Hecker v. Fella

336 Or. App. 857
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 18, 2024
DocketA179677
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 336 Or. App. 857 (Hecker v. Fella) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hecker v. Fella, 336 Or. App. 857 (Or. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

No. 910 December 18, 2024 857

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON

Randall HECKER, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Kimberly FELLA, Defendant-Appellant. Josephine County Circuit Court 19CVC40405F, 19CVC40405; A179677 (Control), A178586 Randall HECKER, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Kimberly FELLA and Israel Wytcherley, Defendants-Appellants. Josephine County Circuit Court 19CV40405; A177258

Pat Wolke, Judge. Argued and submitted December 13, 2023. Steve Elzinga argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellants. Max C. Whittington argued the cause for respondent. Also on the brief was Cauble & Whittington, LLP. Before Aoyagi, Presiding Judge, Joyce, Judge, and Leith, Senior Judge.* LEITH, S. J. In Case No. 19CV40405F, vacated and remanded; other- wise affirmed.

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* Leith, S. J., vice Jacquot, J. 858 Hecker v. Fella Cite as 336 Or App 857 (2024) 859

LEITH, S. J. In these consolidated appeals, defendants Kimberly Fella and Israel Wytcherley appeal various judgments. Taken together, the appeals challenge: (1) the general judg- ment in the underlying civil litigation; (2) the first post-trial contempt judgment; (3) the third post-trial contempt judg- ment; and (4) a judgment sanctioning defendants’ discovery violations.1 We affirm each of those judgments, with the exception of the third contempt judgment which we vacate and remand for further proceedings. GENERAL JUDGMENT We first address defendants’ assignments of error related to the underlying general judgment. We provide the relevant background facts here and set out additional facts as necessary in our discussion of each assignment of error. This is a dispute over storm water drainage. Plaintiff and defendants own adjacent properties in Grants Pass. The properties are separated by a private road, Summer Lane, which runs south from a public highway, Lower River Road. Plaintiff’s property lies east of Summer Lane (Summer Lane is, in fact, an easement on plaintiff’s land). Defendants’ property lies to the west of Summer Lane. The properties were once part of a single parcel. Plaintiff’s property has two drainage features with relevance to this case. First, a drainage pipe runs roughly 900 feet along the east side of Summer Lane from a catch basin on Lower River Road. Storm water from the road and from various properties—including the northern part of plaintiff’s property—gathers in the catch basin, then is car- ried by the pipe to a low spot on the western edge of plain- tiff’s land. When plaintiff’s property was partitioned from a larger parcel in 1962, the grantor reserved an express ease- ment for that drainage pipe. The property was still subject to that easement when plaintiff purchased it in 2000, and it remains so today. The pipe was replaced in 2007 with a new pipe of the same size.

1 The predicates for, and the substance of, each of those judgments will be described as appropriate throughout the rest of the opinion. 860 Hecker v. Fella

Second, below the mouth of the 900-foot pipe, a cul- vert carries water from plaintiff’s property, under Summer Lane, into a swale on defendants’ property. That water includes flows from upland fields, as well as drainage from the 900-foot pipe. The culvert has been present at that loca- tion since at least 1994 (and probably since 1962). Plaintiff replaced the culvert with a new one of the same size in 2008. Plaintiff’s property is bordered to the north by Lower River Road and is bisected on a generally east-west slant by an irrigation ditch. Plaintiff has built a home north of the ditch. The southern portion of the property remains largely fields and contains a barn. South of the ditch, plain- tiff’s property drains naturally toward the low swale on defendants’ property. While the evidence was in conflict as to the natural flow from the north part of plaintiff’s property, there was evidence that the north part also would drain to defendants’ swale, at least if it were not interrupted by the irrigation ditch. Defendants purchased their property west of Summer Lane in 2018. Defendants did not believe they should have to accept drainage through the culvert onto their property. In the spring of 2019, they plugged the cul- vert with dirt, gravel, and other materials. The blockage caused water to back up onto plaintiff’s field. Plaintiff con- fronted defendants about that, and defendant Fella con- firmed the blockage, explaining, “Yep, you can’t drain water on our property.” This case ensued. Plaintiff sought damages and an injunction based on defendants’ alleged nuisance in blocking the culvert. Plaintiff also claimed a prescriptive easement for drainage through the culvert. Defendants denied that there was a pre- scriptive easement and denied that blocking the culvert was a nuisance. They counterclaimed that the culvert was both a trespass and a private nuisance, at least in part because the culvert allegedly was installed without a required permit. They sought damages on their counterclaims. Plaintiff was represented by counsel throughout the proceedings. Defendants were represented by two dif- ferent attorneys before trial, but they appeared pro se for Cite as 336 Or App 857 (2024) 861

the two-day trial. The claims for damages were tried to a jury, while the trial court sat as trier-of-fact on the claim for injunction. The jury found that defendants’ blockage of the cul- vert was a nuisance but awarded plaintiff no damages. The jury found against defendants on their counterclaims. The trial court “endorse[d] the jury’s finding that, by blocking the culvert, defendants have created a nuisance” and also found on its “own accord, the defendants have created a nuisance by blocking the culvert.” On the nuisance issue, the letter opin- ion concluded, “Therefore, the Court will enjoin the contin- ued blockage [and] require that * * * defendants immediately remove all impediments to the free flow of water through the culvert.” The court also found that plaintiff had established by clear and convincing evidence a prescriptive easement to drain water onto defendants’ property and to keep the ends of the culvert free of blockage. On defendants’ claim that the culvert was itself a private nuisance because it lacks a per- mit, the court found that no permit was required. The court entered judgment, including an injunction, consistent with its letter opinion. The judgment ordered defendants to imme- diately remove all impediments to the free flow of water. In a separate paragraph, the judgment further ordered defen- dants to refrain from interfering with the “natural drainage of normal flood water * * * via the prescriptive easement.” Defendants’ second, third, and fourth assignments of error challenge that judgment. We address those in turn. In their second assignment of error, defendants con- tend that the trial court erred by entering a judgment that declares a prescriptive easement but that fails to specify the part of the servient estate burdened by that easement. They also maintain the evidence was insufficient to establish the part of their property subject to the prescriptive easement. In other words, the issue is whether the evidence and judgment adequately specify the area that may be flooded by water drain- ing through the culvert, not whether the location of the culvert itself is adequately proven or described in the judgment. Defendants argue that they preserved the assign- ment of error in their closing argument. The trial court 862 Hecker v. Fella

explained to the parties that closing argument would be bifurcated. The jury would hear closing argument on the claims of nuisance only. The court directed the parties to defer their argument on the prescriptive easement until the second part of the argument, outside the jury’s presence.

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Hecker v. Fella
336 Or. App. 857 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2024)

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336 Or. App. 857, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hecker-v-fella-orctapp-2024.