Hall v. Altomari

562 A.2d 574, 19 Conn. App. 387, 1989 Conn. App. LEXIS 265
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedAugust 15, 1989
Docket6969; 6970
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 562 A.2d 574 (Hall v. Altomari) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hall v. Altomari, 562 A.2d 574, 19 Conn. App. 387, 1989 Conn. App. LEXIS 265 (Colo. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

Dupont, C. J.

These appeals, involving two cases that were consolidated for trial, concern the determination of the rights of various parties to a private road. Certain facts are common to both cases. Arlene R. Hall is the owner of a parcel of land located at 1022 Long Ridge Road in Stamford. Merrill Lynch RealtyFairfield, Inc., leases the property from Hall for a real estate business of which Hall is the manager. She is also the owner of a fifty foot wide parcel of land, referred to by the pleadings as a private road, contiguous to the south boundary of the 1022 Long Ridge Road parcel. This road is subject to certain restrictions in favor of other parcels of land, and the interpreta[389]*389tion of the language of those restrictions forms the basis for the dispute among the parties.

Hall v. Altomari

The defendant, Angelo Altomari, is the owner of a parcel of land located on the south side of the private road owned by the plaintiff Hall. The defendant’s property, upon which there is a three-family residence and a parking lot, is a one acre interior parcel with no access to Long Ridge Road. The defendant testified that the three families living in the residence require five parking spaces.

The deeds to the defendant’s property contain the following language relative to his rights to the plaintiff’s private road: “Together with a right of way in common with others for all lawful purposes to and from said premises to Long Ridge Road over and across the private road fifty (50) feet in width as shown on said map bordering said premises to the north.”

The plaintiffs’1 complaint alleged that the defendant and his tenants were parking as many as five cars on the private road without permission and further alleged that the business of the plaintiff Merrill Lynch RealtyFairfield, Inc., was being harmed by the defendant’s use of the private road for parking. The complaint sought, inter alia, a temporary and permanent injunction restraining the defendant and his tenants from parking on the private road.

The defendant sought, by way of counterclaim, damages for the obstruction and interference with his alleged right-of-way over the road. The counterclaim necessitated a determination as to whether the plaintiffs had obstructed the defendant’s right to use the private road by allowing parking on it and, in addition, [390]*390whether the defendant had acquired certain rights by adverse possession to park on the plaintiffs’ road.

The attorney state trial referee found that the actual traveled portion of the fifty foot wide road was sixteen feet and recommended that both parties be enjoined from obstructing the sixteen foot traveled portion of the road. In addition, the referee concluded that the defendant had not obtained any right to park on the road by adverse possession, but that the defendant’s deeds granted the right to park on the private road. Accordingly, the referee denied the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction restraining the defendant from parking on the private road and recommended that all parties be permitted to use the untraveled portion of the road for parking.

The plaintiffs filed an objection to the acceptance of the state attorney trial referee’s recommendation and, after a hearing, the trial court overruled the objection and rendered judgment in accordance with the recommendation. The plaintiffs appeal from that portion of the judgment granting to the defendant the right to use the untraveled portion of the private road for parking.

The plaintiffs contend that the attorney state trial referee erred in concluding that the defendant’s deeds granted the right to park on the private road owned by the plaintiff Hall. The plaintiffs claim, rather, that the rights granted by the deeds relative to the road are limited to the rights of ingress to and egress from the defendant’s interior parcel. We agree.

“For a determination of the character and extent of an easement created by deed we must look to the language of the deed, the situation of the property and the surrounding circumstances in order to ascertain the intention of the parties.” Mackin v. Mackin, 186 Conn. 185, 189, 439 A.2d 1086 (1982). The determination of [391]*391the intent behind language in a deed presents a question of law on which our scope of review is plenary Eis v. Meyer, 17 Conn. App. 664, 667-68, 555 A.2d 994, cert. granted on other grounds, 211 Conn. 805, 559 A.2d 1139 (1989).

We conclude on the basis of the language of the deeds, the situation of the parties’ properties and the surrounding circumstances that the defendant’s rights with respect to the private road owned by the plaintiff Hall are limited to the rights of access to and egress from the defendant’s property to Long Ridge Road and do not include the right to park.

“It is well established that a right-of-way granted in general terms may be used for any purpose reasonably necessary for the party entitled to use it.” Hagist v. Washburn, 16 Conn. App. 83, 86, 546 A.2d 947 (1988). The issue of what constitutes reasonable use is a question of interpretation of the particular language used to create the right-of-way.

Unlike the right-of-way at issue in Hagist, the right-of-way at issue in the present case is not one granted in general terms. The defendant’s deeds provide that he is entitled to a right-of-way for all lawful purposes “to and from said premises to Long Ridge Road over and across” the plaintiff Hall’s private road. We interpret the phrase “to and from said premises to Long Ridge Road” in this case as words of limitation restricting the defendant’s rights with respect to the private road to those of ingress and egress.

Even when a right-of-way is granted in broad language, the owner of the dominant estate does not acquire an absolute right to park vehicles on the subject property. See 25 Am. Jur. 2d, Easements and Licenses, § 79. “The language employed is not the only criterion.” Russo v. Stepp, 2 Conn. App. 4, 6, 475 A.2d 331 (1984). Thus, in Russo, a right-of-way granted to [392]*392the defendant “for purposes of ingress and egress and to use for general driveway purposes(emphasis added) id., 5; was interpreted by this court not to include the right to park vehicles. This conclusion was based on the language of the grant, with consideration given to the situation of the property and the surrounding circumstances. Id.

The situation of the properties and the surrounding circumstances in the present case further support our conclusion that the rights granted by the defendant’s deeds are limited to those of ingress and egress. The defendant’s property has no frontage on Long Ridge Road. Thus, the physical relationship of the properties indicates that the intention of the grant of the right-of-way was to permit access to the defendant’s interior lot over the private road, rather than to permit parking on the road. In addition, there was testimony that the defendant’s property contains a large parking lot adequate to serve the parking needs of the three-family residence located on the defendant’s property.

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Bluebook (online)
562 A.2d 574, 19 Conn. App. 387, 1989 Conn. App. LEXIS 265, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hall-v-altomari-connappct-1989.