.

¶ 3. Finding no merit to any of the issues, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 4. Shelton purchased forty acres of real property in Raymond, Mississippi that has no road access. Shelton's forty acres were at one time two separate twenty acre tracts of land, although Shelton purchased both twenty acre tracts together as one and on the same date. This appeal centers around which twenty acre tract of the forty acres provides Shelton with an easement by necessity through adjoining property.

¶ 5. Shelton asserted that he was entitled to an easement by necessity through Fike's property because twenty acres of Shelton's forty acre parcel were at one time part of a commonly-owned tract of land with the Fike property prior to its partitioning in 1932. Shelton's twenty acre tract that was in common ownership with the Fike property is hereinafter called parcel one. Shelton's twenty acre tract that was not in common ownership with the Fike property is hereinafter called parcel two.

¶ 6. Fike owns a sixty acre tract of land located to the southwest of Shelton's property and it connects with parcel one. The Fike property adjoins Lebanon-Pine Grove Road, a public road, along the southwest corner of the property. North of the Fike property and west of the Shelton property (parcel one) is a twenty acre tract of land owned by Levi Sturgis, Jr.

¶ 7. The Shelton, Fike and Sturgis properties were at one time part of a hundred acre tract of land owned by Christiana Sturgis. The land was partitioned among the three heirs of Christiana Sturgis in 1932, as follows: Fike's sixty acre tract *1230 was conveyed to Calvin Sturgis; the Levi Sturgis, Jr. property, which is north of Fike's property and consists of twenty acres, was conveyed to Levi Sturgis, Sr.; and the twenty acres owned by Shelton (parcel one), which is east of the Levi Sturgis property, was conveyed to Minnie Sturgis Washington. Shelton investigated the land records and discovered that road access for Christian Sturgis' property before partitioning had been through the Fike property because Lebanon-Pine Grove Road was in existence in 1932 and adjoined the Fike property prior to its partitioning.

¶ 8. Fike argues that Shelton had access to his property because other adjoining landowners had granted Shelton verbal permission to cross their property. Parcel one adjoins the Sturgis property and the Robinson property abuts the Sturgis property to the west. Parcel two is surrounded by the Berry property to the north and east. Shelton says he was given permission by Robinson to walk across his land to reach his property but was not given permission for motorized travel. Fike asserts that Shelton was given unrestricted access to Berry's land for entry to his property. Shelton contended that use of the Berry property was in the form of a license that was revocable at will.

¶ 9. Lebanon-Pine Grove Road and Dry Grove Road, are the only public roads that would provide access to Shelton's forty acres. Access from Dry Grove Road would require an easement through Berry's property that would intersect with Shelton's tract (parcel two) that was not in common ownership with the Christiana Sturgis property. Access from Lebanon-Pine Grove Road would require an easement through the Fike and Sturgis properties that would connect to Shelton's twenty acre tract (parcel one) that at one time had been in common ownership with the Christiana Sturgis property.

I. WHETHER THE AWARD BY THE CHANCELLOR OF AN EASEMENT BY NECESSITY TO APPELLEE WAS IMPROPER AND AN ABUSE OF THE COURT'S DISCRETION AS APPELLANT PROVED APPELLEE HAD ACCESS AND PERMISSION TO USE OTHER AVAILABLE ROUTES FOR INGRESS AND EGRESS INTO HIS PROPERTY.

¶ 10. There are two types of implication easements: easements essential to the enjoyment of the land and easements by necessity. Bonelli v. Blakemore, 66 Miss. 136, 143, 5 So. 228, 230-31 (1888). Necessity easements arise from "the implication that someone who owned a large tract of land would not intend to create inaccessible smaller parcels." Cox v. Trustmark Bank, 733 So.2d 353, 356(¶ 11) (Miss.Ct.App.1999).

¶ 11. A claimant seeking an easement by necessity has the burden of proof and must establish that he is entitled to a right of way across another's land. Broadhead v. Terpening, 611 So.2d 949, 954 (Miss.1992). An easement by necessity arises by operation of law when part of a commonly-owned tract of land is severed in a way that renders either portion of the property inaccessible except by passing over the other portion or by trespassing on the lands of another. Id. See also Rogers v. Marlin, 754 So.2d 1267, 1272(¶ 11) (Miss.Ct.App.1999). The party asserting the right to an easement must demonstrate strict necessity and is required to prove there is no other means of access. Id. An easement by necessity has a "right of access that is appurtenant to the dominant parcel and travels with the land, so long as the necessity exists. By acquiring the dominant estate, one has already paid

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
860 So. 2d 1227, 2003 WL 22290101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fike-v-shelton-missctapp-2003.