HEIDI A. CONNELLY, Trustee, & Others v. JODEE C. DOYLE, Trustee, & Others.

CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedSeptember 6, 2023
Docket22-P-1049
StatusUnpublished

This text of HEIDI A. CONNELLY, Trustee, & Others v. JODEE C. DOYLE, Trustee, & Others. (HEIDI A. CONNELLY, Trustee, & Others v. JODEE C. DOYLE, Trustee, & Others.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
HEIDI A. CONNELLY, Trustee, & Others v. JODEE C. DOYLE, Trustee, & Others., (Mass. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

NOTICE: Summary decisions issued by the Appeals Court pursuant to M.A.C. Rule 23.0, as appearing in 97 Mass. App. Ct. 1017 (2020) (formerly known as rule 1:28, as amended by 73 Mass. App. Ct. 1001 [2009]), are primarily directed to the parties and, therefore, may not fully address the facts of the case or the panel's decisional rationale. Moreover, such decisions are not circulated to the entire court and, therefore, represent only the views of the panel that decided the case. A summary decision pursuant to rule 23.0 or rule 1:28 issued after February 25, 2008, may be cited for its persuasive value but, because of the limitations noted above, not as binding precedent. See Chace v. Curran, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 258, 260 n.4 (2008).

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

APPEALS COURT

22-P-1049

HEIDI A. CONNELLY, trustee, 1 & others 2

vs.

JODEE C. DOYLE, trustee, 3 & others. 4

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 23.0

Defendant JoDee C. Doyle, trustee of the Four Ninety-Four

NEB Realty Trust (Doyle), owns an oceanfront parcel of

registered land (locus) in Salisbury. In consolidated actions

pursuant to G. L. c. 185, § 114, a Land Court judge concluded

that each of the lots owned by the plaintiffs benefits from an

implied easement to pass and re-pass over the locus by foot, and

that the easement appurtenant to the lot owned by plaintiffs

1 Of the Girls' Realty Trust.

2 Natalie S. Lucas and Donna M. Bates, trustees of the 5-D Realty Trust; Diane M. LaRocque, trustee of the Diane M. LaRocque Revocable Living Trust; Michael C. Faro; and Elizabeth Ann Faro, individually and as trustee of the Navanod Revocable Living Trust under declaration of trust dated January 9, 2004.

3 Of the Four Ninety-Four NEB Realty Trust.

4 Alfred Fisichelli, Joseph Fisichelli, and Steven A. Fisichelli, none of whom participated in this appeal. Natalie S. Lucas and Donna M. Bates, trustees of the 5-D Realty

Trust (Lucas and Bates), also permits passage over the locus by

vehicle. Doyle appeals, arguing that the judge erred in

concluding that the plaintiffs' lots benefit from those

easements. We affirm.

Background. "Because the judge issued h[is] decision on a

case stated basis, we review it de novo, drawing our own

inferences of fact and reaching our own conclusions of law."

Hickey v. Pathways Ass'n, 472 Mass. 735, 743 (2015). We set

forth the facts found by the judge, supplemented by our own

review of the documentary evidence.

In Doyle v. Commonwealth, 444 Mass. 686, 687-690 (2005), a

case involving among others these same parties, the court set

forth in detail the development by the Salisbury Beach

Associates (SBA), a trust, of the properties involved in this

case. As relevant here, in 1913 the Land Court issued a decree

of registration to the SBA for a tract of land along Salisbury

Beach, as depicted on twenty-seven sheets comprising Land Court

Plan 3200A. That plan depicted the locus as a single numbered

lot -- lot number 344 on sheet 3.

In 1920, the SBA filed a series of plans which removed

particular lots and replaced them with a consistent pattern of

side streets running east and west from the State highway. The

eastern streets led to the sandy beach and Atlantic Ocean, and

2 the western streets led inland. One of those plans, numbered

3200XV (1920 plan), depicted certain numbered lots in Blocks G,

P, and Q that became the plaintiffs' lots. The 1920 plan bore

an instruction that "[s]eparate certificates of title may be

issued for . . . the numbered lots in Blocks G, H, O, P & Q as

shown hereon." As to the locus, the 1920 plan did not depict it

as a lot, but as "8th St. East," one of the side streets leading

to the beach from the State highway. On the 1920 plan, the

locus had no lot number and was between blocks G and H and not

within any block.

In 1992, Doyle bought the locus from the SBA for $25,000.

