Mueller v. Hoblyn

887 P.2d 500, 62 A.L.R. 5th 847, 1994 Wyo. LEXIS 166, 1994 WL 697869
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 15, 1994
Docket94-1 to 94-4
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 887 P.2d 500 (Mueller v. Hoblyn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mueller v. Hoblyn, 887 P.2d 500, 62 A.L.R. 5th 847, 1994 Wyo. LEXIS 166, 1994 WL 697869 (Wyo. 1994).

Opinions

TAYLOR, Justice.

The right to use an easement is at issue in these consolidated appeals. The owners of the dominant estate filed an action against the owner of the servient estate to quiet title to the easement. The owners of the dominant estate claimed they had been denied use of the easement. The owner of the servient estate maintained the entire easement had been lost by adverse possession. Using a variety of procedural means, other present and former owners of dominant estates also became parties to this action. After a bench trial, the district court determined that only a small portion of the easement near a water well had been terminated by adverse possession.

We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. FACTS

In 1963, Herbert J. Engleman and Glenys G. Engleman (Englemans) owned a single undivided tract of property in Laramie County, Wyoming. The western boundary of the property had access to Yellowstone Road, a highway north of the City of Cheyenne. On July 15, 1963, the Englemans conveyed a parcel of land within their tract to REB, Inc. (REB). The parcel of land REB purchased was located east of Yellowstone Road.

The Englemans also conveyed an easement to REB to provide access to Yellowstone Road. The easement gave REB the right to use a private road to travel across the parcel of land which the Englemans owned. The recorded instrument contained a legal description of the property owned by the En-glemans and the property owned by REB, [503]*503but it did not describe, with particularity, the location of the easement:

NOW, THIS INDENTURE WITNES-SETH That, in pursuance of the said agreement and for valuable consideration, the [Englemans], their heirs and assigns, do hereby grant to [REB]:
Full and free right for [REB], its tenants, employees, visitors and licensees, in common with all others having the like right, at all times hereafter, with or without vehicles of any description, for all purposes connected with the use and enjoyment of the said land of the [Englemans] for whatever purposes the said land may be from time to time lawfully used and enjoyed, to pass and re-pass along the said private road, which shall be not to exceed 20 feet in width, and which shall be fenced by [REB], for the purpose of going from the nearby highway to [REB’s] said property or vice-versa.
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said easement for ingress and egress hereby granted under [REB], its successors and assigns, as an appurtenance to the said land of [the Englemans] and every part thereof.

On April 21, 1969, the Englemans transferred title to their remaining parcel of land to Henry Dale Mueller and Jean Louise Mueller (Mueller). The conveyance expressly stated that Mueller took the property: “Subject to easements of record.” At the time Mueller purchased this parcel of land, access to the REB property was customarily obtained by traveling down a dirt driveway which was located outside the fenced northern boundary of Mueller’s property.

On September 21, 1979, REB sold a parcel of the land the corporation had acquired from the Englemans to a predecessor-in-interest of George A. Refior and Nancy M. Refior (Refiors). The conveyance transferred all of REB’s rights in that parcel of land, including a right to use the easement. The easement was described, with particularity, as including the northern twenty feet of the property Mueller had purchased from the Englemans:

The north 20 feet of S1/2NW1/4; the north 20 feet of SW1/4NE1/4 and the west 20 feet of the north 338.8 feet of SE1/4NE1/4 of said Section 30.

On October 30, 1987, the Refiors conveyed their interests in the parcel of land by warranty deed to Lawrence R. Coffee (Coffee).

On February 27, 1981, REB sold another parcel of the land formerly owned by the Englemans to a predecessor-in-interest of Ralph Johnson (Johnson). This conveyance also transferred a right to use the easement described, with particularity, as including the northern twenty feet of Mueller’s property:

Including an easement for ingress and egress for above portion described as follows: the North 20 feet of S1/2NW1/4, the North 20 feet of SW1/4NE1/4 and the West 310 feet of the North 20 feet of the SE1/4NE1/4, Section 30, T. 16 N., R. 66 W., 6th P.M., Laramie County, Wyoming.

On October 1, 1986, Johnson executed a contract for deed to convey his interests to Richard F. Hoblyn and Gary D. Hoblyn (collectively Hoblyn).

Coffee and Hoblyn both experienced difficulty using the existing dirt driveway to access their properties. Snow drifts sometimes blocked portions of the nearly mile-long driveway during the winter months. Finally, in 1990, Coffee had the land surveyed. The survey disclosed that, except for a, small overlapping portion, the route of the dirt driveway did not correspond with the easement. Coffee and Hoblyn individually requested permission to use the easement from Mueller. Mueller refused. Mueller claimed that no one had ever used the easement and he was using the land burdened by the easement for agricultural crops and a water well.

On July 11, 1991, Hoblyn filed an action against Mueller in district court to quiet title to the easement. Mueller responded with a counterclaim against Hoblyn and a third-party complaint against Coffee and other landowners who allegedly had a right to use the easement in their chain of title. Johnson was granted permission to intervene in the action. After almost two years of proceedings, Coffee filed a third-party complaint against the Refiors alleging they had a duty to indemnify Coffee for his expenses in defending the title to the easement.

[504]*504On May 24, 1993, the district court conducted a trial on all the various claims of the parties. The district court found that in 1977, Mueller had drilled a water well within the easement boundaries. The district court concluded that by drilling the water well, Mueller terminated by adverse possession a two-hundred' foot long portion of the easement despite the fact the well had never been used for irrigation purposes as Mueller had intended. All other claims for relief were denied. Multiple appeals were filed challenging the district court’s decision.

II. DISCUSSION

The findings of fact made by the district court will not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. Hopper v. All Pet Animal Clinic, Inc., 861 P.2d 531, 538 (Wyo.1993). “ ‘A finding is “clearly erroneous” when although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing-court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.’ ” Id. (quoting United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 395, 68 S.Ct. 525, 542, 92 L.Ed. 746 (1948)). The district court’s conclusions of law are not binding upon this court and are reviewed de novo. Hopper, 861 P.2d at 538; Powder River Oil Co. v. Powder River Petroleum Corp., 830 P.2d 403, 407 (Wyo.1992).

An “easement” is an interest in land which entitles the easement holder to a limited use or enjoyment over another person’s property.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
887 P.2d 500, 62 A.L.R. 5th 847, 1994 Wyo. LEXIS 166, 1994 WL 697869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mueller-v-hoblyn-wyo-1994.