Nichols v. Culotches Bay Navigation Rights Committee, L.L.C.

309 S.W.3d 218, 2009 Ark. App. 365, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 322
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMay 6, 2009
DocketCA 08-1448
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 309 S.W.3d 218 (Nichols v. Culotches Bay Navigation Rights Committee, L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nichols v. Culotches Bay Navigation Rights Committee, L.L.C., 309 S.W.3d 218, 2009 Ark. App. 365, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 322 (Ark. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

RITA W. GRUBER, Judge.

| Appellants, Henry Nichols and Regions Bank, trustees for Alpha Trust, (hereinafter, “Alpha Trust”) bring this appeal from the Prairie County Circuit Court’s order of summary judgment, determining that a contested portion of Culotches Bay is navigable and subject to public use. Alpha Trust asserts two points on appeal: first, it contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to appellee when appellee did not request summary judgment, and second, it contends that the trial court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment. We affirm the trial court’s denial of Alpha Trust’s motion for summai’y judgment, but we hold that the trial court erred in its sua sponte grant of summary judgment to appellee and reverse and remand.

Appellee, Culotches Bay Navigation Rights Committee, L.L.C., initiated this case |2by filing a petition for declaratory judgment of navigability. Appellee contended that Culotches Bay, referred to by the parties as a stream or lake, is and has been a navigable stream for over one hundred years. Culotches Bay is approximately six miles long, and Alpha Trust owns most of the land on both sides of the Bay. The Bay drains into a narrow ditch that is approximately 1.4 miles long, and the ditch empties into the Cache River. Appellee alleged in its petition that Alpha Trust had placed signs at the intersection of the Bay with its property declaring all waters beyond the signs to be the property of Alpha Trust. Appellee sought a declaration as to the navigability, and therefore public or private ownership, of Culotches Bay.

Alpha Trust filed a motion for summary judgment, alleging that the Cache River, by statute, was non-navigable and therefore that the isolated lake on its property was non-navigable. In the brief in support of its motion, Alpha Trust disputed appel-lee’s claim that the Bay had significant recreational value. However, Alpha Trust’s principal argument was that, to be navigable, a water course must have a useful capacity as a public highway of transportation, whether or not it was used for recreation. Because the Bay emptied into the Cache River, a non-navigable river, Alpha Trust contended that it could not, as a matter of law, have a useful capacity as a public highway of transportation.

Appellee responded to the motion for summary judgment, citing the supreme court’s decision in State v. McIlroy, 268 Ark. 227, 595 S.W.2d 659 (1980), for its holding that a water course can be considered navigable due solely to recreational use. Appellee provided ^deposition testimony and affidavits that Culotches Bay had been and was being used for recreational purposes.

On July 28, 2008, the trial court entered an order denying Alpha Trust’s motion for summary judgment. Several weeks before trial, on August 7, 2008, the trial judge sent a letter to counsel for both parties indicating that it had determined that the contested portion of Culotches Bay was navigable and subject to public use. He asked appellee’s counsel to prepare a precedent.

On August 14, 2008, Alpha Trust filed a motion asking the court to reconsider its proposed order finding the disputed portion of Culotches Bay to be navigable. Alpha Trust argued that it disputed whether the Bay had been used for years by the general public and whether it had significant recreational value. Alpha Trust also contended that an order declaring the Bay navigable would be inappropriate because appellee had not filed a motion for summary judgment or a motion to dismiss and thus there was no burden on Alpha Trust to meet proof with proof.

In an order entered September 15, 2008, the trial court noted that it had heard Alpha Trust’s motion for summary judgment and that the issue was whether a portion of Culotches Bay was navigable. The court then denied Alpha Trust’s motion to reconsider and found that the contested portion of Culotches Bay was navigable and subject to public use. Alpha Trust appealed this order granting summary judgment to appellee and the trial court’s earlier order of July 28, 2008, denying Alpha Trust’s motion for summary judgment.

I.

Alpha Trust first contends that the trial court’s sua sponte summary-judgment order was error as a matter of law because appellee did not file a motion for summary judgment, motion to dismiss, or motion for judgment on the pleadings. Accordingly, Alpha Trust argues that it had no burden to meet proof with proof. We agree.

In support of the court’s order of summary judgment, appellee cites B.G. Coney Co. v. Radford Petroleum Equipment Co., 287 Ark. 108, 696 S.W.2d 745 (1985). In that case, the supreme court held that it was not error for the trial court to grant summary judgment to all of the appellees even though some of them had not moved for summary judgment. 287 Ark. at 111, 696 S.W.2d at 748. The court recognized, first, that lack of notice to appellant was not a concern in that case because several appellees had filed motions for summary judgment and, second, that appellant did not object on this basis in the trial court. Id. The court stated that it was not required to consider an issue not raised at trial. Id.

In Rogers v. Lamb, 347 Ark. 102, 60 S.W.3d 456 (2001), the supreme court held that it was error for the trial court to enter an order granting summary judgment to a party in the absence of an appropriate motion requesting such relief, stating that appellee “fail[ed] to offer any argument or authority in support of a court’s granting summary judgment in the absence of a proper motion filed pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 56.” The court also indicated that it was convinced that genuine issues of material fact remained in dispute.

This court followed the supreme court’s holding in Rogers in 2200 Commercial Street Warehousing, L.L.C. v. Hastings Development Co., 98 Ark.App. 316, 255 S.W.3d 488 (2007), and reversed the trial court’s sua sponte grant of summary judgment. We reasoned that the order deprived appellant of the opportunity to meet proof with proof and demonstrate that issues of material fact remained to be decided. We distinguished the supreme court’s decision in B.G. Coney Co., stating that there was no waiver of the issue in the trial court — as in this case, the appellant in 2200 Commercial Street Warehousing, L.L.C. objected in the trial court to the sua sponte entry of summary judgment— and there was no co-party motion for summary judgment by a party with the same legal position to put appellant on notice that it was required to meet proof with proof in response.

While Alpha Trust did file a motion for summary judgment in this case on the issue of navigability, it was not on notice that it needed to meet proof with proof on all of the elements relating to navigability — specifically, the amount and significance of the recreational use of Culotches Bay. Alpha Trust’s motion and evidence primarily concerned the non-navigability of the Cache River and the effect of that fact on the navigability of Culotches Bay.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
309 S.W.3d 218, 2009 Ark. App. 365, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nichols-v-culotches-bay-navigation-rights-committee-llc-arkctapp-2009.