Mayer v. Smith

2015 NMCA 060, 8 N.M. Ct. App. 49
New Mexico Court of Appeals·Decided April 30, 2015·No. No. 35,207; Docket No. 32,338·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

OPINION

KENNEDY, Judge.

{1} Janeka Mayer (Plaintiff) owns property which is burdened by an easement. She erected a fence using trees within the easement as posts and thus encroached onto the easement. Gary and Marilyn Jones (Jones) and Robert and Stephanie Long (Long) (collectively, Intervenors), owners of the dominant estate, intervened in a suit Plaintiff had filed against another neighbor, but involving the same easement. Jones and Long sought to enforce the easement and force removal of Plaintiff s fence. The district court ruled against Intervenors, restricting the scope and ownership of the easement and leaving the fence undisturbed. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

{2} The physical relationships between properties are depicted in the appended illustration, which appears in the record as Intervenors’ Exhibit F, provided to aid in understanding the facts presented herein.

{3} Jones bought his property, Tract 5B and 5C, in 1977. In 1979, he purchased an easement from Anne Clarke and Peggy Clarke (Clarke). Carlos Arguello bought Tract 5A, immediately north of Tract 5B and 5C from Clarke. In 2002, Plaintiff purchased land, Tract 5-1B, from Arguello. It is undisputed that land was subject to the easement Jones purchased from Clarke in 1979. The easement served Tracts 5B and 5C, which Jones has owned since 1972. In addition to a detailed description of the servient estate, the easement at issue provides the following language:

WHEREAS, the family of . . . Jones [seeks] a nonexclusive [e]asement across the lands of the “grantors” for the personal use of theirselves, their families, their heirs, and their assigns, for ingress and egress over and across “grantors” property for household purposesf.]
NOW, THEREFORE, for valuable consideration . . . , the undersigned hereby grant to . . . Jones, and to their families, heirs, and assigns, the non[-] exclusive right of ingress and egress, for household and non[-]commercial purposes, over and across a [t]wenty[-]foot[-]wide portion of the afore described property inside and along the [n]orthernmost and [w]esternmost boundaries thereof.

Jones cleared trees to create the path that is in the easement now and used it to access a portion of his land that was inaccessible by vehicle via any other existing roads due to a “boulder strewn and tree covered, eroded, and very steep” ridge that divided his property. Jones used the land “at least [fifty] times a year ... for landscaping, . . . wood cutting, pinon picking, [and] picnicking[,]” and his sons learned how to drive there. The easement was occasionally used to bring in a wood chipper to dispose of unwanted brush piles, and Jones plowed the easement to remove snow. In 2009, Jones sold a portion of his land, specifically Tract 5C, which was accessible using other existing roadways, to Long. The tracts owned by Jones and Long together make up the dominant estate as Jones owned it when the easement was purchased in 1979. After the sale to Long of Tract 5C, the easement on Plaintiffs property was the only vehicular access to Tract 5B, which Jones still owns.

{4} This lawsuit began when Plaintiffbrought suit against another neighbor to prevent the cutting and removal of trees within the easement. Intervenors intervened at the district court’s invitation in order to enforce their rights against Plaintiff to allow them full use of the twenty-foot easement over the servient estate. As the trees grew in the easement, Plaintiff used her fence to include them in her property, resulting in a nine- to eleven-foot area becoming inaccessible to Intervenors.

{5} In the district court, Intervenors presented their case.1 Plaintiff moved for directed verdict. The district court stated: “I’m granting in part and denying in part the motion for [directed [v]erdict.” In its written judgment, the district court stated that “[t]he dominant estate belongs to the property of. . . Long” and “does not, as a matter of law, belong to both Intervenors.” The district court held that “[t]he intended use of the easement was for household purposes, which was historically limited to occasional use as a hiking . . . [and] vehicle [trail].” Next, the district court limited Intervenors’ rights to the easement by stating that they had “no authority to expand the historic use, boundaries^] or existing cleared portion ofthe easement.” The district court allowed for Plaintiffs fence to remain inside the easement boundaries.

{6} On appeal, neither party attacks the validity of the original twenty-foot easement. Similarly, both parties agree that the easement is appurtenant. We therefore treat the validity and terms of the appurtenant easement as fact on appeal. Varos v. Union Oil Co. of Cal., 1984-NMCA-091, ¶ 2, 101 N.M. 713, 688 P.2d 31 (acknowledging facts that are not disputed become facts on appeal); see Kikta v. Hughes, 1988-NMCA-105, ¶ 12, 108 N.M. 61, 766 P.2d 321 (allowing characterization of easement to become a fact on appeal where both parties characterized easement at issue as an appurtenant easement).

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

{7} Although Plaintiff presented a “legal argument for [directed [v]erdict,” the district court, having heard Intervenors’ evidence and given its findings, acted as a trier of fact. As such, the motion was actually a motion for involuntary dismissal as provided for by Rule 1-041(B) NMRA. Garcia v. Am. Furniture Co., 1984-NMCA-090, ¶ 3, 101 N.M. 785, 689 P.2d 934 (stating that, in a non-jury trial, “motion for a directed verdict was, in effect, a motion to dismiss under . . . Rule [1-041(B)]”).

{8} Rule 1-041(B) provides for the dismissal of an action upon the motion of the defendant after the close of the plaintiffs case-in-chief on the ground that, “upon the facts and the law[,] the plaintiff has shown no right to relief.” The district court as trier of the fact may then “render judgment against the plaintiff or may decline to render any judgment until the close of all the evidence.” Id. A dismissal operates as an adjudication upon the merits unless the district court specifies otherwise in its order for dismissal. Id. A judge, deciding an involuntary dismissal, “is not bound to give [the] plaintiffs testimony the most favorable aspect[,] but rather should give the testimony such weight as it is entitled to receive.” Carlile v. Cont’l Oil Co., 1970-NMCA-051, ¶ 28, 81 N.M. 484, 468 P.2d 885.

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Mayer v. Smith, 2015 NMCA 060, 8 N.M. Ct. App. 49 (N.M. Ct. App. 2015).

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