The deed denoted the locus as "8th Street East," and stated that

its boundaries were located as shown on the 1920 plan. The 1920

plan depicts the northern boundary of the locus as abutting a

lot fronting on the State highway that is now owned by plaintiff

Heidi A. Connelly, trustee of the Girls' Realty Trust

(Connelly), as well as the oceanfront lot now owned by Lucas and

Bates. As depicted on the 1920 plan, the locus had no eastern

boundary, but faces Salisbury Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. To

the south the locus abuts lots now owned by Alfred Fisichelli,

Joseph D. Fisichelli, and Steven A. Fisichelli (the

Fisichellis). As depicted on the 1920 plan, the locus had no

western boundary, but faces the State highway.

3 The 1920 plan also depicts the lots now owned by plaintiffs

Diane M. LaRocque, trustee of the Diane M. LaRocque Revocable

Living Trust (LaRocque), and Michael C. Faro and Elizabeth Ann

Faro, trustee of the Navanod Revocable Trust (the Faros), which

are on the other side of the State highway, also called North

End Boulevard. Each of the five plaintiffs' certificates of

title describes their lots with reference to the 1920 plan.

None of the plaintiffs' certificates of title contain express

language documenting an easement across the locus.

Apparently based on Doyle's 1992 deed and without

examination of the 1920 plan, an assistant recorder issued a

transfer certificate of title for the locus. See Doyle, 444

Mass. at 688-689 & n.5. The Land Court subsequently determined

that the transfer certificate of title was "clearly erroneous"

because it purported to set forth boundaries for the locus based

on the 1920 plan, which did not delineate any eastern or western

boundaries. Id. at 690. The Supreme Judicial Court concurred.

Id. at 696-697.

On July 8, 1998, a new plan was registered (1998 plan) that

depicts the locus with eastern and western boundaries and the

lot number 843, and bears an instruction, dated February 5,

2016, that "[s]eparate certificates of title may be issued for

land shown hereon as Lot 843." On February 16, 2016, the

recorder issued a new transfer certificate of title to Doyle

4 which describes the locus with reference to the 1998 plan and

states that Doyle's ownership of the locus "is subject to the

rights of others, if any, to pass and re-pass over said land."

Connelly, Lucas, and Bates then petitioned the Land Court

pursuant to G. L. c. 185, § 114, to amend Doyle's certificate of

title to reflect their rights "to pass and repass and to utilize

the [locus] as a road." LaRocque and the Faros filed a similar

petition, seeking to amend Doyle's certificate of title to

recognize their right "to pass and re-pass over the Locus to

access Salisbury Beach and the Atlantic Ocean," without

reference to vehicular access.

By agreement of the parties, the consolidated cases were

tried on the documentary evidence. The judge also took a view.

After trial, the judge allowed the plaintiffs' motion to

supplement the record with documents including a 1917 pamphlet

advertising the SBA development. The judge determined that the

plaintiffs had proven that they had implied easements to pass

and re-pass over the locus by foot. 5

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Murphy v. Mart Realty of Brockton, Inc.
205 N.E.2d 222 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1965)
Cianciulli v. Marlowe
114 N.E.2d 510 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1953)
Jackson v. Knott
640 N.E.2d 109 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1994)
Shawmut Community Bank, N.A. v. Zagami
568 N.E.2d 1163 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1991)
Lasell College v. Leonard
589 N.E.2d 342 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1992)
Shawmut Community Bank, N.A. v. Zagami
586 N.E.2d 962 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1992)
L.L., a juvenile v. Commonwealth
20 N.E.3d 930 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2014)
Hickey v. Pathways Association, Inc.
37 N.E.3d 1003 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2015)
Melrose Fish & Game Club, Inc. v. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.
52 N.E.3d 1089 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2016)
New England Structural Co. v. Everett Distilling Co.
75 N.E. 85 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1905)
Bacon v. Onset Bay Grove Ass'n
136 N.E. 813 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1922)
Dubinsky v. Cama
158 N.E. 321 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1927)
Erickson v. Ames
163 N.E. 70 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1928)
Casella v. Sneierson
89 N.E.2d 8 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1949)
Doyle v. Commonwealth
830 N.E.2d 1074 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2005)
Reagan v. Brissey
446 Mass. 452 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2006)
Cameron v. Carelli
653 N.E.2d 595 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1995)
Scott v. Boston Housing Authority
835 N.E.2d 278 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2005)
Lane v. Zoning Board of Appeals
841 N.E.2d 260 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
HEIDI A. CONNELLY, Trustee, & Others v. JODEE C. DOYLE, Trustee, & Others., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heidi-a-connelly-trustee-others-v-jodee-c-doyle-trustee-others-massappct-2023.